Real world bullet performance

[ford8nr]

I usuall shoot 150gr, 30 cal Sierra Gamekings with great success. This season cause I didn't have time to reload, my son in law shot .308 factory 150gr Remington Core lokt's and I shot some left over handloaded 165 gr Hornady Interlocks in my '06.
He took a big forkhorn, broke rib going in, double lung pass through and broke upper leg going out. Recovered bullet under skin, perfect mushroom 70% weight retention.
I took a big 8ptr. Quarting shot facing me, high hit mid body, took out several ribs going in (biggest entrance hole I ever saw) passed between hind qtrs found bullet just under skin next to his A hole. Perfect mushroom back to the interlock ring, 86% weight retention.
Shot a doe in the afternoon at 130yds, bang/flop pass through.

 

[Newtosavage]

The more I shoot and hunt with the Hornady interlocks, the more impressed I am with them.

 

[BigBore44]

When it comes to deer, any good expanding cup and core or bonded rifle bullet will work great if you do your part and the bullet shoots accurately in your rifle. Sometimes I think people put too much emphases on latest and greatest. Old Core-Lokts have been putting North American game down for a long time. And have done it very well.

 

[cheygriz]

I use 150 Speer BTSP at 2950FPS in my .30-06 for everything from antelope to moose.

Never lost an animal with these.

Core-Lokt is also superb, but not quite as accurate as the Speer in my particular rifle.

 

[Bfh_auto]

The more I shoot and hunt with the Hornady interlocks, the more impressed I am with them.

I have had too many bad primers from Remington factory ammo. The bullets work fine.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I have had too many bad primers from Remington factory ammo. The bullets work fine.

I’ve never had a single bad primer with Remington factory after thousands of rounds in various calibers. That’s strange!

 

[cheygriz]

Ditto. Remington ammo has been 100 percent in my weapons.

 

[ford8nr]

Short of rimfire ammo, never had a bad primer in any centerfire factory ammo in 45+ years of hunting/shooting.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

My family has put a lot of meat on the table with the .30-06 and various cup and core JSPs. Sierra, Speer, Remington, Winchester, Hornady; all of them do the job with this cartridge at typical hunting ranges. Keep the velocities sane and these bullets can do good things for you.

It's when you start dealing with impact velocities over 3000 fps that these bullets can be problematic. Our family didn't start using Noslers and other premium bullets until we started hunting with magnums.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I’ve had superb luck with Nosler Accubonds, Barns X of various flavors, Swift A Frames, Sierra Game Kings, Corelokt, Hornandy Interbonds.

I’ve had bullet “failures” with Corelokt, Nosler Partition, Accubond and Barnes TSX. Failure meaning the bullet came apart or acted weird not necessarily a non fatal bullet failure.

The Corelokt was a 150 Gr .308 that separated it core and failed to penetrate the shoulder of a hog. We killed him a day later.

The Nosler Partition was a 180 Gr from a .308 it completely core separated from the front and rear jacket. It killed the hog but the bullet completely separated and blew to pieces. The more partions I started digging out the more of these issue I found.

The Accubond was a 210 Gr launched from a .338 RUM at over 3,000 FPS. The shooter hit the front shoulder bone and broke the leg. The bullet turned inside out and only penetrated about 5 inches. He was killed on the second shot.

The Barnes was a 180 Gr TSX from a .300 WM. The bullet hit an Antelope at about 200 yards. I hit him behind the shoulder a bit high. The bullet penetrated about 3 or 4 inches then made a 90 deg turn and went straight up and exited the meat of the back. I killed him wit the second shot.

Here’s my take on it. Any bullet can and will fail from time to time given the right variables. The bigger the critter the more I get concerned with bullet construction. Given the shear numbers of critters I’ve killed with various bullets I’ve found true non fatal bullet failure to be very rare.

On thick skinned dangerous game I’ve never had the first issue with large bore, moderate velocity Barnes TSX bullets. As far as solids go I’ve had spectacular results with Woodleigh steel jacketed solids and Barnes monolithic solids.

I wouldn’t even think of using a soft cup and core bullet on thick skinned DG. And visa versa there really isn’t any reason to use high tech, controlled expansion bullets on soft light critters like deer.

Elk and moose is where I like to start using a stiffer bullet.

 

[Newtosavage]

I have had too many bad primers from Remington factory ammo. The bullets work fine.

That's cool since I was referring to Hornady Interlocks.

 

[Offfhand]

I have had too many bad primers from Remington factory ammo.

A FTF (Failure To Fire) with quality factory ammo means you have a gun problem. Sluggish firing pin springs are often the cause.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Ditto. Remington ammo has been 100 percent in my weapons.

Same here.
It hasn't always been the most accurate. But it's always went bang.

 

[Bfh_auto]

A FTF (Failure To Fire) with quality factory ammo means you have a gun problem. Sluggish firing pin springs are often the cause.

I would agree, but I have never had failure to fire with any other brand or my hand loaded ammo. Each time the prime had a deep strike and failed to fire on a second one.
270 win happened in to different lot numbers. 260 rem happened once. 280 had 3 dead in one box.
This was over a period of 15 years.
I am not saying don't use them, I'm just saying I won't.

 

[Bfh_auto]

That's cool since I was referring to Hornady Interlocks.

Sorry. I clicked the wrong post.
I have nothing bad to say about either bullet. The people who I personally know that complain about either one on deer, operate on the you miss every shot you don't take mentality.
I wasn't trying to derail the with my original comment.

 

[jmr40]

The Nosler Partition was a 180 Gr from a .308 it completely core separated from the front and rear jacket. It killed the hog but the bullet completely separated and blew to pieces. The more partions I started digging out the more of these issue I found.

That's not an issue, that is how they are designed to work. The front half is very soft and gives the advantage of rapid expansion and shock, The rear half, the part behind the "partition" is designed to stay in one piece and give good penetration. You get the best of both rapid expansion and deep penetration.

 

[H&Hhunter]

That's not an issue, that is how they are designed to work. The front half is very soft and gives the advantage of rapid expansion and shock, The rear half, the part behind the "partition" is designed to stay in one piece and give good penetration. You get the best of both rapid expansion and deep penetration.

You misread what I wrote. I understand that the nose is supposed to open rapidly and even sperate. I am saying that he the tail came apart too. I found the brass partition but the jacket had sperated front and rear. The biggest piece of bullet weighed about 20 grs.

 

[Captcurt]

I have shot Accubonds for several years in several calibers from 243-300 WSM and have had very good bullet performance until this year. Evidently the 150gr. 30 cal has a thinner jacket than their 165 gr. I have never had the upset from the 165gr that I had with the 150gr. It is a bomb when cranked over 3000 fps. The separated ribs, golfball sized piece of heart, and fist sized exit hole can vouch to that. Even the 110 gr out of a 257 Weatherby held up better with less trauma. Simple fix. Just go back to the 165gr.

 

[lastofthebreed]

X2 on the Hornady Interlocks, a fine bullet. Have never had an issue with one of them. Core Lokt's are fine as well. Killing a deer is not that hard, I've seen them taken with soft cast 45 caliber round balls out of a muzzle loader.

 

[Riomouse911]

My Grandfathers never fail whitetail deer loads were W-W 150 gr Silvertips in .30-30 and 100 gr PSP Remington Core Lokts in .257 Roberts.

Those combos killed an awful lot of deer over the years....

Stay safe!

 

[someguy2800]

Some of the most impressive bullets I've seen were core lokts and federal fusion.

 

[H&Hhunter]

My Grandfathers never fail whitetail deer loads were W-W 150 gr Silvertips in .30-30 and 100 gr PSP Remington Core Lokts in .257 Roberts.

Those combos killed an awful lot of deer over the years....

Stay safe!

Those old silver tips were an excellent bullet.

 

[Riomouse911]

They sure were good bullets, I wish they were still catalogued!

I liked the Silvertips in .30-30 because the lead tips didn’t get mooshed when you unloaded your lever rifle badly. The RP rounds and others with lots of lead exposed seem to ding and dent a lot.

Stay safe!

 

[IdaD]

I've taken a lot more animals with core lokts out of my 30-06 than anything else, and by a wide margin. I've also used them successfully in 7mm-08. I've seen some jacket separations over the years but haven't had any accuracy issues and never had a problem with any of them firing, and they've functioned well for me on pronghorn, deer and elk. I did buy some hot loaded partitions when I went on my Alaska moose hunt many years ago but given that I killed it with a neck shot from about 10-15 yards I have to imagine the old standby green and yellow box stuff would have worked fine. I also run premium bullets in my 300 Wby partly because of the extra velocity and partly because I'm already spending an arm and a leg on that stuff so I figure I may as well.

 

[Random 8]

Yes, in general you don't need special bullets for deer in most circumstances. I have shot a lot of deer with various .30 cal 150s and 165s from (muzzle) velocities 2400-2900fps. Bullets included Hornady IL, Speer Hot Core, Speer BTSP, Rem Core Lokt, and Win PP. All have performed similarly. I've settled on the Speers in recent years as they have been the most consistently accurate in the rifles I load for and have matched my desired performance the best... rapid initial expansion, holding together for pass through.

In the .280 Rem I load for, I did find the desire for a premium bullet. I found cup and cores in the lighter weights to expand a bit too violently for my taste. Still dead deer, just a meat damage issue and dubious pass through (although I never tested one at a tough angle). Used the 145 Grand Slam for several years with good success. Going forward, I will be trying the 160 Hot Core as I will hopefully be needing a "light elk" bullet for next season. I did find heavy for caliber C/C bullets in this caliber to perform admirably on heavy deer.