Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 150 grain corelockt disinegration

I am finally getting around to sharing my experience this deer season with 150 grain Remington Corelokt pointed soft points in .300 savage. The 8 pointer I got dropped like it was hit with Thors hammer but what I recovered when I butchered it concerned me. The photo below shows the total disintegration of the core and seperation from the jacket. What was left was a sort of banana peal of copper. I did hit a lot of bone and what I did recover appeared to have tumbled along the backbone and damaged about 8 inches of backstrap. I'm thinking of switching to something more substantial like hand loaded Nosler Partitions or at least 180 grain factory fodder. Am I over reacting?

No pics!! Ok there you go!!!! See 'em now!!

Mike....

Sorry, see pics.

Corelokts have been killing deer for years. I wouldn't change based on one bullet's reaction to hitting one deer.

Dale

Yeah, I 'm thinkin the fact that it piled up like it was pole axed is all I should care about, not what was recovered when I butchered it.

I think premium bullets do provide better performance. Consistent performance is one dimension of better performance. Given how few bullets are actually fired at game, I think the expense is negligible when it comes to the premium bullets.

Love Nosler Partitions just for the simple reason that they've never done that to me, whether it was a 30-06, 243 or 300 Savage. In one side with small hole, and out the other side with a slightly larger hole. Legs no problem, chest no problem.. Had some factory non-premiums blow up on me over the years like that, can't rightfully tell you what kind they were now since I've been using NP's so long.

But, others swear by other kinds of bullets and I don't have reason to believe they don't work. My confidence level just climbs with NP's, so I stick with them.

And +1 to boltman.. I don't use Partitions for practicing or plinking, just for sighting in for hunting and hunting. Targets don't need Partitions.

I don't call them Core-Loss for nothing, though they are better than a sharp stick, maybe.

They do what they are made for, bringing home the meat. My dad swears by them. As for me, way to much ruined meat, that's why I quit useing them.

A lot of bullets that lose their cores often seem to perform perfectly in that the animal drops in its track. And, if the bullet isn't retrieved, people think that the bullet performed perfectly. This was basically Romac's experience until he found the bullet. I use corelockts for plinking/casual target shooting as well as sighting in. Once I get it right where I want it, then I go to the premium bullet to make sure that is hitting right on. I try to waste as few premium bullets as possible on paper, but never worry about the price of them when I am shooting them at an animal.

While you have received a considerable amount of good advice one thing that I'd caution you on is to be careful that you don't go to too tough a bullet. I've been shooting whitetails for years with .300 Savage Winchester 150 grain Silvertips. The originals, not the ballistic ones that they sell these days. In any event, since I'd had such good experience with the Silvertips in .300 Savage I figured that when I took my .358 Win out to play that the 200 grain Silvertips in that caliber would be just the ticket. What I found out was that for whitetails the .358 Winchester 200 grain Silvertip is just a bit to stout. Instead of expanding I found that they were leaving perfect little .358 holes going in and going out. Don't get me wrong. I'm not adverse to premium bullets. Just take the time to make sure that you're not going too far in the opposite direction trying to compensate for what may appear to be a bullet failure.

You can pay twice the price to feel more confident, or you can use the Core-Lokts and bring home the meat. I've killed a truck load of deer and other game up to moose with CLs. I've also killed a bunch with Nosler Partitions. Two things. Most game doesn't go right down with the NPs, they usually run a ways. But since they almost always give full penetration, there's a good blood trail. Where the NPs serve me very well is in cartridges that are light for the game, e.g. .243Win on Mule Deer. In that case you need a premium bullet, IMHO. But for deer with .300Savage and up, not so much. Another example, .30-06 for Brown Bear. Marginal, so use the best bullet you can buy. Switch to the .375H&H, then bullet construction is not as important. Another place where NPs may be warrented is where you use a lighter bullet in a cartridge to flatten the trajectory. You can sacrifice bullet weight and not lose performance by going to the premium bullet.

Just my experiences, YMMV.

Opening day in NE Pennsylvania was real wet, a lot of stop and start rain with the temperature in the high 30's with fog rolling through the area. It was the kind of day that is really hard to sit. We hiked about a mile in state game lands so we did not have treestands. It's the kind of terrain that is all boulders, rocks and mountain laurel mixed in with mature hardwoods. At about 11:00 am I started to still hunt downhill towards where one of my buddies was supposed to be. Which was really more of a single man drive. (My still hunting technique consists of me bumbling around and things running away from me) Anyways, this dear came running from right to left and I saw that it was legal, as I was raising my 99 it put on the breaks and looked at me for a second then spun around was about to haul arse down hill when I shot. It was quartering away, downhill and entered high on the left side just behind the last rib along the backstrap. A lot of meat was tore up. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I don't want to use a bullet that is going to make me have to think twice about angle, optimum shot placement, etc... (as long as the shot is ethical) They all work great at deer standing still sideways. When it gets a little warmer I might just do some experimenting with wet newspaper and see what types of terminal performance different bullets deliver. It should be interesting.

I want stuff to work when everything is wrong.

Steelhead, You said what meant in one line.

I am curious to know why a backstrap shot with a CL could be any less tore up than a backstrap shot with a Partition? What makes a bullet that drops a deer like the Hammer of Thor any less effective than an expanding bullet more likely to penetrate all the way through, making a bore-diameter hole on exit? I don't get it. Elk, dangerous bears, other animals thicker than a deer, sure, but why on a deer? We want the bullet to get past hide and initial rib bones, then expend its energy inside on organs, not so?

From your description, the CL did not disintegrate on the hide, destroyed internal tissue - backstraps -, and even took out the spine, killing the deer instantly.

In the scenario above, pretty much any bullet would have had the same result. Destroyed meat. 99% of my deer hunting has been with core-lokt bullets. I have hunted and killed with: 30-30, 30-06, .300 sav. Only one year I hunted the 30-06 with NP's. That year is the ONLY year that I did not have a bang flop. First shot was a perfect broadside shot at 80 yds. The bullet entered the near shoulder and lodged into the far side shoulder. The buck went down with broken shoulders and 2 hit lungs, but still ran a bit more than 100 yards useing his neck as front legs. When I got to him he was still alive and has 50% of his strength but was jammed in heavy brush and could not move any more. I took a second shot, a neck shot, to end the story. Retrieved bullet pictured below! I guess you just never know what might happen!!

Mike...

I think he was less than happy with the damage to the meat and especially the lack of the bullet to stay together.

Some folks like the bullet to expand and disintegrate inside the deer dropping it in it's tracks. Others like it to pass through with a better guarantee of penetration through bone, and don't mind trailing a deer 100 yards or so. Religious argument, imho I'm not sure there is a right or wrong.

Room enough in this world for both camps.

Good morning Rory!!!

Mike...

Corelockts sometimes shed their cores, sometimes they don't. Sometimes when they shed their cores, they drop a deer in their tracks. I don't want to use a bullet where I know maybe it will shed its core, maybe not. What is most important to me is a hit that will be lethal. If it drops right there or runs 100 yards is of little matter. In Mike's example, even though it ran 100 yards, it was a dead deer. With it being hit in two lungs, it would have been dead without the follow-up shot.