.35 Rem Cor-Lokt bullet failure (in my opinion)

[Ugly Sauce]

I'd take the Winchester ammo over that funky "Leverevolution" that likes to jam up the action. But...Perhaps it was the caliber that "failed". A 350 Remington Magnum would probably provide the results desired regardless of the bullet used.

 

[Thomasss]

Do .600" pure lead round balls ever fail? Not yet.
View attachment 1119549

Ya they do. Had a guy tell me he shot a doe at 40 yards with a .50 cal. Thompson Center Hawkens load with 3F 777 and the ball went through and through and never expanded. He tracked the doe a long distance before she bled out. But he was PO cause it never expanded. Like I said in my first thread. I've seen all sorts of weird things that ammo isn't suppose to happen and yet they do.

 

[brewer12345]

So did my bullet fail? I made a kill shot on a doe at about 325 yards. The SST went though a little skin on the front shank and entered the chest cavity. Baseball sized hole in the heart, damaged lungs, chunk out of the liver, smallish hole in the stomach (no exploded guts, thankfully). No exit wound I could find, no bullet fragments, so I assume the heavily decelerated bullet ended up in the stomach or something nearby (I was not digging around in the guts to look). No real blood coming out, but she went down about a second after the bullet hit and didn't really move afterward.

Considering the distance, I don't really think so, but sample of one of course.

 

[brewer12345]

Ya they do. Had a guy tell me he shot a doe at 40 yards with a .50 cal. Thompson Center Hawkens load with 3F 777 and the ball went through and through and never expanded. He tracked the doe a long distance before she bled out. But he was PO cause it never expanded. Like I said in my first thread. I've seen all sorts of weird things that ammo isn't suppose to happen and yet they do.

You really need expansion when the ball is already 50 cal and it did a complete pass through? I don't think so.

 

[Catpop]

On reading this thread I was trying to think back over 50+ years and remember a deer I shot that didn’t drop in its tracks. I can’t remember a single one. Maybe I’ve just been extremely lucky.
Over those years the factory ammo I used hunting when not reloading was always Remington Core-Lokt.
Calibers used included 30-40, 35 Rem, 30-30, 30-06, 300 HH, (and maybe a few I’ve forgotten)
Remington and Core-Lokt have always served “ME” well when still hunting.
Jmho

Note: Today if I needed to retrieve a bullet from a deer to prove its expansion, I would get out my trusty metal detector and find the slug in the deers body (if it didn’t exit)
Jmho

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Ya they do. Had a guy tell me he shot a doe at 40 yards with a .50 cal. Thompson Center Hawkens load with 3F 777 and the ball went through and through and never expanded. He tracked the doe a long distance before she bled out. But he was PO cause it never expanded. Like I said in my first thread. I've seen all sorts of weird things that ammo isn't suppose to happen and yet they do.

Oh that's probably true, just saying, my .600" ball with 110 grains of Swiss sure has not failed me yet. And, it don't need to expand. The smaller calibers like a .50" I think you need to keep the velocity up, if you want expansion. I see a lot of guys load them pretty light. I've never recovered a .600" ball, to see if it expanded. They go right through and kill quickly. They may still be going! If one ever does "fail", I will certainly blame myself, and not the rifle or the ball.

 

[wombat13]

From your information, you are not satisfied with the ammo. Something shouldn't have happened, but did. It should have been a thru and thru and it wasn't. It sounds like old ammo that may not have been stored in the best of conditions..... I've deer hunted for over 50 years and have seen some awfully weird problems with ammo. BUT....
I know of a nice Christmas present. Right now Cabela's has .35 Remington in stock. Hornady Revolution 200 grn. flex tip is $42/box and Winchester 200 grn. $52. Enjoy the venison and plan for a great hunt next year! Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the tip, but it is already out of stock. I was hunting all day yesterday with my son and didn’t see your message until now. Oh well.

 

[JDeere]

I'd say it did it's job well. Not every well placed shot will produce a blood trail upon the initial hit. Every animal and shot is different. Did it fragment, possibly. Core Lokts have been taking care of business for years...

 

[JumboJVT]

You are missing at least two things, when a bullet goes into or through an animal, many times the hide slips over the hole(s) and there's little to NO blood loss. In my case, the bullet did exit and there was NO external blood loss for over 50 yards...

What controlled expansion means, is exactly that, controlled expansion, it doesn't mean that ANY bullet that expands and holds together will exit, not by a long shot! In fact, many times an expanded bullet that DOES hold together has less penetration, and that's why I like NP's. The nose of an NP blows off creating a lot of damage and the back 2/3's of the bullet that's left, has little expansion and goes on through...DM

Yep. After growing up handloading Partitions for the 270 I bought when I was 15, I got poor in college and CoreLok's were cheap, $8-10 a box. After shooting several deer with them, and often NOT having an exit hole, I went back to the NP's and almost always have holes in both sides. Not always blood, but holes. Of course I just paid $63 for a box of 50 at my LGS. I don't shoot 'em at woodchucks anymore.

 

[ms6852]

I personally do not call it a bullet failure in as much as a shot placement failure, which in this case the bullet still did the job and dropped the deer within 20 yards.

 

[Thomasss]

Thanks for the tip, but it is already out of stock. I was hunting all day yesterday with my son and didn’t see your message until now. Oh well.

You have two options: 1) order it now, Cabela's will bring it in from another store or back order. You got a whole year to fill the back order until you need it.
2) Start loading your own. Granted, start up costs will be $300 or so, but it's a great hobby and you can custom fit to your own particular needs.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

) Start loading your own. Granted, start up costs will be $300 or so, but it's a great hobby and you can custom fit to your own particular needs.

A LEE hand press and one die set, and a scale will cost way-way-way less than $300.00! I've never understood why anyone would not re-load, excuses not withstanding.

 

[Thomasss]

A LEE hand press and one die set, and a scale will cost way-way-way less than $300.00!

Lee basic hand press reloading kit $50, set of dies, $48.00, new or once fire brass $90/100, 1# powder $52, LRP $8/100, bullets $55/100.
MINIMUM AMOUNT OF THE ABOVE COMES TO $303.00 Ps. scale not needed, powder scoop comes with the dies.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Lee basic hand press reloading kit $50, set of dies, $48.00, new or once fire brass $90/100, 1# powder $52, LRP $8/100, bullets $55/100.
MINIMUM AMOUNT OF THE ABOVE COMES TO $303.00 Ps. scale not needed, powder scoop comes with the dies.

No no no, I don't include the price of components...that's a horse of a different color! And, the brass is less expensive every time you reload it, the cost of powder is "different" when you figure the price per load, (dividing the weight or each load), etc. !!!

Dang! $90 bucks for 100 pieces of brass????????????? I've gotten very much out of touch! Glad I stocked up on all that years ago. Glad I can just cast up some round-balls for what I hunt with these days, from free scrounged lead!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

scale not needed, powder scoop comes with the dies.

I don't know/think I would pass on a scale. But that's just me.

 

[wombat13]

You have two options: 1) order it now, Cabela's will bring it in from another store or back order. You got a whole year to fill the back order until you need it.
2) Start loading your own. Granted, start up costs will be $300 or so, but it's a great hobby and you can custom fit to your own particular needs.

I do reload, but this is not my rifle, it's my friend's. I let him know that Cabela's briefly had some ammo in stock. Thanks again.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Just curious, what rifle is it? I've always wanted one, whatever it is. !!!! If it's a Savage 99, don't tell me, as that is what I've always REALLY wanted. (in .35Rem)

 

[leeroy71]

just curious so don't ridicule me. from the photo of the impact point, how did the shot break a rib? looks like it's too far forward to even touch a rib.

 

[wombat13]

just curious so don't ridicule me. from the photo of the impact point, how did the shot break a rib? looks like it's too far forward to even touch a rib.

I guess the impact was not as far forward as it appears in the photo. There was a 3-4” long shard of rib in the chest cavity when he filed dressed the deer.

The bullet did not hit shoulder or leg bones. All were intact. Someone above said it was “failure of shot placement.” I disagree. The bullet entered the chest close to the shoulder but not into the shoulder. That is excellent shot placement. Ultimately, it appears the bullet fragments caused damage to the heart and both lungs.

 

[Chuck R.]

I'd take the Winchester ammo over that funky "Leverevolution" that likes to jam up the action. But...Perhaps it was the caliber that "failed". A 350 Remington Magnum would probably provide the results desired regardless of the bullet used.

New years day (1st day of our does season) I put a 200 grn .358 Horn SP from a .350RM (MV 2830) through a quartering doe, from behind the front shoulder, with an exit just in front of the rear qtr at about 65yds. This was a big doe, even by KS standards, I was kind of shocked how actually big she was, especially when trying to load her in the UTV. She was a mean biatch, bit one of the other does and raked another with her hooves, so I singled here out. At the shot, she jumped and ran about 35yds before collapsing, a .35 hole going in and it looked like .70 coming out, in between was a mess. There were zero bullet fragments, so it held together at probably 2750 or so impact velocity.

1st time using the Hornady, or a 200 grn for that matter in the 350. I usually use 225s or 250s. The deer died, the bullet went somewhere, so I'm calling it success. Hindsight being 20-20 I should have gone for the shoulder as I wanted to see what the Interlock would do. I'm working on a pig hunt n FEB, so I'll take the .350RM again and see what it will do against a pig with the 200 grn.

 

[BWstickman]

Piling up within 20 yards of were i shot it to me is outstanding results… I’ve been deer hunting for about 45 years give or take a year… I’ve taken a lot of deer with a rifle and I’ve had em drop in there tracks and I’ve had them run 50 or 60 yards… some left blood a blind man could follow and some just left drops… I believe it’s all about shot placement… I’m a pretty good shot on paper but if I’m in the woods and a deer walks in I get all sorts of worked up!!! Perfect shot placement somehow goes out the window… i think if you hunt long enough and kill enough deer sooner or later your gonna have a iffy blood trail

 

[Roverguy]

Sorry, replied to the wrong thread… :-(

 

[d2wing]

Not a bullet failure at all. I have a .35 Remington and the only ammo I ever found was Cor-lokts. Never been a problem. I have shot deer that had an exit wound with a 30-06 that went lots farther than that and it sprayed blood everywhere. I wouldn't expect an exit wound with a .35 Remington all the time. And lots of times, exit wound or not, there is little or no blood trail even with slugs. You really don't know what happened to the bullet. It defies reason that a 200 slow moving slug exploded without trace. In any case 20 yards is an excellent result. I have shot 100 or more deer with all kinds of rounds. Bullets do funny things and I don't judge them for it. Relax and enjoy the venison.

 

[LoonWulf]

Eeetz Ded......ded, ded........goot work.....

I dont like pencil holes, other than that I dont care what the bullet does as long as it gets to the squishy bits and messes them up. So id be in the "not a failure" camp.

Ill admit, the only cartridges ive used on animals that were slower than about 2500fps starting have been .22lr and .22mags which call for different shot placement than something like a 35 Remington.
Thus my opinion/knowledge of how the rounds kill could well be skewed.
I guess I could include muzzle loaders as well, but my experience with those is mostly on 40-50lb goats....

 

[WisBorn]

Congratulations to your friend @wombat13 .

A deer that expired after only 20 yards from where it was shot can't be called anything but successful. I'm sure that the number of deer shot with CORE-LOKs is in the millions, because they work. I have shot several myself always with good results. The 35 rem a great deer/black bear woods gun and the 200 grain CORE-LOKs is probably the most popular load in the 35 rem.
Yes I would like to have an exit hole, but breaking a 3" piece of rib off does take energy and reduces penetration.
If I was your friend I would continue to use the CORE-LOKs.