Going old-school...

[Bobby Tomek]

Back in the 80s, the very first bullet I remember using in a 6.5 JDJ was the 120 grain Speer Hot Core. It was flat-based and didn't quite live up to Speer's BC claim of .433, but at 2350 fps MV, it simply worked, giving consistent accuracy and terrific terminal performance. Somewhere along the way -- and amid a host of various 6.5s -- I sort of forgot about that bullet and migrated to the newest "latest-and-greatest" offerings.

But when friend and forum member Doug recently listed three boxes of these for sale, nostalgia got the best of me. They arrived recently, so I decided to try them in the 24" 6.5 BRM Contender barrel. I didn't feel up to doing lots of testing, and since the hopper was filled with SW Precision, that's the route I went.

The first group at 200 yards went 1.28" for three shots and averaged 2556 fps. I was quite pleased with those results and could have lived happily ever after with such performance. The case necks were sooty, and all other indicators pointed to everything being on the mild side, so I decided to try another load. Bumping the charge a half-grain, I was rewarded with a group that went an even 0.9" for three shots at 200 yards. At that point, I tweaked the seating depth a bit, loaded three more and sent them downrange. This group went 0.83", and the chrono readings averaged right at 2600 fps.

I was out of energy at this point, but I loaded six more, put them in the carrier and hopefully will get to send one of those 120 grain Speers into a hog before long.

[Bobby Tomek]

Well, I decided to go back outside and play lol. Fired a couple more just to compare recovered bullets from varied test medium. The bullet on the top left was fired through an anti-freeze-sized jug (app. 2.5" in depth) of water and into dry newsprint. The bullet on the top right was fired through three inches of compressed dry newsprint and captured in wet cotton fabric. The bullet on the bottom was fired into a mix of wet newsprint and wet cotton fabric. The latter method generally gives the widest mushroom and most closely replicates what happens when a bullet meets flesh and bone. Dry newsprint is not a good indicator but can tell you a bit about a bullet's integrity.

None of these lost cores, and while the mediums varied significantly, all three recovered bullets weighed between 85.8 and 89 grains. All of this was done at 200 yards, so the impact speeds would have been around 2200 fps.

[BobT]

Pretty impressive ! Speer bullets have always given me good accuracy but the only ones I have taken any game with are the 90 grain .277 Gold Dots and they have given solid performance on deer and hogs. You might give Gold Dots a try in your .277x225.

[Bobby Tomek]

Bob-The Gold Dots and lightweight Accubonds are definitely on my list of "want to try in the .270x.225." Actually, I wanted to start with the ABs. But they have been out of stock everywhere I checked. I am on several lists for "notify me when in stock," but I'm not holding my breath ha ha.

[BobT]

I read somewhere that the 100 and 110 Accubonds were permanently discontinued by Nosler. I hope they bring them back!

[Bobby Tomek]

Looks like Nosler made it official and nixed all three bullets specifically designed for the 6.8 SPC. Neither the 85 grain E-tip, the 100 grain nor the 110 grain Accubond appear on the company's website anymore.

[BobT]

I was afraid that was the case! Hopefully the 110 V-Max and the 90 grain Gold Dot don't suffer the same fate. I do have several hundred Gold Dots so I'm good for a little while at least.

[FyrepowrX]

Duuno if its bad luck, but seems like every time i start liking something, it gets canned.

always had pretty good luck with acccubonds, but with the current price tag on them...(and nosler in general)...i've kind of moved away from them.

Having migrated to milder cartridges at more speeds, have seen no real issues with most of the cup & core traditional bullets, and i have quite a few barrels that like various speer flat based bullets a lot.

really hoping that the sale of speer as a company doesnt mess things up!

[BobT]

Duuno if its bad luck, but seems like every time i start liking something, it gets canned.

always had pretty good luck with acccubonds, but with the current price tag on them...(and nosler in general)...i've kind of moved away from them.

Having migrated to milder cartridges at more speeds, have seen no real issues with most of the cup & core traditional bullets, and i have quite a few barrels that like various speer flat based bullets a lot.

really hoping that the sale of speer as a company doesnt mess things up!

I have had good luck with the Speer bullets also and I'm right there with you hoping the new owners continue the tradition of great bullets at reasonable prices. I ordered 3 boxes of .270, 150 grain Nosler Partitions last week and with tax and shipping I think I paid around $177.00 so the Noslers are indeed pricy. I have also been shooting a lot of Hornady bullets, they have generally shown good accuracy and they are pretty well available so I'm not too afraid to work up a load with them.