First of all, I'm a handloader and have not shot anything with factory ammo in years. But next week, I'm taking my 12-year-old nephew on a deer cull hunt in Alabama (I promised him I'd take him hunting when he got his hunters' safety card, which he did in September. So now it's my sacred obligation to take him.) Since the smallest "deer" rifle I have in my arsenal is a Ruger M-77, Mark II in .260 Rem., this is what he'll use. Unfortunately, this is the only rifle I'm not set up to reload for.

Since there's not time to buy dies and start working up a load, I have decided to do something almost sacraligous: use factory ammo! (Please don't tell my family and friends; the shame is just too unbearable).

So, I ran off to the BP station (that's Bass Pro Shops, for those not from around here) and all they had were 120-grain Ballistic Tips and 140-grain el cheapos (Core Lokts -- which at 26 bucks a box, ain't all that dang cheap!). Now over the years, I've found the Remington Core Lokts to be accurate and an excellent performing bullet on game, expecially if you will use one a little heavy for caliber (like the 180 grain in 30-'06 instead of the 165s). And since 140 grains in .260 would be considered "heavy for caliber," I bought two boxes. I took it to the range that day and in just five shots had it shooting 1" high at 100, grouping right at one inch. Not too shabby, for factory (ugh) ammo!

No real point to this rambling, since it's too late to make changes now. I expect we'll get multible opportunities at does (like I said, this is a cull hunt on a very overpopulated Alabama Black Belt plantation).
Just curious as to if anybody has ever used the 140-grain Core Lokts in .260 on game? How did it perform? Should I expect pass-throughs? Bang Flops? Or will the bullets just bounce off causing us to be charged by an enraged whitetail doe (they're not called "Brown Death" for nothing). Not too worry, I'll have a .458 Lott in the blind to sort out this situation, should it develop.

Y'all have a good week, and I'll report on our hunt next week.

Core Lokts are hard to beat for your basic deer cartridge. they have worked for over 50 years I think.

There are "better" bullets out there now days, but for deer cull, no issues at all with them. Buy a couple boxes and have fun.

Seriously, I'm sure the problem will not be "killing" deer. The problem will be "hitting" deer -- see the kid has never fired a rifle before (he lives 500 miles from me) and the only tutorial he is going to get is a range session the day before the hunt, where we'll shoot baloons with rim fires before moving up to the .260. I'm hoping I can get him comfortable with it in just the short time we will have. BTW, the kid (and rifle) will not be more than three feet from me all hunt, unless one us feels the call of nature, in which case, five feet!

I've not shot the Core Lokts in the .260, but I used to shoot them in my .30-30 and .30-06 before I started reloading. I never lost a deer with them.

I took my grandson (9 yrs old) deer hunting last year with my .243 and he shot a nice 10 point. We had been practicing quite a bit. The worst problem he had was acquiring the target in the scope and getting his head at the proper eye relief distance from the scope. The recoil was not a problem and the .260 and the .243 have basically the same recoil so you should be OK there. If he's not afraid of the gun, you'll be OK with some practice.

No personal experience with 260 core lokts, but have had a number of customers that swore by them for whitetails. Ranges tend not to be far in PA, but with broadside shots thru the ribs of shoulder, they said they went straight thru and out the other side, with nice big holes. Deer either fell over or ran a short way and fell over. No reports on going away, texas heart shots. Since more of those are taken than claimed, I'll bet the lack of reports would mean that this might mean less than stellar performance for that kind of shot at close range. In a gun shop, you mostly hear of the I'm (or my bother or somebody I know is) a Marine sniper shots and the I need a bigger gun shots.
I would expect that rifle/ammo/shooter combo to be just fine for this job, especially if Unc is there to mentor and make it fun.
Bfly

I'll have to admit, I'm more excited about this hunt than any I've been on in the last 10 years (except for maybe my African safaris).

Like I said, there's almost something sacred about introducing a newbie kid to the sport to the sport.

I've handloaded 140 grain Corelokts to be pretty close to factory specs, if not a little more...

44 grains of IMr 4350 and the 140 grain Corelokt..
not only is it accurate as heck.. it is also more than capable for the job at hand...

actually I wouldn't hesitate to take it in the field for Elk at Woods Ranges...Recoil is akin to the 243 range as stated above by others..

I know a guy whos wife took a 6 1/2' black bear on Kuiu Is. with her 260 with 140 gr Corlokt factory ammo .. Apparantly the shot broke one shoulder and exited on a slight quartering shot . bear didn,t go far mostly down ...I wouldn,t hesitate to take a THS on a deer with one .. But I generally try to avoid TH Shots ..... I hope you and he have a great time ....

Until I started reloading, I used the 140 gr load for a couple of years. Wasn't that accurate in my
Ruger (but then nothing is- rifle is a 1 1/2 inche gun), but they worked just fine on ND whitetails. Pass throughs, and mostly bangflops.....

Also, If I'm not mistaken, Big Green now makes a
"Managed Recoil" load for the .260.......

SBB

Killed 3 deer with 120 corelokts, very deadly, never had bug hole accuracy with them but they did well enough. Shot 2-2.5" 200 yd groups w/140s in '96 mausers..... 6.5x55.

Yes, 140s are deadly enough, back when I had 6.5/308 and used the factory 140 260 loads, got key holed targets, and patterns, not groups. EARLY 260 ammo was tested not up to spec, resulting in lower RPMs, and in a 9 twist, was not enough mv. Hopefully your newer ammo is faster, but personally I'd go for 120-125 if not Nosler 130 ABs.

Not that any deer will withstand any good hit with any 6.5mm bullet.

Good hunting.

I've had the same experience with my Remington M-7 (MS), out of time, grabbed two boxes of factory 140 grain core lokts, and found that my rifle just loved them. Two deer dropped with one shot each ten days later. I can't say enough good about this, and it saves me reloading for the .260, since my deer hunting doesn't require a batch of ammo to begin with! Some rifles like the 140 R-P recipe some do not. I had another M-7 that only liked 120 grain bullets, and another that would not shoot a good group (1 moa) at all.
LLS