I have a question about some old speer bullets that I have run across.

[minnesota]

I have a yellow box of spire point 180 grain bullets that say they are .3085 diameter made by Vernen D Speer.
.3085 - 180 - 6 - SP is what is marked on the side of the box.
They have a dimple on the base of the bullet. Are these hot-cors or what are they? They are in very good condition and so is the box.

 

[sage5907]

Those may not be hotcor bullets. I have an old manual #7 published in 1966 and it says Vernon Speer has 20 years of bullet making experience. It shows the 11 step process of making jacketed rifle bullets which includes the insertion of a pre-swaged core.

 

[sage5907]

Speer manual #9 published in 1974 says the hotcor hunting bullet was introduced in 1961. The pages of the manual do not show a product number for the individual bullets.

 

[sage5907]

Speer manual #11 published in 1987 was the first year that product numbers were used. At that time the Speer 180 grain 30 caliber spitzer was product no. 2053. That indicates your bullets were definitely made before 1987.

 

[Captaingyro]

The only spire point bullet listed in the Speer #10 manual, published in '79, is a 110 grainer. The 180 grain spire point must have been out of production long before that.

 

[gamestalker]

My #10 only shows the Round Nose, Boat tail, Spitzer, Mag-Tip, and Grand Slam in 180 gr. for .308" applications.

GS

 

[DM~]

I have a yellow box of spire point 180 grain bullets that say they are .3085 diameter made by Vernen D Speer.
.3085 - 180 - 6 - SP is what is marked on the side of the box.
They have a dimple on the base of the bullet. Are these hot-cors or what are they? They are in very good condition and so is the box.

Hot Core is just a name, it really doesn't make Speers bullet any better or worse. Injecting the cores into the jackets, is just another way to get the core into the jacket.

Having said that, they probably aren't exactly the same as todays Speers, but i bet they perform just fine.

If the box is really old, i'd save it or sell it to a collector, if not, i'd give them a try...

DM

 

[sage5907]

How do you know the SP stands for spire point? I always interpret the SP to stand for the German word spitzer which just means a pointed bullet.

 

[Yarddog]

"[How do you know the SP stands for spire point?]"

I thought SP ment Soft Point ; )

Y/D

 

[sage5907]

Yarddog, I looked at the Speer manual #7 published in 1966 and it says they use the letters SP for soft point.

 

[minnesota]

The box said spitzer soft point,:banghead: sorry for the confusion.