Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Regular Green box Remington Core Lok

Who has had success on elk with them?
My sons rifle shoots them lights out and hate to tinker with anything else...

What cartridge and bullet weight?

270 Win 130 Grain

I have had trouble with the pointed soft point design staying together on mule deer. The round nose offer a sturdier bullet. About any bullet slipped into the lungs will get an elk into your freezer, however elk seldom present the perfect bullet placement scenario. I am always puzzled by someone who chooses one brand of ammo over another simply because it shoots 1/4" smaller than another brand. It is all about the bullet, as this is what kills the elk. An elk is a large animal that does not require 1/2" grouping rifles to harvest. That degree of accuracy seldom if ever comes into play. Every elk I have shot and have been around that has been shot has been afoot, in all kinds of weather, all kinds of improvised rest. High winds and cold temperatures are often the weather of the day when elk hunting, so super accurate rifles and loads are nice but not necessary.

.308 just $0.02 cents worth.
I pulled one out of a far-side skin of a fair sized mule deer. Curled and did not open (opened very little on the inside of the curl. Years before that it was a go-2 for a factory load.

Just an opinion here, it is a further down the list bullet.

When everything was hard to find.
You could still find bags of core-lok reloading components.
For another opinion, but that one only cost a penny.

It was a 270 Winchester using 130 Remington pointed soft point Core-Lokt that stopped and came apart after 4" of penetration on a small mule deer. In fairness it did hit bone but for me way to fragile.

Have used Rem Green Box in a 30-06, 180 grain for 30+ years with pretty good success on mule deer, antelope, and elk. Also reloaded the core-lokt for years. Probably 40+ animals taken with them. I can only remember one time that they failed. I took a frontal chest shot on a whitetail doe and the bullet did not penetrate, probably glanced off.. Lots of blood but the deer was never recovered. The Core-Lokts always shot so accurately in two Remington 700's.

Now I load the Remington Ultra Bonded Core-Lokt in 180 grain and get similar accuracy as I did with the Green Box. Several elk and deer have been taken with this round and the bullet performs well.
PS - Also really like the Nosler Partition in my 7-08, just not quite as accurate for me.

My elk hunting partner has used the 180 gr 30-06 multiple times on elk. They all died pretty quickly. We both drew this year and he will use them again.

Before the internet, the Core-Lokt bullets worked damn good. Guess we didn't know any better till guys with a keyboard saved us. Wait, they probly still do work well. mtmuley

Never had a bad experience with them.

They work, but 150 grain would be better.

I switched away from them many years ago when a 150 grain 7 mag zipped through a doe at close range leaving no blood trail. Found her 2 weeks later and did not want that to happen again.

That started me into reloading and it has been well worth it so the crappy corelokt performance helped in the long run.

Chances are they will perform just fine on normal shots where you avoid big bones or slow them down enough for a follow up shot. For the guys who think they worked fine before the internet I'd say no we just didn't have the options we do now. Pay phones worked fine and so did 8 tracks but we don't see many of those anymore.

If you don't want to invest a coupe of hundred bucks in reloading equipment and supplies to have fun and save money at least pony up the $20 extra for s premium bullet for the 270. That $20 will be the cheapest hunt insurance you can buy. The bullet placement is certainly most important but why not shoot a great bullet instead of an OK one for the cost difference.

I'm using the Barnes TTSX these days after Accubond and Ballistic tips killed elk but didn't perform as well as I had hoped. Dead and in the freezer is hard to complain about but if you can get good penetration and expansion both why not? I dont want to pass a shot because the bullet isn't up to the task.

My gunsmith swears by them. I swear at them. The closest I ever came to losing an elk was with the core-lokt.

Switched to Partitions, and life was good again.

This member make a valid point about keyboard hunters. The point is, few of us ever use a bullet enough to get any real experience, thus we have to rely upon other experiences, IF correct data was obtained. You do have to take some with a grain of salt. A friend swears by the pointed Core-lokt's and will tell anybody that listens that he has 28 years of elk hunting under his belt while using them. To date he has only shot one small cow elk. The other deciding factor is, did the hunter study the bullet after impacting and recover the bullet? I have escorted 42 hunters over the years and only one asked how the bullet did or even looked into the animal. I know of no one but myself that carries a tape measure around to measure distance of bullet travel and paper and pen to take field notes. I have over 100 bullets that have taken from big game animals and they are enlightening. And I am still learning. The question is often asked, how could the bullet fail if the animal is dead. A good question. My personal beliefs are that a cup and core bullet should retain 1/2 it weight without hitting bone and 1/3rd if hitting bone and the core still firmly attached to the jacket, but those are just my criteria's. A few example of the questioned bullets may illustrate the point. I have already mentioned my 4" of penetration and disintegration on a buck , a second 130 grain 270 hit a rib on a mule deer at 225 yard. The bullet blew up and broke the rib but didn't enter the lung cavity. The bizarre thing is a small piece of the jacket base did creep in near the breastbone and make a tiny cut across the heart which is what finally killed it. A fellow guide took a lady out elk hunting using a 6mm Rem and 100 grain Rem Core-Lock bullets. A 300 yard shot and a long follow up recovered a very nice large 5 point. The bullet had struck the heart and was stuck in the opposite rib, completely intact. No expansion at all. You could have reused the bullet. I have seen them blow up, not expand at all, and give perfect performance. One of my personal favorites is a 220 grain 30 caliber round nose Core-Lokt I took out of a mule deer years ago. Absolute text book performance. As mentioned before on these forum pages the round nose is a heavy jacketed bullet while the pointed is a thin jacketed bullet. Someone mentioned Remington 150 grain as a good choice. These are the round nose variety. According to people who have used this load it is the gold standard for cup and core 270 ammo. I hope some member will post photos of some of their recovered bullets. Just a few observations to keep the post stirred.

I have 50+ kills on Whitetail, Sika & Axis with .284 150 gr Core Lokt Pointed Soft Points. Three of those Axis were nearly 300 pounds.

I like them in my 280's. I'd be hard pressed to give them any bad press. They are simple cup/core bullets. They work, but they're not magic.

Nice to hear RELODER28. 50 kills with one type of bullet give gives great prospective.

This would be my suggestion too. Same price.

Do any of you have experience with the old style Remington Mushroom Core-Lokt? This was the original controlled expansion bullet design. It was a hollow point with a little tit on the inside, completely covered with jacket and when sectioned has a heavy jacket and a wasp waist. I have shot 6 animals with them and was wondering if anyone else has and what their experience was.

Ain't that the truth.

Nice going, but how many elk with the core-lokts?