Blackwater,
Sorry I missed your question!
The Hot-Cor bullets, contrary to what some believe, aren't "bonded" because of the molten-injection cores. This can be easily proven by putting one in a vise upright, then hacksawing it down from the nose and prying the jacket away from the core. Dripping hot lead into a cold jacket isn't anything like the typical bonding process, which involves swaging the core inside the jacket first, then heating both until the core melts slightly, essentially soldering it to the jacket.
In fact, a Speer Hot-Cor was one of the very few bullets I've seen lose the jacket immediately when it hit an animal. It was 105-grain 6mm, started at 2800 fps from a .243 Winchester. The deer was a forkhon whitetail buck, and the range around 200-250 yards. The bullet hit a little high, and the core went into the spine, breaking it, but I found the empty jacket right at the entrance hole when I skinned the buck. On the other hand, have never had that happen again with a Hot-Cor.
At the other extreme, years ago I used 140 Hot-Cors from a .264 Winchester Magnum at 3200 fps to cull deer on a ranch, and they all penetrated completely, with no sign of coming apart. Also have a 165-grain .30 Hot-Cor in my collection shot into a whitetail buck maybe 100 yards, as the deer ran angling away. Muzzle velocity was around 2800 fps, and the bullet landed in the rear of the ribs on the left side. Found the bullet perfectly expanded, retaining 85% of its weight, in the right shoulder.
Eventually I concluded that Hot-Cor performance depends on several factors.
