[Wild Thing]

Nice rug! I don't think this hi-jacking. I've shot several Bears, countless Deer, Caribou, and a
Moose. All with a 30/06 180gr. Corelokt. Are the fancier bullets really necessary?

Thank you - I doubt if I will ever get another rug done - that one cost me over $1,200

Are the fancier bullets really necessary? Probably not Nostromo...depending upon the rifle. I too have shot a lot of deer and 1 elk with the 180 Corelockts with a different 30:06. But...just as important as terminal performance is ACCURACY! And this particular 06 (Elaine's) just doesn't like the Corelokt bullets - in fact, I shot probably 7 or 8 different factory loads - different brands and weights from that Tika when she bought it and none of them were particularly impressive on the range - so I went to the reloading bench to find a load that was #1 - accurate, and #2 had a history of good terminal performance. The 200 grain Nosler Partition fit both bills.

You saw the photo of my recovered bullet in my post above. It was a 225 yard shot and the bullet went right through a rib on the entry side. Their ribs are like 2X2 boards - especially on big bulls like this one. The bullet went through both lungs and went between 2 ribs on the far side and came to rest up against the hide so I was able to recover it. I weighed the bullet when I got home and it had retained 120 grains of its original 200 grains after smashing through that rib. I was very happy with that type of performance.

Bison are huge animals. We didn't weigh mine but my guide estimated his weight at 1,800 - 2,000 pounds. I am 6 feet tall and a front quarter makes me look tiny LOL.

So to answer your question further, if your barrel likes the 180 corelokts and shoots them accurately it may do a good job on bison as well as the somewhat smaller game animals you have killed with them. One way to find out

I couldn't be happier with the Nosler Partition. I killed a nice buck here at home with it to try it out before going west on the bison hunt and it was a little overkill on deer. But I also shot another Buffalo with the same load a year or two later and it worked great on that shot as well. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

I'm wrong alot. Have no issue admitting it. I'm learning new stuff all the time. Guess I always will. I learned that fact years ago in shooting. Barrels heat up no matter what. Slowing the process down can be done based on the cartridge and velocity of the projectile. Basically the only two real ways to make it happen. Lots of powder and velocity comes at an expense. Heat and throat erosion. Can't ever dodge those two negatives. I don't claim to know everything, only what I've experienced. Hope this helps others.

I'm a sensitive ginger lad..sorry. you just hit me after my most senior guy ran all day and melted 900$ of sensors. Sorry.

Then I crawled into a 4x8x3 box at 128 degrees and used my last 2 sensors. Yet another part that I will now be buying from eBay trying to keep my obsolete machines running. ( Manufacturer is German and parts are 8 weeks out and quadruple the cost.

 

[FullQuiver]

Personally I have an older 110 Savage with a hardwood stock that is ugly as sin. However she shoots 130 Hornady SST's as well as 150 GR Nosler Partitions into 3" groups with boring consistency at 400 yards. She's got a Rifle Basix trigger and a cheaper Bushnell Banner scope on her. Price for the gun including the trigger and scope was around $250 total and I bought it about 7 years ago.

She's knocks deer down like lightning with the 130's and I wouldn't hesitate to shoot an Elk with the Partitions. I've killed antelope out to 425 yards with it and several deer between 340-375 yards. I have the utmost in confidence in the accuracy of this rifle.. When I pull the trigger something is going to die.. That kind of confidence is worth a lot of ft lbs of energy and in my mind any brand name printed on a rifle..

 

[LGB]

I'm a sensitive ginger lad..sorry. you just hit me after my most senior guy ran all day and melted 900$ of sensors. Sorry.

Then I crawled into a 4x8x3 box at 128 degrees and used my last 2 sensors. Yet another part that I will now be buying from eBay trying to keep my obsolete machines running. ( Manufacturer is German and parts are 8 weeks out and quadruple the cost.

No sweat bud, we're all into this for fun. Just passing on my own experiences and hoping it's beneficial for others.

 

[TriggerDiscipline]

Nice rug! I don't think this hi-jacking. I've shot several Bears, countless Deer, Caribou, and a
Moose. All with a 30/06 180gr. Corelokt. Are the fancier bullets really necessary?

Depends on what you're shooting with them. I used to swear by them, but then I had two bad experiences with them back-to-back. The first was a small buck I shot from about 170 yards with a corelokt 150 grain .308 win, down a hill at a slight quartering away angle. Shot him right in the shoulder blade. He spun around, went down, then bolted away. About a half hour later I go down to track and can't find a bit of blood. Searched all night trying to find him, but had to call it quits. I chalked it up to a freak shot that must have deflected or missed vitals. The next morning I get a call from a guy who lives across the road on the lake saying he found the deer I shot by his beach. Turns out I hit the shoulder blade, but then the bullet immediately fragmented into tiny shards leaving no exit wound and no catastrophic damage that would otherwise cause the deer to quickly expire. You would think the energy would have snapped the spine, but not that time.

Second time was the next year on early antlerless with a corelokt in .30-06. Shot her from about 80 yards broadside, high shoulder. This time her spine snapped and she was DTR right where she was standing. However, the jacket separated again and there was no exit wound and very little blood. No doubt she would have died because the wound channel was wide right after entry, but had the shot been at an angle, or had the placement been less than ideal, I can't say it would have killed as easily.

My conclusion is corelokts will kill pretty well because of the fragmentation and rapid expansion, but that's a double-edged sword. Expanding too fast and jacket separation can lead to lost animals if the bullet yaws in the wrong direction, and the poor penetration without an exit wound makes for a tough tracking job.

I prefer a bullet with better penetration now. Bonded bullets and copper monolithics do the trick.

 

[NATTY BUMPO]

^^^^^^Excellent Post Directly Above ^^^^^^^ Real World.

Corelockts "used to be" a top shelf choice for smaller/softer big game animals. There are many better choices in big game bullets on the market today. Chose one.......

 

[deagansdad1]

I've had nothing but bad experience with core lockt. Went to ballistic tips and started dropping animals in their tracks. Like others say no exit hole no blood

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[Nostromo]

Depends on what you're shooting with them. I used to swear by them, but then I had two bad experiences with them back-to-back. The first was a small buck I shot from about 170 yards with a corelokt 150 grain .308 win, down a hill at a slight quartering away angle. Shot him right in the shoulder blade. He spun around, went down, then bolted away. About a half hour later I go down to track and can't find a bit of blood. Searched all night trying to find him, but had to call it quits. I chalked it up to a freak shot that must have deflected or missed vitals. The next morning I get a call from a guy who lives across the road on the lake saying he found the deer I shot by his beach. Turns out I hit the shoulder blade, but then the bullet immediately fragmented into tiny shards leaving no exit wound and no catastrophic damage that would otherwise cause the deer to quickly expire. You would think the energy would have snapped the spine, but not that time.

Second time was the next year on early antlerless with a corelokt in .30-06. Shot her from about 80 yards broadside, high shoulder. This time her spine snapped and she was DTR right where she was standing. However, the jacket separated again and there was no exit wound and very little blood. No doubt she would have died because the wound channel was wide right after entry, but had the shot been at an angle, or had the placement been less than ideal, I can't say it would have killed as easily.

My conclusion is corelokts will kill pretty well because of the fragmentation and rapid expansion, but that's a double-edged sword. Expanding too fast and jacket separation can lead to lost animals if the bullet yaws in the wrong direction, and the poor penetration without an exit wound makes for a tough tracking job.

I prefer a bullet with better penetration now. Bonded bullets and copper monolithics do the trick.

Odd, I've never managed to recover a corelokt. But like I said I use 180gr. I had a Winchester bullet separate once on a shoulder shot similar to your first example. The jacket laid the skin on the shoulder wide open, and the core was found on the far inside wall of the chest cavity.

 

[Nostromo]

^^^^^^Excellent Post Directly Above ^^^^^^^ Real World.

Corelockts "used to be" a top shelf choice for smaller/softer big game animals. There are many better choices in big game bullets on the market today. Chose one.......

That's the essence of my question. Better how exactly? You say "top shelf" which means the most expensive.

I've had nothing but bad experience with corelokt. Went to ballistic tips and started dropping animals in their tracks. Like others say no exit hole no blood

That's interesting.

 

[NATTY BUMPO]

That's the essence of my question. Better how exactly? You say "top shelf" which means the most expensive.

That's interesting.

NO WAY, you missed my point. ........ Top Shelf in my world means "Best in Class", of anything; golf balls, pickup trucks, fly rods, hospitals, KY Burbon, or whatever etc etc .....And Corelockt bullets maybe "used to be", ages ago, but not anymore, as has been so well illustrated by others in this thread......

 

[Tilden Hunter]

My experience with CoreLokt has only been three antlerless from .30-'06 and 300 Savage using a 150 gr. bullet. In that small sample there was no problem. I'd use them again, but don't seek them out. Every once in a while I find a box of 500 cheap, and use them for practice. I shot one buck with a Partition, a 150 gr. from a 7x57. It worked fine, but the deer wasn't deader. Other than those I've mostly stuck with Hornady and Sierra.

 

[Nostromo]

NO WAY, you missed my point. ........ Top Shelf in my world means "Best in Class", of anything; golf balls, pickup trucks, fly rods, hospitals, KY Burbon, or whatever etc etc .....And Corelockt bullets maybe "used to be", ages ago, but not anymore, as has been so well illustrated by others in this thread......

All right. Through reading this forum I've come to grips with the idea that I'm just the luckiest guy. My trucks run fine, by bullets pass through, and my game ends up in the freezer.

But "Top shelf" only refers to the more expensive no matter what you are talking about. The rest is pretty much advertising/marketing.

I admit I have only shot thin skinned game. None of which are very difficult to kill if you shoot where you are supposed to. Corelokt's handle these situations so how is a more expensive bullet better?

 

[Howitzer]

In my experience, most rifle bullets perform the same inside 200 yards, even match bullets. Outside 200 yards is where it starts to get interesting. As a general rule bullets holes do not expand in hides from bullets traveling less than 2200 FPS where the shockwave blows the wound wider than the bullet diameter causing trauma and a vacuum in the vital area causing the lungs to deflate or disrupt the heart signal to the brain causing mortality.

Personally, I opt for all copper bullets that have some cutting blade like Barnes or petals that shout out inside the animal taking out organs. The latter of the two I like, because my son had a not-so-great high hit yet the petals, demolished the heart and lungs. On the other hand, they lose weight which can lead to no exit which I prefer but most animals I have seen killed with Cutting Edge or Hammer bullets dropped like a light went out, even elk.

The real moral of the story is to shoot straight I would rather guide a person proficient at 200 yards with a 30-06 than a so-so shot with a 338.

Here's a good read!

Effective Game Killing

Effective game killing- How bullets kill and where to aim to ensure a fast clean kill.

www.ballisticstudies.com

 

[7mmsendero]

The discussion of ammunition is worthwhile. My primary rifle is a 7mm rem magnum, it’s all I’ve used since 2005. Probably taken 65-70 big game animals the past 17 years with it. Stocked up on ammo in 2017 when it was $15 per box, I have 150-175 rounds. However. ammo is $50+ per box. I picked up a .308 last month, Ruger American Predator. Ammo is cheaper and readily available. I’m using it for does going forward. I don’t have enough experience to recommend it over the 7mm mag, but I think it’s great.

 

[Howitzer]

The discussion of ammunition is worthwhile. My primary rifle is a 7mm rem magnum, it’s all I’ve used since 2005. Probably taken 65-70 big game animals the past 17 years with it. Stocked up on ammo in 2017 when it was $15 per box, I have 150-175 rounds. However. ammo is $50+ per box. I picked up a .308 last month, Ruger American Predator. Ammo is cheaper and readily available. I’m using it for does going forward. I don’t have enough experience to recommend it over the 7mm mag, but I think it’s great.

My daughter shoots 308 in Montana exclusively she kills every with it, paired with the Barnes Vortex it has dropped every deer she shot at with authority. Discussion is always good because despite the disagreements all of the data usually adds up to something. If people didn't argue we would still be shooting all lead.

 

[Howitzer]

Here's a good 30-06 read, you can transfer this mostly to 308.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA570469.pdf

 

[Markosmania]

I’m planning on having her tag out during bow season, then maybe I’ll use the Tikka for firearm! LOL
View attachment 846522
She’s a little spoiled this year.

I’m planning on having her tag out during bow season, then maybe I’ll use the Tikka for firearm! LOL
View attachment 846522
She’s a little spoiled this year.

Is that a riflebow??

 

[LGB]

All right. Through reading this forum I've come to grips with the idea that I'm just the luckiest guy. My trucks run fine, by bullets pass through, and my game ends up in the freezer.

But "Top shelf" only refers to the more expensive no matter what you are talking about. The rest is pretty much advertising/marketing.

I admit I have only shot thin skinned game. None of which are very difficult to kill if you shoot where you are supposed to. Corelokt's handle these situations so how is a more expensive bullet better?

Bottom line...Core Lokts work. Are they built as well as Nosler Partitions, who knows. They are a bonded bullet regardless. I'd simply pick the weight bullet based on the size of animal hunted. Most arms manufacturers that produce ammunition get a bad rap. In reality, most have killed more game than custom ammo or reloads have.

 

[boomstick]

...and it will knock down (backwards) nearly anyone who shoots it as well LOL - plus the ammo is incredibly expensive. Shot one of my buddies' once and found no need to buy one of my own.

It good that you know your limitations. A 300 win isn’t made for everyone and there’s nothing wrong with the smaller 30 cals. My wife loves her 30-06 . Ammo cost should never be a factor. It’s the cheapest part of your hunt.

 

[bheary]

.308 ammo is far easier to find these days

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