tanzian

For years the Core-Lokt was a "premium" bullet. It has earned the phrase "The deadliest mushroom in the woods" over and over again. I am sure that it has been used on most every variety of game known to man (outside of African big game where solids is the only way to go). I have killed many many deer (too many to count for crop damage) with the Core-Lokt and the old Winchester Silver Tip ( not the ballistic silver tip). I have never ever had one "fail" of either bullet. The only bullet I have ever had fail was a Nosler Ballistic tip .277 130 gr. It was a good shot (we were taping it on vidoe and the impact can be clearly seen as right behind the shoulder at 45 yards). It was a large bodied buck (approx 180 lbs..large for this area) shot with a .270 win Browniing A-Bolt. We never did recover the deer even after tracking it for a mile... very little blood trail. I believe that the high velocity at a close range caused total fragmnetation of the bullet upon impact thus failing to penetrate deep enough into the vitals for a clean kill. If you are shooting adverage deer (under 200lbs) the the core-lokt will do it just fine.

All that bring said, I do reload... and for trips I take I develope premium loads for my rifles..mostly using the Barnes X or the Speer Grand Slam. Barnes X for heavy boned game (i.e Moose, Elk, large bears) for my .300 WSM. Outsdie of that I shoot my .270 loaded with 130 gr Grand Slams. I am currently working on a 160 gr Grand Slam load for my .280. I dont plan on ever loading the "plastic tipped" non bonded bullets ever again cept for varmint caliber where explosive expansion is a good thing. I have tied both the Hornady Interbonds and the Nosler Acuubonds but I cant get the accuracy that I desire from them. Seems that either these bullets shoot great or not at all in a given rifle. I have heard both good and bad about them in the accuracy dept.

It all boils down to an appropriate bullet PLACED in the vitals of your animal with enough energy tranfer to cause any major organs to cease functioning, resulting in a quick clean humane harvest.

WyoGreff

I just purchased some of the premium federal shock ammo in 243 im interested to see how this ammo works for me, i only bought it because it was the cheapest they had and im geussing that the quality wont convince me to pay more for ammo.

Superpig

If you are only hunting whitetail deer I don't think you need to spend the money on premium ammo. Before I became a handloader I would generally buy core-lokt, hi-shok, or power point ammo. If you choose an appropriate bullet weight with these types of bullets you will be fine. If you will test the loads above in your firearm you will find one that is very accurate.

If your fodder is larger game such as, elk, moose, brown bear, etc. I think the premium ammo with bullets such as, Nosler partition, trophy bonded bear claw, swift A-Frame, Barnes X, Fail Safe, Grand Slam, and others is worth the extra expense.

Remember that although bullet selection is important shot placement is the real taker of big game!