I had bad experiences on three separate occasions with the 140 Corelokt in early 260 factory loads. Huge entrance holes and very shallow penetration. One blew a 3” hole in the side of a little buck’s neck and failed to break the spine.
Shot a big buck once right beside the butthole with a 180 Silvertip in a factory 30/06. It broke his collarbone when it exited. The next day I shot a big pig square in the shoulder with one out of the same box and it flattened out and failed to even break the scapula.
After the pig incident I started hand loading early X bullets and had great luck with them.
In the last 6-8 years I’ve returned to C&C bullets for most of my hunting and have had good luck with Hornady, Nosler, Sierra, Kodiak, Barnes Originals, Speer, and Norma.
223 My current favorite is the 77 Sierra Tipped Matchking
257 Weatherby is excellent with the 85 Ballistic Tip pushed to warp speed
270 Winchester gets 130 Hornady Spire points
270 Weatherby I like the 130 Etip or Partition
7/08 we’ve had good luck with a big box of old Norma BTSP 150s that sadly I’m out of, probably switch to Ballistic Tips or Hornadys this fall
300 Savage I’ve used more old Normas, Ballistic Tips, and Hornadys all in 150gr and all have been great on deer and bears
30/06 I have a ton of 180 Normas I like but I’ve been transitioning to the 165 boat tail Hornady and the boat tail HP Sierra. The Sierras are pretty destructive but they kill well.
I don't recall ever seeing a deer "collar bone" before.
