Remington Core-Lokt for deer

[Gunner46]

@TN2shot07, thank you. I feel comfortable shooting out to like 550 to maybe 600 yards, but I shoot a lot. I hunt in the open mountains, so I can get those shots off, and shoot an unobstructed shot.

I have 'shoot a lot' also. Had to qual on the 500 yd line with an M-14 & a M-16, but it was on a full body target. A hit anywhere in the black was a scoring shot.

But, combat shooting is not ethical hunting shooting. If you have 'shot a lot' , then why are you asking if a Cor-Lock is an adequate bullet for a deer.... any deer ? Have you 'Hunted A Lot'? Filled a few tags? Just your question suggests you haven't. That being said you really need to re-evaluate your consideration of a 550-660 yd shot because if that was all done off a bench, then you may not even be capable of a 200 yd field shot.

But, to answer your question. The reason Rem Cor-locks have been around for so many DECADES is because they work. If they didn't they would have gone by the way side many, many, many years ago.

I choose to shoot Nosler BT's for deer. (more accurate across the board with every rifle I've hunted with)

 

[WyoDoug]

Hello, I am wondering if you can use Remington Core-Lokt for deer, specifically muleys. I have a 30-06, .300 win mag, and a 7mm remington. What is the maximum range with each of those rounds, with Remington Core-Lokt ammo? I am open for suggestions, let me know. Thanks

I am not a fan of core-lockts. What I noticed is a lot of times they go all the way through but cause so little damage that the animal runs too far. I went back to my ballistic tips myself. I know I was hitting the animals because you can see the blood and they were in the heart lung area but they were not going down until they ran significant distances, especially antelope. With ballistic tips, there is more meat damage BUT the animals were dropped almost immediately.

 

[Steiny]

I've shot a whole bunch of deer with Cor-Lockts as well as a bunch of other big game and they do the job every time if you put the bullet in the right spot.
Have also found that they group very well in most of my rifles.

 

[coleslaw]

Probably about the only thing I trust with the Remington name still attached to it.

 

[Gr8bawana]

You should give Berger bullets a shot...tons of bloodshot meat full of lead fragments

I can confirm that. The bull my brother shot a couple of years ago in AZ with a Berger bullet went an awful long way before we caught up to it and he was able to finish it off. The first shot was quartering to and disintegrated into a thousand tiny fragments.

 

[SaskHunter]

Thousands of critters get killed every year with plain corelokts. I don't see why they wouldn't work for you.

 

[thusby]

Is this a real question? That bullet has probably killed more game than blue tongue.

 

[WyoDoug]

Is this a real question? That bullet has probably killed more game than blue tongue.

I hear people saying coreloks are good bullets but I am going on my experience alone. I placed some shots in the animals I killed from 2003-2007 and noticed the bullets were penetrating all the way through but causing little damage. The animals would flinch and sometimes run as far as a mile or so and I had to track them down. They did die and when I opened up the body cavity I was finding penetration into one or both lungs and the heart. It could be the powder load playing into that too but the exit hole was about the same size as the entry. At the time I was using Remington brand. When I switched to using ballistic tips, that problem went away. The animals either dropped immediately or within 50 yards. I can tell some people had good luck with coreloks. I just have not. At the range, my groups at 100 yards are all within an 8 inch circle with each individual groups about half dollar size so accuracy was not the issue. I typically go for double lung broadside shots now and will wait for a good shot before I take a wounding one. I don't doubt some have had good luck with these bullets, but at the same time, be aware some of us, specially me have not.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

I hear people saying coreloks are good bullets but I am going on my experience alone. I placed some shots in the animals I killed from 2003-2007 and noticed the bullets were penetrating all the way through but causing little damage. The animals would flinch and sometimes run as far as a mile or so and I had to track them down. They did die and when I opened up the body cavity I was finding penetration into one or both lungs and the heart. It could be the powder load playing into that too but the exit hole was about the same size as the entry. At the time I was using Remington brand. When I switched to using ballistic tips, that problem went away. The animals either dropped immediately or within 50 yards. I can tell some people had good luck with coreloks. I just have not. At the range, my groups at 100 yards are all within an 8 inch circle with each individual groups about half dollar size so accuracy was not the issue. I typically go for double lung broadside shots now and will wait for a good shot before I take a wounding one. I don't doubt some have had good luck with these bullets, but at the same time, be aware some of us, specially me have not.

What caliber?

 

[WyoDoug]

30-06

 

[WyoDoug]

What caliber?

30-06

 

[Muley_Stalker]

30-06

I'm surprised to read they didn't expand in an 06. I used them in a 30-30 decades ago and they expanded as they should. Maybe they messed with the construction since I used them.

 

[sbhooper]

I guess everybody must be bored, now that hunting seasons are over. Can't anybody use an internet search engine anymore? For God sake, bad breath will kill a deer. Don't ask me how I know. Just go shoot the damn thing.

 

[geetar]

Hello, I am wondering if you can use Remington Core-Lokt for deer, specifically muleys. I have a 30-06, .300 win mag, and a 7mm remington. What is the maximum range with each of those rounds, with Remington Core-Lokt ammo? I am open for suggestions, let me know. Thanks

Me and my cousin Chad killed two muleys with 2 shots. 180 grain core lokt in 30-06. Shots were 180 and 200. Neither buck ran off. Also I should mention they perform well on those pesky prairie dogs.

 

[woodruff93]

Can’t speak for mule deer, but I have only ever used corelokts in my .308 for whitetails. Can’t imagine a mule deer would be much different. Never shot out past 250 yards with them but have never had any accuracy issues with them out that far. I have yet to track a deer shot with one, one corelokt through the shoulder and they are dead in their tracks.

 

[Mudder]

Can’t speak for mule deer, but I have only ever used corelokts in my .308 for whitetails. Can’t imagine a mule deer would be much different. Never shot out past 250 yards with them but have never had any accuracy issues with them out that far. I have yet to track a deer shot with one, one corelokt through the shoulder and they are dead in their tracks.

Dropping them in a pile is a fifty-fifty proposition for me. A little low seems to work better than a center lung shot. A neck shot seems to drop them in a pile every time. I shy away from shoulder shots out of habit, I've hunted a bunch of Roe Deer and a shoulder shot tears up too much meat, Roe Deer are small (but tough) and not as easy to knock down as you'd think. I hold slightly behind the shoulder and a little lower than you'd think, lower lung as near the Heart as practical without hitting any thicker bones.
Just a hypothesis but IMO if just the air is disrupted and the shot doesn't disrupt enough of the nervous system they can run a long way. Same with blood flow, I've had them run 50+ yards with basically an exploded heart. But if you put a bullet near a nerve path or cluster they usually go down in a pile. Neck shots are a little harder, but the chances of disrupting, air, blood and nerve paths increases. I don't always shoot a neck shot, sometimes it is a low percentage target. But my favorite shot, head down feeding flank exposed neck shot has never failed me yet. I almost always wait for a good neck shot when the Deer is near the border of my lease.

 

[WyoDoug]

You know I am thinking, at the time I had the issues with CoreLokts, Colorado legislature was pushing for non-leaded ammunition. This was during the period I had this issue. If I remember right, the bullet was a full metal jacket with a composite core instead of lead. I have no clue what Colorado requires now in the bullets because I never hunted there since I left the state. Wyoming does not have those laws yet so I am thinking about buying a box and trying them and test for expansion using silicone blocks to recover the bullets.

 

[2ski]

I've shot most all of my deer with a .243 with corelokt bullets. None of them ran far if they didnt just drop.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

You know I am thinking, at the time I had the issues with CoreLokts, Colorado legislature was pushing for non-leaded ammunition. This was during the period I had this issue. If I remember right, the bullet was a full metal jacket with a composite core instead of lead. I have no clue what Colorado requires now in the bullets because I never hunted there since I left the state. Wyoming does not have those laws yet so I am thinking about buying a box and trying them and test for expansion using silicone blocks to recover the bullets.

There's no lead ban in Colorado. I'll either use an all lead round ball in traditional muzzleloaders or an all lead conical (NoExcuses) in an inline muzzleloader.

 

[El Jason]

You know I am thinking, at the time I had the issues with CoreLokts, Colorado legislature was pushing for non-leaded ammunition. This was during the period I had this issue. If I remember right, the bullet was a full metal jacket with a composite core instead of lead. I have no clue what Colorado requires now in the bullets because I never hunted there since I left the state. Wyoming does not have those laws yet so I am thinking about buying a box and trying them and test for expansion using silicone blocks to recover the bullets.

So you’re saying the Core Locts you bought had a full metal jacket and a non lead core?