Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The Speer, Hot core bullet

Shot several bull moose with a 300 WM and 180 partitions with predictable results. Shot one small bull (at 200 yards) with the same rifle but a 180 hot-core and, while I ended up with a moose, it did not give the same level of penetration that the partitions had previously on shots broadside through the shoulders, FWIW. He hit the ground immediately (high shoulder shot) but was struggling to get up til I gave him another one in the neck.

I'd say that is correct. I bought some Federal blue box .25-06 ammo loaded with Speer 117gn soft points. Speer didn't offer that bullet either in its bullet line up.

I know for certain that both Federal and Remington have loaded Hornady Interlocks in some ammo within the past 20 years. (The Remington ammo was labeled "Core-Lokt.")

Boy, do I feel like an idiot!

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This has been an interesting read. Back in the mid 80s I was using 165gr hot cores as my 30-06 seemed to shoot them very well. I took a blacktail at a relatively close range, and thought by the wound channel, it seemed I had used a varmint bullet.

This experience made me move to Hornady and I haven't used a single Hot Core for anything but coyotes and paper since.

Maybe I should reconsider. It's hard to find fault with the Interlock though.

I like the Hornady Interlock as well as my go to cup and core hunting bullet. They just seem to shoot really well and kill deer and pigs dead. I like the .25 100gn, .26 129gn and .30 150 (308)/165gn (30-06).

But I have had good success with Speer bullets too but don't tend to load them much for some reason. Not because I don't like them but I just got used to loading Interlocks and Ballistic Tips. The only group that ever fired three shots touching (100m) was my .30-06 and the Speer 165gn SPBT. That bullet used to always shoot and was good pig medicine. My 30-06 loads have the Speer 180gn but I haven't fired that rifle for about 13 years.

I loaded the Speer 120gn SP in my M12 6.5x55 as well as some 120gn Sierras to try when new. The Sierras shot really well as you would expect but the Speers shot equally small groups. There was no way to distinguish the bullets looking at group size and yet Sierra seem to get the accuracy accolades, but the Speers matched them group for group.

And of course over here in Oz, the Speer 130gn HP has become the number one pig bullet in the .308. Despite being labelled a varmint bullet it absolutely slams pigs. Some blokes load it in 300 magnums but at 308 velocities it penetrates fine on pigs.

However, I could not get Speer 140gn SPs to shoot in three different 6.5mm rifles (6.5x55, 6.5x57, 6.5-284) and the same thing with the 7mm 145gn Grandlams in three different 7mm rifles (7x57, 7x64, 280). The 7x64 is a rebarrel job and is my most accurate rifle shooting Ballistic Tips and RWS bullets very well but it sprays the Grandslams into 2.5 inches. I guess some bullets were made on Friday afternoon.

So the Hot Cor is comparable to the Partition in performance on certain game?
Would it be considered to be a 90% substitute? Thanks.

At the risk of sounding pizzed off to some, I have gotten away from Partition's entirely for myself. I just don't see the difference between Partition's and Hornady Interlock and Speer Hot Cor on whitetails and pigs. I load for 243, 257 R, 270, 264 Mag and 30/06.....only one of these wants Partitions. And he'll come around in time.

A few more comments:

Stan V--There isn't any need to use Partitions on Texas deer and pigs--but as noted in one of my previous posts have killed a number of deer with Partitions in Montana and surrounded areas, both because I'm often hunting elk at the same time, and because deer get considerably bigger further north. Have killed two mule deer that weighed right around 400 pounds, one in Montana and another in Alberta. Have also seen cup-and-core bullets up to 150 grains fail to penetrate the chest cavity of northern deer when shot in the shoulder joint when quartering toward the hunter.

Elvis--The Speer boattails are not Hot-Cors. Instead they're formed the same way as most other cup-and-cores, by swaging the jacket around a piece of lead "wire." Their cores are softer than those of Hot-Cors--as a Montana friend discovered when he started guiding for moose and grizzlies in Alaska. His Montana elk rifle was a .338 Winchester Magnum, for which he handloaded Speer 225-grain boattails. He had a couple Alaska adventures with that combination before switching to 225 Partitions.

More generally, yes the 165-grain .30 Hot-Cor was beefed up years ago, because the original version wasn't quite up to some jobs. Which why the one I recovered from an angling-away shot on a whitetail buck retained around 85% of its weight. But it also didn't encounter any "heavy" bone while traveling from left rear ribs to the right shoulder.

Also might mention I, and often Eileen, during both our hunting and being invited by various manufacturers on hunts, have used a wide variety of big game bullets. This is one advantage of being "outdoor writers": You get to use a wide variety of products, often learning things you might not have otherwise. Offhand I can remember us using Hornady Interlocks, GMXs and InterBonds; Nosler Partitions, Ballistic Tips, Accubonds and E-Tips; Speer Hot-Cors and Grand Slams; Sierra ProHunters and GameKings; North Fork Softpoints; Combined Technology Fail Safes; Winchester Power-Points and Silvertips; Remington Core-Lokts and the bonded Core-Lokt Ultras; Barnes Xs, TSXs, TTSxs and LRXs; Swift A-Frames and Sciroccos (both versions); Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and Federal's Tipped Trophy Bondeds; Berger Hunting VLDs and Cutting Edge Raptors.

There have no doubt been some others I've forgotten, but my main point is that while Speer Hot-Cors are good hunting bullets, and will perform much like Partitions on smaller game, like any other cup-and-core they do not on larger game IF substantial bone is encountered. Which is exactly why Partitions were developed in the first place--along with the many other so-called "premium" big game bullets available today.

Oh, and these bullets were "field-tested" not just in Montana and Texas (where we've both hunted quite a bit) but in a couple dozen other states from the Deep South to Alaska, along with several hunts in Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Africa.

Mule Deer,

Thank you for sharing hunting experiences and the history of the partition.

All of us are free to choose what works.

i do not dote on the partition like some seem to.

I have nothing against the partition, I agree it works along with everything else.

I have family up in Iowa, Colorado and Idaho. They have used it along with other brands too.

A resounding YES, animals are larger the further north you go and a bullet design for that encounter could be needed.

I understand the potential bear encounter that may happen on an elk hunt so the use of the partition would be a consideration.

Again thank you for the shared experience.

Best
Heavy Dove.

I shoot the Speer HotCore 87 grain bullet in 1-14" ROT 0.257"l bore rifles, mostly in the 250-3000, because it is IMO the best commonly available 0.257" component bullet that stabilize in that slow ROT and provide decent accuracy and penetration.

I prefer to shoot ABs and Partitions in rifles and cartridges that are compatible with those bullet because the give me peace of mind. I know, based on my personal experiences, that they will reliably penetrate and expand every time. I had a bad experience of premature expansion with a couple of popular component bullets that I had use successfully for nearly two decades, but I lost confidence in them and moved on to the Partitions and later to the ABs.

Everybody has different experience that will influence their choices, my experiences influenced me to increase my use of Nosler bullets.

As w/ any cup-n-core, just keep it away from heavy bone.

Have used the Speer .277/150 gr. Hot-Cor literally for ever.

Was the first bullet handloaded w/ the ole Lee Hammer die, and still the bulk load today.

Like the current Speer Grand Slam (Mag-tip) in that weight as well.




GR

One of my "novelty" rifles is a little custom Mauser in the wild cat 375/350. It really likes the 235gr Speer, very accurate. But only paper so far...

I'm fairly certain recent production Federal Blue Box in 6.5 creedmoor is loaded with Fusion bullets, so being previously loaded with hot cores makes sense...

Thanks! I also want to mention, once again, that I've used plenty of Hot-Cors over the years, especially in eastern Montana, where there aren't any grizzlies--yet. (A few have been seen, increasingly, in central Montana over the past few years.)

One of the rifles I used Hot-Cors in was a pre-'64 Winchester "Westerner" .264 Winchester Magnum, with 140s handloaded to around 3240 fps from the 26" barrel. Used it particularly for mule deer doe culling on a ranch owned by a friend, during one of the "high" ends of the mule deer population cycle when abundant tags were available. Contrary to what somebody suggested earlier on this thread about not pushing Hot-Cors over 3000 fps, they worked fine, even at ranges as close as 100 yards--though all the deer were shot broadside through the ribs. The results were quick kills and 3/4" exit holes, regardless of range.

Good hunting,
John

I have always liked the Speer Hotcor bullet. The 150 grain bullet in my 270 was all I loaded in it for years when that rifle was used as a loaner. I used it some but mostly friends of mine from Texas would get into draws and back in the 80's and early 90's it was easy to draw tags. That rifle never failed to give good performance on Mulies,Antelope or elk using that bullet. I like the 30-06 more and first started hunting it using the 150 grain Hotcor. It killed 13 head of game in 1993 in one season using that bullet. The Elk though, hit in the shoulder running, it fell nicely in a short distance caused me to switch to the 180 gr. Hotcor. The 150 grain bullet barely made it to the inside of the ribcage on the far side. It did break the onside shoulder bone. A couple years later I made a very similar hit on another elk and that bullet ended up under the hide on the far side. I started using the 180 and 200 grain Partitions for timber hunting after that.

I also started using the 200-grain Partition for timber elk hunting in the .30-06 after occasional inadequate penetration from some other bullets. This was in the mid-1970s, when there weren't nearly as many elk in Montana, and on public land many if not most were in the thick stuff during rifle season.

It was also when Partitions were still lathe-turned, and they called the 200 a "semi-spitzer" or "blunt nose." They all exited--and killed well.

A couple years later Nosler started impact-extruding bullets, and the 200 became a "full spitzer," which I used for years until becoming a "gun writer" and having to try a bunch of other bullets.
But handloaded to 2700 fps it worked great not only on elk but deer and even one pronghorn--when I got my ammo mixed up. (The "deer" load I used back then used a 165-grain bullet that looked the same.) It worked fine on the antelope too, without ruining nearly as much meat....

I forgot to add I loaded the 8mm 170gn Speer semi spitzer in my Sako 8x57. It shoots three into under an inch at 100m, as good as 180 Ballistic Tips will shoot. And the 90gn in my .243 and the 100gn HP in my first .257 Roberts and .250 Savage. I remember the .257 100gn HP was a very good bullet on pigs but the wide hollow point used to catch on the edge of the recess in the rear of the barrel for the claw extractor.

I've shot a lot more Speer bullets than I thought I did. Oh and the 150gn SP in my Ruger #1 303. There's probably a couple more that I've forgotten.

Tag

Is the current Grand Slam the same bullet as the old Mag-Tip?