I received an email from Midway saying that the Speer .257 120gr Grand Slam was discontinued. This is kind of disappointing as I just worked up loads in my .257 Roberts Ackley Improved using it last fall. I hoping it just means that Midway is just not going to stock them. I emailed Speer but received no reply. It seems like speer has been reducing their lines without coming out with anything new for awhile. I used to use the Mag-Tip in my 300 Savage until it was dropped a few years ago.
.257 120 grain Grand Slam Discontinued?
- Thread starter grry10
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Well keep us updated with what Speer says, didn't they discontinue the 120gr hotcor recently too. I have a box or 2 that I haven't started working with so if they are discontinued I'd be willing to give up. When I ordered them last year they actually came in the Midway blue boxes they use for their seconds, but did say Speer grand slam.
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Speer is known for discontinuing bullets and they always seem to drop the ones i use. The .257 120gr Hot-Cor, .257 120gr Deep Curl and the .264 120gr Hot-Cor are three that come to mind. I'm good on the 120gr .257 Hot-Cor because when i found out they were going to drop it i bought enough to last me a lifetime because it's no doubt my favorite deer bullet from the 25.06. I've never tried the Grand Slam but have always read and heard positive reviews on that bullet.
- Nov 4, 2004
- 25,209
- 8,518
You might try buying them directly from Speer. I bought a couple boxes of .358 250 gr SP bullets direct from Speer last fall and had them in a week.
JD338
JD338
KinleyWater
Handloader
- Jun 15, 2019
- 1,074
- 1,431
Strange, I saw a similar message about the 220 HotCor for .358. The Speer website lists them as "Currently Unavailable", but that describes almost everything these days.
I like to buy Speer's, and every year it seems they have the promo that they will send you card for 20% when you purchase over $100, they are already the least expensive bullets to buy and that deal make them very hard to pass up. Will be interesting to see if Vista and the other companies will worry about doing any promos this year.
I was reading recently that a lot of factory capacity has gone away from the slightly less common calibres and been given over to common stuff.
So, currently being made hard:
.224
6.5mm
.277
7mm
.30 Cal (Mainly .308" but I think some are producing .311")
.338 Cal
Things that aren't getting much line time:
.257
.358
8 mm
9.3mm
Probably others as well.
So, when some normality returns, there might be more bullets available in the more "interesting" calibres.
Specifically, I do wonder about the GS though. Hornady is certainly stopping the heavier interlocks in 7mm and some other calibres as well so maybe it's just heavy for calibre, lead bullets aren't so popular these days.
ATB,
Scrummy
So, currently being made hard:
.224
6.5mm
.277
7mm
.30 Cal (Mainly .308" but I think some are producing .311")
.338 Cal
Things that aren't getting much line time:
.257
.358
8 mm
9.3mm
Probably others as well.
So, when some normality returns, there might be more bullets available in the more "interesting" calibres.
Specifically, I do wonder about the GS though. Hornady is certainly stopping the heavier interlocks in 7mm and some other calibres as well so maybe it's just heavy for calibre, lead bullets aren't so popular these days.
ATB,
Scrummy
I still have a few of the OLD STYLE .257 120 GS in case I need to shoot an elephant with my 25-06. Those things PENETRATE. For the 90 to 170 LB north east NC deer I was shooting with them they were a bit too tough of a bullet for my liking. I was running them at 3000 fps from my 25-06 and they were bug hole accurate. I shot a good size buck at 30 yards facing me in the chest. He just fell back on his butt and keeled over dead. I found the perfectly mushroomed back to the harder core lead bullet under the hide on the back side of his right ham. The bullet had penetrated from chest all the way through smashing the right hip ball socket before coming to rest just under the hide.
I have kept a box of shells loaded and 30 bullets not loaded just in case I ever got the opportunity to go out west on an elk hunt. Mostly a pipe dream.
Deer shot through the ribcage would run off a little ways with this bullet. I like a bit more expanding bullet for this size deer. It puts them down in their tracks most of the time. 117 Sierra Pro Hunter is my favorite.
I have kept a box of shells loaded and 30 bullets not loaded just in case I ever got the opportunity to go out west on an elk hunt. Mostly a pipe dream.
Deer shot through the ribcage would run off a little ways with this bullet. I like a bit more expanding bullet for this size deer. It puts them down in their tracks most of the time. 117 Sierra Pro Hunter is my favorite.
TXbaldhunter
Handloader
- May 12, 2007
- 404
- 331
I used the old style Grand Slams back in the early 90's.They were great bullets.I've also shot 120gr Speer Hot Cores and 117gr Sierra bullets.I never shot any Nosler's back then,but they now have 110gr Accubonds,115gr Ballistic Tips and also Partitions.I don't have any 25cals anymore,but I'd give Noslers a hard look.I don't think you will find a better deal than this. https://www.shootersproshop.com/catalog ... ategory/2/
https://www.shootersproshop.com/loading ... -50ct.html
https://www.shootersproshop.com/loading ... -50ct.html
hunter24605
Handloader
- Apr 30, 2016
- 2,532
- 4,177
I've had midway do that on a few products over the years that were back-ordered that eventually came back into stock. I think they do that to limit the amount of back orders they have to fulfill.
