With all of the newer technology on the market these days costing close to a dollar a pop, and getting every recommendation from prairie dogs to polar bears, I thought I would post up a couple of pics of some old school get-r-done technology.

This past weekend I worked up a sudo load for my 25-06 AI. I was using some 120gr Rem CL's over a goodly amount of Ramshot Magnum. The load is hitting 3350fps @ 15' from the 28" Broughton barrel, and grouping just under an inch at 100yds.

Saturday morning I dropped the hammer on a decent feral hog using this load. The shot hit high in the shoulder, and dropped him like a sack of cement. In fact he hit the ground so fast I initially thought I had missed.

Anyway here are some pic's of the bullet, which after starting at 120grs still weighed 75grs. It took a pretty rough beating hitting both shoulders and part of the spine on it's way through. If you look close you can see where the vertebra swiped the front of the core.





I have used the CL's in a variety of calibers over the years and this result has been the norm when I do recover one. Some are a bit more intact, some a bit more tore up, but they all generally have the cores intact and are rolled back in very similar fashion.

To me even if they won't always group in the .1's or even 1", if they will hit repeatedly under 2", they will work on just about anything out there, for a LOT less than the premium bullets, and generally have better performance overall, with less damage to surrounding areas.

The 180 core-locts work great in my 30-06. Good luck trying to find them in stock anywhere though. Seems like they have all kinds of premiums on hand.

Rem's CLs were the first "premium" hunting bullets. They were great then, they're great now.

The Remington CoreLok is as good of bonded bullet as you will find. I personally have always had the classic mushroom from these bullets with two exceptions. The two exceptions were neck shots on mature whitetail bucks that both dressed out over 155 pounds. These shots were both under 100 yards and both bullets left the muzzle at over 3000 fps. Had they been farther away or if the bullet was traveling a bit slower, I am pretty sure I would have seen the classic mushroom. However in both instances the bullet blew up into pieces smaller than 1/8". Deffinately dead dear in both instances.

vip, if you are talking reloading, you can find the Corelok bullets at a number of reloading outfits like Midway, Cabella's, etc.

There's probably been more "stuff" killed with a core lokt bullet than all the rest combined.

And in a some of my rifles, I have found them to be the most accurate.

The typical average hunter does not reload. They go to a place like WalMart and buy factory stuff and Remington, Winchester and Federal are probably the top three and thus take a high percentage of the game. I have used Remington bulk packed---which is probably the Core Lockt and more so I have used Winchester bulk packed which is probably comparable. They work. Have not found the need to go to higher priced premium bullets and this includes smaller cals as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Mke / Tx:
This past weekend I worked up a sudo load for my 25-06 AI.

CoreLocts have always worked well on deer and bear in this neck of the woods. No feral hogs roaming around though. That said, I'm curious what exactly a 'sudo' load is. And I've loaded for the 25-06 Rem for almost 40 years. Even if you mis-spelled pseudo, that word means sham, false, counterfeit. None of those terms seems to fit. Color me curious.

onefunzr2--Maybe that sudo load was a typo and it's a Judo load---throws em to the ground.

Used them for about 20 or so years. They're inexpensive and they kill stuff dead. Never had anything near a bullet failure of any kind. Less expensive = more practice. More practice = more fun and a better shot. Better shot = WAY better than going with premium bullets and worrying about the $ everytime you pull the trigger.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
onefunzr2--Maybe that sudo load was a typo and it's a Judo load---throws em to the ground.

Could be but I've never heard of that either.

onefunzr2---I never heard of em either. Probably none exist. Maybe it could give someone an idea for a new invention.

I love'em. Great bullets

I use Core Lokts almost exclusively in my 308 and 6.5x55, and I have never had a bullet failure. For the price, they are hands down the best bullet on the market.

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:

quote:

Originally posted by Mke / Tx:
This past weekend I worked up a sudo load for my 25-06 AI.

CoreLocts have always worked well on deer and bear in this neck of the woods. No feral hogs roaming around though. That said, I'm curious what exactly a 'sudo' load is. And I've loaded for the 25-06 Rem for almost 40 years. Even if you mis-spelled pseudo, that word means sham, false, counterfeit. None of those terms seems to fit. Color me curious.

Well I guess I mis-spelled it, but then again, the load is simply that. I more or less simply dumped the powder in and seated the bullet. not much more to it. I knew from a previous limited load work up how much powder was needed to get to the velocity window I was looking for with the 120gr bullets. The unknown was how these particular bullets were going to shoot at that velocity. Out to 150yds they shot good, after that the groups started to open up pretty fast.

So in the end, I called it a sudo or pseudo. Right or wrong, I "did" shoot a hog with it, "but" I will definitely hold off shooting more until I can work them with another powder to see if that might help close up the groups at the longer ranges, might also play around with the seating depth as well as I haven't changed it for any of the loads.. Next the Hornady's, and Nosler Solid Bases come into rotation. They actually showed the best groups of the 120's. Then the Wildcat's in 125 and 130gr. They also shot very tight out past 200yds, but I don't have many of them to play with so I am just going to keep the load I already have for them, unless they become available again.

Since I have had the standard version around for the past 20 years or so I have quite a few boxes of bullet I had purchased for it but decided to use something else instead. Yea it got the "premium" treatment and only shoots 115gr Partitions or 110gr Accubonds. Nice thing is, it uses the same load and shoots them both to the same POA at 200yds, and both easily group around 1/2" or less depending on me. So it's hard not so shoot something that works so well in that one.

quote:

vip, if you are talking reloading, you can find the Corelok bullets at a number of reloading outfits like Midway, Cabella's, etc.

I just got some in from Graf & Sons. They had them in limited quantity. Midway hasn't had them for months and Natchez must sell them as soon as they come in. I don't think they're extinct, just that there is a much heavier demand for the overpriced premium bullets. I don't know why, they don't kill the animal any faster than the core-lokt's.

For some years, way back in the 70s, Rem produced an excellant line of "PowerLoct" bullets for small calibers. They had a plated jacket, a real jacket, not a thin copper wash. The uniformity was very high so the accuracy was too, jacket uniformity is THE key to making accurate bullets.

The 80 gr. PLHP gave me the best accuracy I've ever attained in my .243 Vangard and the explosive effect on crows/ground hogs was quite satisfying. So, they dropped them due to insufficent sales. And that of course was due to a near total lack of mention by magazine writers who do have the power to drag a lot of magazine shooters around by the nose. Just as they still ignore the CLs for game. Oh well.

I use the latest Rem.55 gr. PLHP in one of my 22-250s. They are very accurate and deadly.

VIP, I'll have to look at my receipts, but I am pretty sure that I bought 150gr. Corelok 7mm (284) bullets from Midway back in the middle of January of this year. All of my 06 (308 cal.) were way back when.

Also, after I got to thinking about it, I need to correct myself. The deer that I shot in the neck last year - The corelok bullet did not completely blowup like it did this year. The jacket was for the most part in-tack but the lead was gone from the 270 Win. bullet. This year it was a 300 WSM.

It seems like I have used them forever; does anyone know when they came out? They have allways done a GOOD job for me!!!

The corelokt is a good basic bullet. However it pales in comparison to the Speer Hotcor or the Nosler Solid Base bullets.

quote:

The corelokt is a good basic bullet. However it pales in comparison to the Speer Hotcor or the Nosler Solid Base bullets.

I would agree to that, and I have some of both in limited quantities for a couple of rifles. But the SB's are no longer made, and it looks like the HC's are on the way out as well.

If they still made the SB's in the calibers I shoot, I would probably only have them sitting on my shelf. They shot very accurately in every rifle I have. The HC's shot well in a couple but over all weren't as accurate for me.

Still in all, for the prices they want now for the so called premiums, I might simply keep with adding the CL's as I need them to replace the others. I just cannot see any reason to pay twice the price for half the bullets, which don't offer anything significant over what i am getting or have gotten from the CL's on the critters I shoot on a regular basis.

Now if I were heading to Montana or similar for Elk or Bison, then I might have a much easier time throwing down on some Partitions or Accubonds. Just don't see that in my future though.

quote:

Posted 11 March 2010 06:57 Hide Post
The corelokt is a good basic bullet. However it pales in comparison to the Speer Hotcor or the Nosler Solid Base bullets.

I have to disagree with that statement, i used a 140gr speer hotcore in my 6.5X55 swede and it has been the 'ONLY" bullet that has not completely penetrated a deer, thats out of a sample of 13.Where i hunt its very thick and an exit helps a lot in finding and tracking deer.

I would have to say that the best cup and
core bullets, hands down, are Hornady's. Very accurate and pretty damn tough, i've never recovered one and thats just fine with me

I have never used the Hotcor in .264 diameter but have used the 150 and 180gr. .308, the 150 gr. .277, the 160 gr. .284, and the 250 gr. .358 bullets on a lot of game. Only the 150 gr. .308 seems a bit soft but still kills well. I have used lots of different corelokts and though they generally kill well they always overexpand just like the one in the picture. I would far prefer the Corelokts be discontinued than the Hotcors. Also present pricing of the Corelokts is up there with Hornady's and Sierra's so I'd rather spend money on the the latter. Adding though the Round nosed versions of the Corelokts are excellent bullets, comparable to some premiums.

quote:

Originally posted by rickt300:
I have never used the Hotcor in .264 diameter but have used the 150 and 180gr. .308, the 150 gr. .277, the 160 gr. .284, and the 250 gr. .358 bullets on a lot of game. Only the 150 gr. .308 seems a bit soft but still kills well. I have used lots of different corelokts and though they generally kill well they always overexpand just like the one in the picture. I would far prefer the Corelokts be discontinued than the Hotcors. Also present pricing of the Corelokts is up there with Hornady's and Sierra's so I'd rather spend money on the the latter. Adding though the Round nosed versions of the Corelokts are excellent bullets, comparable to some premiums.

Not sure what you mean by "over expanding", I was pretty darn happy at the end result from this one. The starting velocity was just over 3300fps and the impact was pretty brutal to say the least. With the density of what it hit, and the velocity at the short 110yds or so range, it held up WAY better than I figured it would.

Most of the ones I load start out at around 3000fps or less, so they generally hold up REALLY well, do minimal damage and put stuff on the ground either on impact or within only a few yards of it.

Yes other bullets do as well. I guess the main jest of this post was more for the newer folks or folks on a tighter budget who seem to think they can't shoot a deer anymore with anything less than the latest and greatest plastic tipped premium style bullets. Which are for the most part great bullets, but in general hunting of deer and similar critters, they really aren't needed. They are there if you want them, but it's a lot harder for me to shoot a hundred rounds of Barnes TTX's just to punch holes in paper or a hogs, than the plain old Rem's, or Hornady, Sierra or Speer for that matter.

I think the rag writers, and internet guru's, and advertising have brought newer folks into the sport believing that light skinned game has to have almost armor piercing ammo to be harvested. This all said every company out there makes good bullets, that if used within a velocity range suitable for the construction will perform well. The issues arise when the impacts are at the top end or exceeding this range by a little or a lot depending on the range of the shot. Like the first post, this bullet would have been in WAY better shape had the range been out at 200 or so yards, but for impacting at a velocity that most rifle only get at the muzzle it held up really well.

quote:

Originally posted by Mke / Tx:
I think the rag writers, and internet guru's, and advertising have brought newer folks into the sport believing that light skinned game has to have almost armor piercing ammo to be harvested. This all said every company out there makes good bullets, that if used within a velocity range suitable for the construction will perform well. The issues arise when the impacts are at the top end or exceeding this range by a little or a lot depending on the range of the shot. Like the first post, this bullet would have been in WAY better shape had the range been out at 200 or so yards, but for impacting at a velocity that most rifle only get at the muzzle it held up really well.

Excellent post!

There's nothing special about core lokts.... Having said that I can also say there's nothing wrong with them either!

They've been doing the job for a very long time now and are as good now as ever. If all we had was core lokts, the number of deer killed every year probably wouldn't change a bit!

I'm one that prefers the bonded premiums but would be in error to tell anyone that they are a vastly better bullet than the "Core lokt family" of bullets.

The difference is small and the price is double to five times as much. However for $50.00 I can buy a (nearly) lifetime supply of A-Frames. This really isn't an exorbitant amount for a "slightly better" bullet.

The 100 gr. pointed Corelokt for the various 6MM cartridges seems to be a pretty good balance of expansion and penetration, I guess the 120 gr. 25 caliber bullet may be the same. I would not expect the same performance every time from a corelokt though. I still load the 165 gr. Corelokt in my 308, considering it a good bullet at those speeds (2600 fps or so). I guess one of my real peeves about Remington bullets is the vast difference in quality box to box. As they say "Remington has no seconds".

Several decades ago, I may have experienced bullet failure with some factory 150s from a 308.

I say may have because I recovered a corelokt jacket sans lead from a bear and a deer. Goes with out saying the animals were sufficiently expired to surrender said bullets. Bears in particular have a tendency to object to such shenanigans.

quote:

Originally posted by youp50:
Bears in particular have a tendency to object to such shenanigans.

I can just imagine, probably about as much or more than a big boar hog would.LOL

I have used Core Lokt bullets in the past with excellent results. I recovered a 150 gr SPCL 30-30 bullet that was loaded in my 30-06 intact from a WT buck!
Recovered these from wet phone books, 150 gr SPCL for 300 Savage, fired from a 30-06.


I have also used 30 cal 150 gr PSPCL, 180 gr SPLC, 180 gr PSPCL, 35 Whelen, 200 gr PSPCL, and 257 Roberts 100 gr PSPCL loads and they have never disappointed me.

JD338

I do use 165 gr PSPs in .308 Win and 30-06 for hunting Whitetails. Good enough and cheap. They work fine.

I do use more expensive bullets in different chamberings and for different purposes.

Sadly Remington bullets are now as expensive as Speer, Hornady and Sierra. So spread your wings and try some of the other bullets.