120 core-lokt in 260 Remington?

J

Jevyod

New member
I am out of my 140 grain Accubonds for my 260, and I need to load something else for the gun. I liked the Accubonds, but they seem to bee to much bullet for what i need. I hunt thick woods where 75 yards is far. I used the Accubonds successfully on 2 deer, but lost one due to little blood. I shot, saw him hump like he was hit, and he walked off. Never stopped, and would not give me another shot. I waited 45 minutes, and tried looking for him. Had a intermittant blood for 150 yards or so, then nothing. Spent a lot of time looking for that deer, but never found him. I was thinking maybe the bullet did not expand enough...or maybe just a bad shot.
Anyway, I would like to try something else, and a reloading buddy of mine offered to sell me some 6.5 120 grain core-lokt bullets. Any success using these? And what powder? I have some 4350 that I tried with the 140's, but it didn't do too well. The gun liked re19 a lot better. Did anybody try any Ramshot powders in a 260? I am wanting to get some tac or xterminator for a 358 Winchester anyway, and any time I can utilize the same powder for different guns I am happy!! I am thinking of running these at 2700-2800 fps. Also, does anybody know the BC of these?

Edit to add: I was looking at various loads and a burn rate charts and seeing loads with Benchmark, IMR 3031, and H4895 which show up in the same ballpark as the tac and xterminator
 
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Over my hunting lifetime, i’ve shot many deer with Core-lokt bullets and been perfectly happy. These days I use a 260 and 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips over Reloder 17. With lighter bullets I use IMR 4064. I shoot em in the lungs and avoid hitting major bones if I can.
 
"...due to little blood..." That's not why. More likely poor shot placement. However, if a 140 doesn't drop Bambi, going to a lighter bullet is not the answer. Mind you, neither is going to a heavier bullet.
What kind of groups do you get with the 140's?
 
Yes, I was putting more of the blame on poor shot placement, but had reloader friends question whether it was too much bullet for the application. With the 140 grain accubonds I was right at 1 inch @ 100 yards off bags, and if I rested the gun on the side of a tree (woods scenario) I could figure on 1 1/2-2 inches at 100.
 
603COUNTRY, I have thought of going this route as well, but like I mentioned it is really thick where I hunt (logged 10-15 years ago) lots of briers, fallen trees, etc. So if i try to avoid heavy bone, I limit myself to pretty much broadside shots. If I do that, the deer need t be in the clear plus broadside. Both deer I shot this year were not that. One was facing me straight on, and the other was quartering hard away. I wonder how a ballistic tip would have fared in these cases...
 
You want to kill deer? The main thing is bullet placement. Put one right between the eyes with any caliber, its meat in the pot! So what you do is give a short whistle, this gets the deer to raise its head and look at you. ..............
 
jevyod, that’s a good question. As much as I like the Nosler Ballistic Tips, I try to avoid anything but broadside shots. Some years ago I tried an angle shot on a big doe, putting the bullet into her left shoulder. It did kill her, but I didn’t find her till the next day (she had died at full speed and slid under some leaves). The angle shots might not give you an exit, whereas the broadside shots into the ribs and lungs almost always exit, so blood trails are good. That said, if you have to have max penetration at any and all angles, probably the Nosler Partition would be as good a choice as any. I ran a 60 gr Partition through a medium sized pig long ways a few years ago. Those bullets will penetrate, but I don’t get the accuracy that I get with the BTs.
 
Try the 129 gr Hornady interlock SPs. I loaded up some with good paper results. No tests on game yet though.
 
Years ago, I used the Core-lokt exclusively...got tired of poor penetration due to bullet failure (blowing up) and no blood...quit'em like a bad habit...never looked back.
 
Y
ou want to kill deer? The main thing is bullet placement. Put one right between the eyes with any caliber, its meat in the pot! So what you do is give a short whistle, this gets the deer to raise its head and look at you. ..............
Click to expand...
And if the bullet goes a little low, you may be lucky enough that you shoot his lower jaw and he will starve to death. On the other hand, if you aim for center of mass, just behind the shoulder, if you go high you get his lungs, if you go a little back, you get his liver...if you go a little low you get his heart. If you go a little too far forward, you still clip his lungs.
 
Dahermit speaks da truth. Doing it his way (and mine) gives a pretty big kill zone. I want to kill the deer, not shoot off chunks.

And I never had a Core-lokt blow up. Never had even the first generation of Ballistic Tips blow up. And that’s a lot of deer (hundreds) and a significant number of hogs. Now, I will admit that getting a Ballistic Tip all the way out the back side of a big hog doesn’t happen as often as I would prefer, but they don’t go too far after being hit.
 
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