Poll: Of the 6 listed rifle bullet brands, which ones do you prefer?

I like Hornaday, sierra, and speer as my top three choices volume wise. I start out with the least expensive and work my way up cost wise for good groups. Heck CoreLokt are good in some rifles too. I tend to not shoot over 300 YDS so MOA or less is easier to get.

Speer doesn't seem to get a lot of love in your pole but for me they make excellent rifle bullets for hunting. They are accurate, expand and hold together well and are cost effective. I love them. Hornady would be second on my list.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

Speer makes the best flat-base JSP bullets for .30-30 and .35Rem, the two rifle rounds I reload most often. I was given 3k .308” Sierra BTHP MK bullets years ago and I still have at least 1k left. I just don’t target shoot rifle as often as I used to.

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Not to pull the thread off on a tangent, but would you mind expanding on your Speer .30-30 comment? I just added .30-30 to my list of calibers I reload for, and would love to know which bullet you like. I ordered some 150 gr. Hornady round noses (#3035) to start with, but would like to try others as well. Thanks!

I like nosler also they have good load data for their bullets both book and nosler website,
I use hornady as well because hornady seems to be stocked everywhere , to bad they don't put their data online like nosler

It depends, I have rifles that perform better with different brands of bullets from the others.

But mostly I use Sierra and Hornady. I've liked some Berger bullets but their supplies of the ones I wanted were in short supply. I have a couple rifles that like a Speer bullet.

I have a couple boxes of Nosler bullets but they have remained un-open for several years.

Most of my experience with 17, 20, and 22 caliber bullets. I have rifles from 6mm to 30 caliber but they do not get shot much.

Hornady. I find Interlocks reliable on game in a suitable caliber, and reasonably priced. Their Vmaxs are reasonably priced, and accurate, varmint bullets. I also like Nosler's varmint bullets. Sierra typically offer very good accuracy at a slightly higher cost, but I'm usually too cheap to pay for the privilage.

I always try to use Hornady.
The only bullets they make that I dislike are the .224 hpbt.
For those, I prefer Sierra.

I have good luck with every bullet maker on the list. For the average shooter/reloader, they all work well. I have some of every brand listed.

Depends on the rifle and what it used for but Nosler and Sierra are on the shelf...

Harriw said:

Not to pull the thread off on a tangent, but would you mind expanding on your Speer .30-30 comment? I just added .30-30 to my list of calibers I reload for, and would love to know which bullet you like. I ordered some 150 gr. Hornady round noses (#3035) to start with, but would like to try others as well. Thanks!

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Sure but you also might want to start a new thread. For varmints I like the 110gr JHP bullet. It’s real easy out of a big lever gun like the Marlin 336 but also shoots good in the short T/C Contenders barrel. For hogs I go with the 150gr HotCor. Not much to say but it gets the job done. Nothing wrong with the 130gr HotCor but my Stevens and Marlin both do better with the 150. Hope that helps

I voted Sierra but I use just about the same of Hornady. Sierra is my go to for I find the SMK & SGK suit my needs and pocket book. There a few calibers that I load for that use different mfg from these. Barnes is my first choice when if comes to my 458 SOCOM, but at a $1/ea they are expensive.

I have loaded exclusively for rifle for the past several years. I use Nosler or Barnes 95% of the time. Why? I started by trying Nosler BTs, Hornady SSTs, and Sierra Gamekings in my main hunting rifle and the Nosler BT were the most accurate. Also, my FIL had great success with them over the years. I have had success with them as well. I then tried out Barnes TSX because of the great performance of their bullets in my muzzleloader. I've decided that the TSX doesn't open enough on whitetails, but will soon be trying the TTSX after my BIL had great performance from them (the TTSX has a much larger hollowpoint than the TSX).

I guess I could look for cheaper bullets, but I load mostly for hunting so I'm not worried about the cost. In fact, lowering the cost is not why I load. I'm sure my total ammo cost over the years would have been lower if I just bought off the shelf. But, I don't go to the range and shoot through several boxes at a time.

Valid point about the shooters range habits. If I was banging out at the range I would definitely look for a cheaper route than Berger. Nosler rdf are cheaper than Berger. Looking forward to see how they perform.

Berger for target loads, by a wide margin

Nosler and Sierra for hunting loads

I would/ and have used all of them. When looking for something that will work for my uses I go to Sierra and voted as such.

-Jeff

Can "random" be a valid choice? That's what I've been shooting the most of lately with the current state of the supply chain. Saving my first rate stuff for "official" loads, and using up a lot of estate sale, auction, trade, experiments, substitute standards for casual plinking and offhand practice. I'm just about out of greasy, dogeared tagboard boxes from the 1980s or older, and breaking into some more modern packaging that actually still has the factory wrappings. The current component complications have been good for decluttering my reloading room. Interestingly I've been pushing some pretty spendy plinkers downrange that I and/or my rifles never felt the love for, and keeping the $10-15/box speer hot cores in the hunting only pile.

Harriw said:

Not to pull the thread off on a tangent, but would you mind expanding on your Speer .30-30 comment? I just added .30-30 to my list of calibers I reload for, and would love to know which bullet you like. I ordered some 150 gr. Hornady round noses (#3035) to start with, but would like to try others as well. Thanks!

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You made me check what I have left on the shelf with that question: I got most of a box of a hundred box of the 130gr. HotCors I tried out that the Marlin liked but the Stevens didn't. Those will probably get loaded up for the Contender. I also got most of a hundred box of 170gr. HotCors both rifles like fine to the best of my recollection but for some reason I never loaded up for the field. I need to check my notes on that batch to see what wasn't working. I got about 500+/- 150gr. HotCors and several boxes loaded with 3031 and a few loaded with LeveRevolution in the ammo cabinet. Everything else .30-30 was either the 100gr. JHP's loaded with 2400 or lead. So, Speer 150gr. HotCor JSP is definitely my goto bullet for .30-30.

For rifles I go with 4 manufactures depending on the rifle & purpose:

Hunting, big game & varmints: Nosler BTs-ABs and Partitions depending on the game.
Target: Sierra (only .223) and Berger
Match (3Gun) Hornady FMJ whenever I can get my hands on them. They're the only FMJ I've managed to consistently hover around 1MOA in my guns.

When I first started loading I was heavy into Speer, and occasionally Hornady because mail order hadn't really caught on yet.

Depends... Hunting I use 3 brands, Hornady Interlocks, Speer Hot-Cors, and Nosler Accubond, but I use more Hornady, and they're much easier to get locally, so that's what I picked. Target is mostly Sierra matchkings.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

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Sure but you also might want to start a new thread. For varmints I like the 110gr JHP bullet. It’s real easy out of a big lever gun like the Marlin 336 but also shoots good in the short T/C Contenders barrel. For hogs I go with the 150gr HotCor. Not much to say but it gets the job done. Nothing wrong with the 130gr HotCor but my Stevens and Marlin both do better with the 150. Hope that helps

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Well, I just did exactly that so we don't de-rail this thread any further. This one's too interesting to mess up Thanks!

For me it is a toss up between Berger and Sierra.

I use more Sierra followed closely by Berger than anything else. I cast for all of my handguns and have not bought any pistol bullets in decades.

I use Hornady for most Hunting rounds but prefer Speer Gold Dot bullets for self defense loads.

Skgreen said:

I'm sure there are, but for the purpose of this thread, of these 6, tell us what you end up loading the most of and a brief explanation of why.

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I had to vote "Hornady" Skgreen because that's the brand my wife and I both use in our 22-250s. And we use our 22-250s for varmint hunting (ground squirrels, rockchucks and coyotes) year around - EXCEPT for a few weeks in the fall when deer and elk seasons are open. In the fall, I use Sierra bullets in my 308 Norma, and my wife uses Speer bullets in her 7mm Rem Mag.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because Hornady bullets are what I "end up loading the most of" doesn't mean Hornady bullets are my favorite. That is, the number of a specific brand of bullets I load does little to reflect my preference for that brand. Hornady 52gr BTHPs work real well on everything from ground squirrels through coyotes in my wife's and my 22-250s. But neither my wife nor I would ever dream of using 22 caliber BTSP bullets of any brand for deer or elk hunting. For big game hunting, I like Sierra 165gr BTHPs in the big game rifle I'm using nowadays, and my wife likes Speer 160gr GSs in hers. Neither of us have managed to shoot an elk (or an antelope either, for that matter) with our current big game rifles, but going by how well our choices of bullets in those rifles work on mule deer, I'm sure they'll work just fine when we do get the chance.

I use Hornady by default because, before Covid, it was the brand most readily available locally. I certainly don't have a problem with the others. Can't talk about Berger since I have never ever used them.