Recovered bullets
 

Anybody ever recover bullets? We were out at our range yesterday and I recovered one of the bullets from my 300wm. I found the bullet in a cross brace of our backstop after it had gone through 1/2" plywood, and 2 2x4s. It actually shed it's lead core. Other than a little grey residue on the jacket, there was no trace of the core. I thought the lead core was pretty much there to stay. I don't consider it a bullet failure considering it went through 4 inches of wood, just thought it was kind of funny, and wondering if anybody else had seen the same type of thing.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

What kind of bullet was it?

RE: Recovered bullets
 

Sorry, thought I put that in there. I'm shooting 150gr Remington CoreLokts.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

Considering it was a Corelokt, it doesn't surprise me that it lost its core. However, even though I personally wouldn't use one, I've seen tons of deer over the years killed with them.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

Absolutely nothing wrong with Core-Lokts. You're right Solitary, 1000's of deer have been put down over the years with them.

I've "recovered" bullets by shooting into several plastic milk jugs set in a row. I've only tried this a couple of times, but i found nosler ballistic tips shed their core too. They aren't particularly known for being a tough bullet anyway --

RE: Recovered bullets
 

I recently tested some 45 acp 185 grain winchester silvertip hollow points for penetration and how well they hold together. heres a pic of the 2 recovered slugs. I know some of you guys are like me and enjoy seeing actuall pictures.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

If I can remember where I put the camera, I'll take a picture of it and post it up here for ya'll. 33yo and already I suffer from C.R.S.!

RE: Recovered bullets
 

I've only recovered threebullets, all from game shot with them. One was from a black bear, and two were from large mule deers. All were Nosler partiton bullets, and all had gone almost completely through the animal on quartering shots, and all were found stopped by massive joints, like the big bones of a hip joint. All were perfectly exopanded, and all were missing the FRONT CORE, having performed as designed.

I do not consider penetration of a mere 4" of wood with the loss of the entire core to be satisfactory performance, but the Corelokt bullet does much better when it hits flesh rather than wood!

RE: Recovered bullets
 

From what I've seen them do to deer at 200yrds, I'd say they work fine on deer sized game. There was no bullet recovered from the deer. (Small southern white tails with a 300WM @ 200yrds) I don't think I want to use them on elk though. My mom uses them on elk out of her 7mm and swears by them. The only problem she's ever run into with them was weak loaded one that didn't sound quite right when she shot. They found the bullet lodged in the elks hair when they skinned it. She said it mushroomed like it should, but never penetrated the hide.

I've got about 100 rounds of once fired brass that I'm going to reload as soon as I get the rest of the equipment. I'm thinking of using either TBBCs or Partitions, whichever shoots best out of my gun.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

I AGREE!! I'll reconsider when they start makeing deer out of wood... :D

When i was designing and mfg'ing bullets i made it my business to recover hundreds and hundreds of bullets! Unless the core is properly "bonded" in or mechanically held into place like the rear core of an NP, (Nosler partition) they ALL will loose there coreunder the right conditions!

Useing catchy names like "hot core", "innerlock", "coreloc", and others doesn't mean a darn thing if you push the speed fast enough to peel the "jacket" back far enough to expose the core. Once that happens, the core can leave the jacket, and it doesn't matter who made the bullet.

On the other hand, if the bullet isn't over stressed as in longer shots or has a slower start out velocity, or doesn't hit massive bone ect... The core will stay intact... It's as simple as that!

As i don't always get those "perfect" shots, atthe"perfect" distance, for the cartridge i'm carrying, i use NP's. The NP sheds the nose of the bullet fairly easily even on long shots or on "rib" shots, but the rear 2/3 of the bullet core is held in place to drive in deep even if it hits bone. They are the bullet all others are judged by!!

Drilling Man