Core lokt recovered

[toytruck]

.30-06. 165 gr. from doe shot Nov. 28, 2020. This is the first time I have ever recovered one in all the years and deer killed.

 

[edmehlig]

That's great to be able to recover your bullet. I always hope to recover mine and I have a few in my collection from my 280Rem and a few from my 45 cal White's. I just love to see and be able to tell how the bullet performed and mushroomed.

 

[03mossy]

“Deadliest mushroom in the woods!”

very cool you recovered one

 

[Renegadehunter]

I've recovered a couple of core lokt's over the years. One was a 180 grain out of a 30-06 and the other was 140 grain out of a 7mm/08. Both mushroomed nicely and looked good. Lost them both over the years. Yours has more deformation at the base than mine both showed, both of mine still had a mostly intact base that you could see the rifling marks on.

 

[Renegadehunter]

Here’s a Fusion out of a 30/06 that my BIL recovered this year. Downright nasty.

 

[HandyAndy]

How quick did it incapacitate the deer, assuming your shot hit vital organs.

It would be interesting to weigh it to see the difference between an unfired round.

 

[toytruck]

How quick did it incapacitate the deer, assuming your shot hit vital organs.

It would be interesting to weigh it to see the difference between an unfired round.

If referring to my bullet.. she was about 40 yds from me quartering away to the right. I put the bullet behind the left rib cage to enter the chest and exit the right front. She ran roughly 30 yds into heavy brush and expired, no blood, just a tuff of hair. I heard her crash and found her soon after.
The bullet skimmed along the right side rib cage, went over the heart and out the back of the right front shoulder not hitting any other bone. It was found in the hide in the right shoulder when skinned. That shoulder was blood shot along with the scrap meat on right side. I saved 2/3 of it for jerky, so not a total loss.
I don't have a small scale for the weight, but it would be nice to know.

 

[MrTom]

On a deer from an "06" at 40 yards that seems to be a really short bullet path and still retain the bullet. I shot a large deer at 70 yards with a .45 cal presenting almost an identical shot as what you describe and it was a total pass thru with a 180 grain lead bullet. One would think a 30-06 would have far more energy especially with minimal bone contact.

Congrats on the kill though!

 

[Rainorshine]

I recovered a 150 gr PSP Core Lokt shot from a .308 Win. It entered the deer’s neck, travelled up the esophagus and was trapped beneath the skin of the deer’s snout. The deer was angling sharply away when shot. Weight of recovered bullet is 127.5 gr.

 

[toytruck]

On a deer from an "06" at 40 yards that seems to be a really short bullet path and still retain the bullet. I shot a large deer at 70 yards with a .45 cal presenting almost an identical shot as what you describe and it was a total pass thru with a 180 grain lead bullet. One would think a 30-06 would have far more energy especially with minimal bone contact.

Congrats on the kill though!

That's the main reason I was surprised to find the core lokt. All the previous deer killed had great exit wounds some you could put your fist in. Never know how a bullet will act, just hope for the best!

 

[The Big Game Hunter]

On a deer from an "06" at 40 yards that seems to be a really short bullet path and still retain the bullet. I shot a large deer at 70 yards with a .45 cal presenting almost an identical shot as what you describe and it was a total pass thru with a 180 grain lead bullet. One would think a 30-06 would have far more energy especially with minimal bone contact.
Congrats on the kill though!

Bullets do weird things, especially at short range. You'd think that the higher velocity impact will result in more penetration, but that's not always true. This is a situation where you may actually get counterintuitive results sometimes.
A very high velocity impact at short range like that will make an expanding bullet mushroom more rapidly than a lower velocity impact. As a bullet mushrooms and increases in diameter, that larger surface will destroy more tissue, but it’s also subject to more drag and will slow down faster than an identical bullet that doesn’t expand at all or doesn’t expand as much.
I've personally encountered situations just like that where I'd shoot an animal at 200 yards and have the bullet exit, but then shoot a similar (or even smaller) animal at the same shot angle at 50 yards with the exact same load and recover the bullet.
There can be quite a bit of variance of course: bullet diameter, bullet type, the impact velocity, whether or not you hit a bone, etc.

 

[MrTom]

Bullets do weird things, especially at short range.

Years ago when Winchester came out with the Partition Gold sabot slugs I shoulder shot a deer at about 25 yards. The entire outside of the shoulder came off in a huge ball of blood and chunks but the deer kept going and finally dropped with a second shot at about 90 yards. The second shot hit behind the same shoulder and exited the opposite shoulder. Very little damage on the second bullet exit. The first bullet never made it to the shoulder blade and the blade was entire void of any meat in a 10" circle. The bullets were 385 grain .50 caliber in what appeared to be an XTP. I never expected a jacketed bullet to grenade like that one did. I haven't seen such a mess as that since.

 

[Idaholewis]

We Recovered a 180 Grain Barnes X Bullet in my Dad’s Deer this year, VERY RARE to find them, especially in a Deer. And to top it off, it was shot from a .300 Win Mag at about 50 Yards, Length ways. The bullet had 1 Pedal broke off

 

[sdporter]

That bullet has killed a lot of deer. That’s why I don’t buy into the $2 a bullet stuff.

 

[CatamountRob]

I’ve recovered very few bullets, one of my daughters shot a bull moose at 200+ yards with a 7mm-08, 140 grain Accubond thru the ribs. We found that bullet under the hide on the off side.
Another daughter shot a pretty big buck quartering to at 40 yards with a .243 and a 100 grain Partition bullet, that too was under the hide on the off side.
The only other bullet I’ve recovered was from a big doe that my daughter shot with a .243 and a 100 grain Scirocco. The bullet went thru a 2” alder just before hitting the deer, 2 pieces of lead went thru it’s shoulder and the separated jacket went into its neck and cut a major artery.
I’ve never recovered a muzzleloader bullet, they all exited.

 

[GM54-120]

A buddy of mine has killed more deer with cheap Core Lokt bullets in his 25-06 than i can begin to count. They usually dropped like someone smacked them in the head with a sledge hammer.

 

[Renegadehunter]

How quick did it incapacitate the deer, assuming your shot hit vital organs.

It would be interesting to weigh it to see the difference between an unfired round.

If you were referring to the Fusion bullet...
The shot was around 120 yards, very sharply quartering away. The bullet entered at about the last rib, made a heck of a mess through the guts/stomach, went through a lung, and was found tightly behind the far side shoulder against the hide. BIL said the deer only went 10 yards before collapsing. I don't think he has weighed it.
I recovered a 25/06 Fusion bullet out of an elk several years ago. The bullet went in between ribs, through both lungs, and was against the hide on the other side. Fusion bullets are touted to have 85% weight retention. While I can't remember the exact weight I do remember that mine worked out to more like 62% weight retention without ever hitting a bone. It was missing the tip from a couple of the "claw" tips.
The elk ran about 30 yards and stopped, looked around for a couple of seconds, and then walked about another 60 yards before going down.

 

[snapbang]

I hunted for 30-35 years with a round ball and figured if I ever had a problem it was because I caused it. Some of the balls I used were made of wheel weights because I didnt know any better. Frankly I never noticed a difference. A 50 caliber going through the deer should be plenty with or without expansion. Just a well placed piece of lead will solve 95% of your problems.

 

[The Big Game Hunter]

Years ago when Winchester came out with the Partition Gold sabot slugs I shoulder shot a deer at about 25 yards. The entire outside of the shoulder came off in a huge ball of blood and chunks but the deer kept going and finally dropped with a second shot at about 90 yards. The second shot hit behind the same shoulder and exited the opposite shoulder. Very little damage on the second bullet exit. The first bullet never made it to the shoulder blade and the blade was entire void of any meat in a 10" circle. The bullets were 385 grain .50 caliber in what appeared to be an XTP. I never expected a jacketed bullet to grenade like that one did. I haven't seen such a mess as that since.

Wow! Sounds like you experienced both extremes on that deer: extremely rapid expansion and minimal penetration on the shoulder shot (where the slug quickly encountered lots of resistance) and minimal expansion, but lots of penetration on the shot that hit behind the shoulder. That second shot probably slipped between the ribs and penciled right through without expanding at all.

 

[MrTom]

It took two ribs on the outbound side and yes it expanded to about a 50 cent piece sized hole, much like all the XTPs I've had kills with.