1) If you had to choose one source of low-cost factory ammo that would serve for all of your hunting needs for the next 5 years, which would you choose? And I'm thinking here of Remington Core-lokt, Winchester Super-X and Federal Power Shok.

2) If you had to choose one cup and core bullet for all of your handloading from antelope to elk, which one would it be?

Rem Core-Lokt for me and the Fusion ammo is my absolute favorite if its considered "low cost"

Chris

1.) Which ever of the three shot best in my rifle. I'm shooting the Federals now and have a bunch of Core-Lokts in waiting.

2.) Again which ever of the above shot best. You can get all three as components. The Federal being a Speer bullet.

(1) I would probably start with Federal Blue-box. Fusion is also very good.

(2) I'd start by looking at the Hornady Interlok.

If I could no longer reload and had to pick a low cost factory load it would be Federal Fusion

winchester power point

1. No more shooting for me.

2. Hornady Interlock.

+1

1) Probably go with cor-lokts but wouldn't really matter as long as they shot well.

2) I have a soft spot for Sierras and the one bullet would probably be a 180 SGK out of my 30/06.

Remington Core -lokts for factory and Sierras for cup and core...

Ive used corelokt,powerpoints,and fusions all with great success. I prefer the fusions followd closely by powerpoints

Federal blue box.

Hornady Interlock.

1/. Not real sure.

2/. Hornady Interlock with the flat base.

^ This^^^

1. Federal Blue Box

2. Hornady Interlock Flatbase

Remington Core -lokts

Hornady Interlock

Ditto....

Federal Fusion or blue box & Hornady flatbase Interloks

1: WW Power Points, I've never seen one come apart

2: Sierra HPBT GameKings if available in the caliber I wanted, Hornady Interlocks otherwise.

I bought 100 rounds of Norma Oryx .308 Win/180 gr a few years back at $10 a box of 20. I think Norma discontinued the particular bullet, don't know if you can still find it.

Second question is Hornady Spire Point (under the name of the day...

jim

That'd be the way I'd roll

Dober

1. Winchester ammunition. The 130gr 270 load shoots under MOA in more than one 270 I own. It is also shot best in both of my nephews 30-06's with 180gr loads vs the Remington and Federal.

2. Hands down, Hornady Interlock

Well, it seems like among loaded ammo Remington and Federal are a bit in the lead, with a good showing for Fusions and a bit less for Winchester.

Hornady Interlock has a clear and commanding lead for reloading.

For those who chose Fusions: is there an actual difference in the construction of the bullet compared to the other cup and core choices (Sierra, Core-lokt, PowerPoint), or was your choice determined by good results during actual use?

Core-lokt, Power shok, or PowerPoints; I guess I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. Just make sure you observe the old rules for cup and cores and use adequate weights for proper penetration and expansion.

1) Can�t say (haven�t used factory loads in over thirty years)

2) Used Hornady flat base InterLocks with good success on several moose before switching to Barnes �X� bullets in the late �80s

Haven't shot enough factory ammo in the past forty years to have an opinion.

I would be very happy if the only c & c bullets(or any hunting bullet for that matter) that I could get were the appropriate size and weight SGK's.

1. I would go with the Federal Powershok for factory loads followed very closely by Winchester Power Points. The Power Point actually seems to hold together better but the Power Shok is more impressive with its accuracy.

2. For reloads, I would go with Sierra Gamekings or Hornady Interlokts.

There lies the secret.

Me too, assuming I had turrets.

I think it depends on the game you are hunting. For deer or other (relatively) small bodied game, any sporting ammo will do. For heavier game (e.g., elk and big bear) I'd want a premium load.

1) I'd start with Winchester but probably try all 3 and run with what the rifle says it likes.

2) Hornady Interlock

Dale

Winchester power point factory
Hornady IL for reloading

For low cost factory ammo and c&c bullets, without hesitation; Hornady Custom ammo and Hornady Interlok bullets. My rifle shoots NOTHING better than .30-06 Hornady Custom 180 SPIL and the 150s and 165s shoot very well also. Frankly, I could use nothing else than the 180s in my rifle the rest of my life and do fine.

Expat

A-Max

Pretty much how I roll too, but i'd let the rifle tell me what it prefers when it comes to factory loaded ammo......However, from my testing, the rem corelokt is usually the one the rifle chooses....

Federal Fusion factory ammunition.

Speer Hot-Cor hands down for the hand loading bullets.

Gunner

Federal or Winchester factory ammo and Nosler BT bullets.

Remington Core-Lokts and Hornady Interlocks again here.

However, I am transitioning as much as I can to Remington Core-Lokt bulk bullets. The deer certainly don't seem to mind the change.

I don't think that there is a "best". Cup and core technology is very mature and all the ammo and reloading companies put out competitive products that work well. It is just a matter of what works best in a your rifle and what you can get the best deal on price wise.

Winchester power point factory loads have been the most consistent for me.

1) Federal Fusion--I've never seen or heard of anyone not having excellent accuracy and great terminal results.

2) Hornady Interlock--I've never seen or heard of anyone not having excellent accuracy and great terminal results.

Never knew there was so much Horny IL love out there!

yea, since the elk and bears started wearing body armour, you just can't kill them with anything short of a 50BMG and handturned mono bullets.

I always liked the Winchester Power Points and original Silvertips.

Hornady Interloct followed by Sierra bullets.

1. Federal, choose their blue box stuff, or for a little more $ their loadings of SGK have shot well out of every rifle I've tried them in and performed great on game.

2. Hornaday Interloct or Sierra Game Kings for me.

Federal Blue Box for factory loads.

Hornady Interlocks for C&C bullets.

I've found this to be a very interesting thread, especially the amount of people who love Hornady Interlocks. I've shot thousands of V-Max's, but have only had limited experience with the Interlock. About 15 years ago I loaded up 180 grain Interlocks for two .300 Win Mags. I don't remember the load, but it was towards the top with H4831, so I'm guessing around 3000 fps. My buddy and I went to Alaska to hunt the Mulchatna herd (this was a while ago!). On the second day, I watched him shoot an average sized caribou broadside at 100 yards. He hit him in the ribs and shoulder 5 times. He would shoot, it would fall, then get back up, then he'd shoot again. When we cut it up, none of the bullets had made it to the off-side lung. The side he was shooting was complete mush with bits of copper and lead everywhere.

My second experience was with the 160 grain 6.5 bullet in my Swede. Running that bullet at 2500 fps, I shot a whitetail doe (raking shot) at about 40 feet. She made it 50 yards or so and piled up. Did she die? Yes. But my reason for chosing that bullet was to have something that should exit a whitetail from any angle and not do that much meat damage. I think of the 6.5 Swede with a 160 grain bullet as my "little .375 H&H" from a penetration standpoint. The bullet penetrated about a foot and and really made a mess out of things. Lots of meat damage.

Given that everyone else here seems to think they're the best thing since toast, I guess it just goes to show you that a sample size of two doesn't tell you much!

1. ? No experience with factory ammo.

2. Speer Hot Core for C&C bullets

czech1022;
Thanks for the interesting reading on a Monday afternoon sir, I'd not have guessed it was quite that way, but it appears it is.

As many others have said, barring shotshells and rimfire I believe the last big game I shot with factory ammo was about 1987 or thereabout. It was by the way Canadian made Imperial out of a .30-30 that lived behind the seat of my Toyota 4x4 and on the way to work one morning I shot a 2nd rack 2x3 mulie.

So if forced to shoot factory stuff today we'd be in a bit of a pickle what with our .308 Norma's, and AI's and all.

There is a .308 and a .270 still in the safe though, so we'd buy whatever the local Canadian Tire or Walmart actually had - no gun shops within 50 miles - which is usually Federal I believe.

We'd join the masses and pick bullets out of the many red boxes under the reloading bench if we were limited to cup and core. In truth, our family did very well with Hornady Interlocks, both BT and Flat Base.

Thanks again for the interesting poll and all the best to you in the upcoming week.

Regards,
Dwayne

Yeah, hopefully they don't see this thread and raise the prices....

Well for the last 7 seasons I been shooting my deer with 7mm RM 150 gr Fusion loads. They shoot well out of my barrel and also Blue Box Federal 150 gr 7mm RM loads dose about as well. I still have six left out of a box of fusions enough to check zero and shoot a couple of more deer. This spring I will buy four more boxes of it and that should keep me in venison for a few years. 22's have been in real short supply of late here , I'm down to five bricks.

1. Blue box Federal although I shoot reloads 100%.

2. Hornady Interlock or Sierra Pro-Hunter

Ron

Were I into handloading, I'd select as best cup & core bullets Sierra Gamekings. I've used these in Federal ammo for years, got my share of DRT deer with them, and they've shot as accurate as could be hoped for in all my rifles.

Best relatively low cost factory ammo, IMHO, is Fusion. Excellent accuracy in every rifle I've put them through, and I think their method of bonding is probably as state of the art as it gets.

Factory ammo (25.06) that groups like this is pretty tough to knock...

Springer my 7mm RM dose that with 150 gr Fusions. Its very very good ammo.

Hornady Interlocks and RP factory ammo when I use any , I am good to go any where any time.Mostly use my own loads period. Magnum Man

Core lokt factory ammo and speer hot cor for reloading

Factory, Hornady custom

Cup and core, Hornady interlock or Nosler ballistic tips.

Back when, I bought a case of .30-06 Light Magnums (listed at 2880 - my friends chrony said just over 2900) loaded w/180 Interlocks. They were accurate enough and they worked well except one time. A nice mule deer buck was escaping over a ridge not quite 200 yards out. I made a perfect "Texas heart shot" (no entry wound). The pelvis was shattered, but so was the bullet. Took a neck shot to seal the deal. The bullet was in small fragments.

I considered the bullet destruction a fluke. I'm down to two boxes, and still use the stuff to hunt.

For hand loads, I have been looking for a new bullet. I have NP and Accubond on the shelf in 165 grains.

I bought a new to me 1970 Gd III BAR a while back. I bought a case of Remington CoreLokts as I needed new brass. I was not sure what the LightMagnum might do to the gas system. They are accurate enough and have always done the job.

A few years ago, I bought all the dealer had of a really accurate lot of cheap Federal .308 150 grain bullets. They have given outstanding performance in both accuracy, as in half inch three shot groups, and in killing game.

In light calibers (.243 etc) I like good strong bullets such as NP and Barnes for deer and Sierra 70s for coyote. My two cents, jack

For reloading I like the Hornady Interlocks.

Winchester Power Points

Federal Power Shok (blue box) or Fusion
Nosler Ballistic Tip or Solid Base (if available)