Remington Core Lokt?

Hello All,

Wanted to get some feedback on the Remington Core Lokt buller in pointed soft point. Personally, I went to South Africa in August of 2008 and it did very well with me shooting a Remington 700 rifle chambered in 270 Win. I shot a Kudu, Eland, 2 Zebra, an Impala, Warthog, and a Gemsbuck. We did not have shots over 100 yards and no animal went over 50 yards. Meaning, there was no tracking of the animals. Now, I know there's going to be the "shot placement" comments and the like, but specifically I am wanting to hear the good and bad from people who have used this bullet in South Africa on plainsgame.

My question is this: This bullet seems so popular in the Southeast where I live, why doesn't it get any love on this message forum.

I am going back in April 2012 with a 300 Win Mag but everyone seems to recommend a bullet other than the Remington Core Lokt. What gives?

There is nothing wrong with the Core Lokt. 90 percent of the time it will kill everything with ease. The only problem is if you took a sharp quartering to shot on a big kudu or eland and hit that front leg, the bullet could deflect some and you would have a wounded animal on your hand. If you pick your shots, it's a great bullet. I for one won't take that quartering to shot anymore. There are better choices. I was using a similiar bullet on a waterbuck, 2 years ago and it deflected off the front leg. I also had a problem with a blue wildebeest, it shattered the front shoulder and did enough damage to the lungs...but it didn't even go half way through. And that was with a 300 Win Mag 200 grain Premier Boattail from Remington. Both were quartering too shots....won't do it again unless I had Barnes TSX or TTSX or similiar.

I have use them in my 338 win mag with great success.

MY PH had a problem with the 225 & 250 gr bullets as they did not leave an exit hole.

On small, wart hog, impala, bushbuck and blesbuck the bullet went through and the animal stayed where it was shot.

On Nyala, Nyasa -land wildebeest, Red & Lichtenstein hartebeest, black wildebeest, zebra, bullets were some times winking at you on the far side. We had to only track one wildebeest and it was hit at about 350 yds and went about 1/4 mile before we finished him off.

We have never lost an animal with the core-lock bullets, however the PH"S wanted a bullet that would punch holes on both sided.

Next year i will again have Core-lock bullets for my 338 win mag however i will be taking my 375 with some hornady 300 gr soft and solids for giraffe and eland plus the small critters who we want to have a hole in and out.

No exit hole! That is something I also experienced in 2008 that I did not include in the original post of the thread. I figured the 270 caliber and the size of the animals had a lot to do with it. I guess that opens up the can of worms about the bullet passing thru vs leaving all the energy in the animal. Just looking for the comments on the core lokt bullets here please.

I have not used core lokts on African game, but I have used it in 140gr 7x57 frequently on whitetail deer. It has performed exceptionally well, in fact it is my cartridge of choice for whitetails. I have no doubt that it would perform equally well on whitetail sized African game. I imagine that it would work well on larger game in appropriately sized calibers.

Advocate of the Core Lokt. I love them and use them with great success in a variety of calibers. I would rather have the animal I am shooting absorb every ounce of energy that the bullet has to offer, regardless of range/distance. My opinion may not be shared by all, oh well, they work for me.

Inexpensive, accurate and have used core lokts (CL) on everything here. Elk, Moose, Bison, Deer.
Love them.
Why I loaded Barnes TTSX for Africa:
Reduced Deflection and
Increased penetration and
it was suggested to have premium bullets by someone in the know.

My experience:
Issues: The CL's open on a blade of grass and deflect easily on twigs etc. Barnes TTSX did not.
I could do shots with the TTSX that we would never do at home. Brush, etc.

If you have a clear shot, nothing wrong with CL's.

I have never used core/lokt bullets in Africa although i did take some along. I have used them exclusevely in the U.S. having taken Elk, White Tail Deer, fallow Deer, & Black Hawaiian Sheep. Performed well& all exited except the Elk which was lodged under the skin on the opposite shoulder. i have no doubt they would perform well in Africa!

I know I've never been to Africa but I can only praise the Core-lokt. I manage deer in England and think they are awesome, never had any problems and have found them very accurate as I neck shoot most deer if I can. JMHO.

I have used the for deer, bear and elk here in the States. Used them for boar and red stag in South America. Used them for plains game in Africa. Never had any kind of problems with them at all. I wouldn't use them for dangerous game but for everything else they are fine. Might add I have used them in a 270, 25-06, 308, 300wm, 375 H&H.

jaustin said:

I have used the for deer, bear and elk here in the States. Used them for boar and red stag in South America. Used them for plains game in Africa. Never had any kind of problems with them at all. I wouldn't use them for dangerous game but for everything else they are fine. Might add I have used them in a 270, 25-06, 308, 300wm, 375 H&H.

Click to expand...

@jaustin
I use core lockt 100 grainers in my 25 cal at 3,500++ fps and have had no problems with them on Australian game. At those speeds the usually give bang flop results and the bullet usually fragments at closer range. Over 200 yards it usually gives the text book mushroom when you can find them. Cheap ,accurate and deadly.
Let's see who else responds to this old post and see if they are still popular.
Bob

The core-lokt bullet is one of the things Remington did right. I'm not a Remington fan, and don't miss the bankruptcy of a company that did most things "just good enough and as cheap as possible". But I have used those bullets in medium - heavy weights with complete satisfaction in my "standard velocity" rifles. .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, .25-06, 7x57MM, 7mm-08, .308, .35 Whelen, and perhaps a few others.
Here's one story of using a 165gr, Rem. PSPCL from a .308 to do the duty of a bullet that should have been been bigger or toughter than what I asked it to do:
A bull moose at about 100M, running from left to right, quartering towards me. Shot was on the point of the lower shoulder, square on the humerus. bullet shattered humerus, penetrated the rib, and lung, and heart, and opposite lung, and got stopped somewhere in the opposite shoulder. Bull tipped on his nose in a spectacular skid and never took another step.
BUT... pushed at .300 magnum velocities, I would not trust that bullet to hang together. It's very good at more moderate velocities with less "stress"

Core-Lokt is what my father bought for the milsurp 30-06 and .303 we hunted with when I started deer hunting. When I bought my Model 700 .270 in 1972 I bought 130 grain Core-Lokt because that’s the only thing I knew. Not knowing any better I killed my one elk with it in the 80’s and several Nilgai in the 90’s.

I use Core-Lokts in my 30-06 and 30-30. I don’t use them in my .243 cuz they weren’t accurate nor my 6.5x55 because of the anemic velocity they are loaded to.

I agree with @Longwalker to an extent.
Stay within the velocity limits.

The Core-Lokt was released in 1939.
Prior to the first wave of magnum cartridges in the 1950's.
So it wasn't designed to operate at "Roy Weatherby" speeds.
Or even normal magnum rifle speeds.

It was also designed in America, for American game.
African game animals have a thicker, tougher hide.
And bullets have been better designed for them since 1939.

I would not consider the CL a premium bullet.
The non-bonded cup and core design has been surpassed.
With the power and speeds of modern cartridges, it's not up to the task.
Using a bonded or monolithic expanding soft is a better plan.

We spend all this time doing research.
Buying guns, paying for safari, getting clothing and gear.
Not to mention flying halfway across the world to hunt exotic animals.
And some want pinch pennies when it comes to the bullet?
I don't understand this philosophy.
In my book, you should be using the absolute best available.

I also have a 270 Winchester. I've handloading 150g Partitions in it at 3000 fps forever. The CoreLokt bullets work great as long as the velocity is kept within reasonable (not max) velocities. Even though the 130g CoreLokts used to be advertised at 3140 fps and the 150g at 2900 fps, factory ammunition is typically a minimum of 200 fps slower. My favorite bullet in my 30-30 is the 170g Corelokt at 2100 fps.

These ammunition companies put what ever velocity they want on the box.

True. I bought some Federal Hi Shok 270 Win ammo loaded with 150g Partitions for my son to use. I chrono'd them 2650 fps instead of the advertised 2900 fps. Even though I was dealing with a heart issue, i loaded him up some cartridges that gave 3000 fps with the 150 Partitions, a load I've used for years. He got his first elk with it.

I am personally a massive fan of the 220 grain Remington Core Lokt in .30-06 Springfield . I have used this factory load with a significant amount of success , against Himalayan ibex . Nothing modern , but they are extremely efficient .

As above, i too am using factory Remington loads for my '06 with the 220gn Corelokt on large framed Sambar deer. Most shots result in full penetrations with very large exits and great, unneccesary, blood trails.

Also, i recently purchased several boxes of 225gn Corelokts for reloading my .338 and these are distinctly marked as "Ultra-bonded" Corelokts which i believe is an improved/modern version developed to withstand velocity.

I thin the trick with the Corelokts is to use a heavier projectile, resulting in less velocity to ensure results. This is why i think the 220's work so well in the '06.

Agree with the sentiments that it makes no sense to spend time, effort and a lot of money to hunt big game then cheap out on bullets. Plus we owe it to the animals we hunt to do the best we can and use the best possible tools for the job. Just because the name Core Lokt has been in the hunter's lexicon since WWII, does not automatically make it a good big game bullet. The original Core Lokt is/was simply a thin jacketed cup and core with skived nose petals that had a rounded shape- nothing more! The latest iteration by Remington is called the Premier Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded. It is not much better other than it is a bonded thin jacketed cup and core- nothing more. The common denominator is the thin jacket. Using the name Core Lokt was a marketing tool that took great license with reality... which was the norm back then I guess. Looking at the cross section of the original Core Lokt reveals how much license was used. Thin jacket, not tapered that has a tiny swell on the inside of the jacket wall that is supposed to "lock" the core in the jacket during terminal impact stress? Right! Very similar concept actually to the Hornady InterLock that has a very small raised ring on the inside of the jacket wall that is supposed to "lock" the core in the jacket during terminal impact stress? Right! Nothing special about either bullet for big game and really no reason to use either one for big game. They can and do come apart like a cheap suit and not penetrate if impact velocity is too high or if they hit something too tough.

The best way to decide on which bullet may work well and perform predictably is to look at a cross section and study the basic construction. I've learned to ignore most hype and anecdotal one of examples, use my brain and study the construction of a bullet then test for accuracy and terminal performance in a test media like wet pack.... THEN use for hunting. Every time I've fallen prey to slick sales pitches, I've been butt bit. I swore off of regular Hornady cup and cores in the early 70s after a couple of failures of their big game bullets. Never used them again. Then fast forward all these years, only about 50, with all the experience and knowing better, forgot that lesson. I fell for the Remington Ultra Bonded Core-Lokt sales pitch and tried that bullet a few years ago on PG. I was blinded by the bling. The very accurate nature of the bullet made me lazy and stupid. Nearly caused the loss of a nice PG in Africa- a 30 cal 168 gr Rem Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded came apart like a cheap suit on a wildebeest shot at about 275 yards with a mild load out of a 30-06. The impact velocity was probably no more than 2000-2100 fps. There were no pieces of the bullet recovered larger than about 1/4" in diameter. So just like in 1971, I hope I finally learned.

Attached is pic of Ultra Bonded Core-Lokt box with a cross section provided. Carefully study the construction of that bullet and convince me it is a tough, premium hunting bullet. Then compare it ot the cross section of a Nosler Partition or a it's "cousin on steroids" the Swift A Frame. So what if it is bonded or not. That bonding is only as strong as the adjoining molecular layer of lead not bonded to the jacket. Once the structural integrity starts to fail because of weak jacket construction, the bonded label means very little. Are they accurate? Yes- the ones I loaded and used were very accurate. Will they work? Of course- most of the time. Are there far superior, more reliable premium hunting bullets available? Absolutely! and some are very reasonably priced, with good availability- the Barnes TSX comes to mind.