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

RE: Recovered bullets
 

I have 2 recovered bullets from deer hunts. Both bullets are from when I had my 7m Rem. Mag and are Sierra 160 gr. Game King. The most recent one is from 4 years ago. Shot this nice size buck at about 30 feet and for some reason found the bullets on the opposite side of the entrance wound between the meat and the hide. I was impressed on the form of the bullet being well mushroomed but couldn’t believe it hadn’t gone completely thru the buck...

RE: Recovered bullets
 

Here are some bullets recovered from my moose.
They are 180 gr. Federal Accubonds from my 30.06. The one on the left was shot at 228 yds. The one in the middle was shot at point blank range for a finishing shot. The bullet on the right was a .22 bullet the guide found in the moose's neck. The guide said the .22 was probably from the previous winter. He said guys travel across the frozen lakes on snowmobiles and they poach moose that way.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

here's a 150gr hornady SST that i recovered from a doe that i shot at 65 yards. she was strongly quartering towards me, the bullet entered in front of her left shoulder and stopped between the hide and the last rib on the right side. it made a softball size hole in the body cavity behind the shoulder and it retained 110gr's of its weight. the bullet was fired from a BAR with a 20" barrel using only 44gr's of varget.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

If you push any standard bullet at break-neck speeds it will blow up..... let the bullet slow down a bit(long range and these bullets will still perform. If you want to shoot game w/ Magnum cal at magnum speeds, don't shoot them close...... but if the deer are that close then you don't need a mag. Long story short, if you have to shhot a mag buy good bullets. If you want to shoot cheap, buy 1000 lots of bullets either core-lokt or interloc and shoot them at standard speeds..... .30-06 or under.Work it out, my 6.5x55mm costs me .32c per round to make w/ 34gr of powder...... now put 70gr of powder in it and costs double that. Cheap peopl don't shoot mag, I'm one of them. Next time you shoot a deer w/your mag ask it if it felt any different.
And when your bullet fragments you have several projectiles in the animals body that do damage, Ive seen it. 2 wound channels.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

http://noslerreloading.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1795

RE: Recovered bullets
 

yep totally agree, my last 2 missouri whitetail deer i shot before moving out to arizona. one of them a doe I shot at approx. 25 yards with my 30-06 using a 150 grain winchester silvertips (not ballistic silvertips) the bullet fragmented causing multiple wound channels in the deer it was straight through and through in the ribs and out the otherside shot with multiple exits. knowing my shots were gonna be close in the area I was hunting and not liking the results of the bullets performance from my 06. I stepped down to my 308 with a 150 grain core lokts, lower velocity with a little sturtier of a bullet. That eveing I shot a buck at approx 15 yards it was a somewhat quatering shot the bullet went in just behind its right shoulder blew out the heart it had two exit wounds one right behind the left front leg the other about 2 inches to left of the first mentioned exit hole. the 2 exit holes means one thing the core lokt didnt hold together either but atleast it did hold together better then the silvertip. bottom line even at close range standard power rifles will still have junky bullet peformance. and magnums would only make it wourse.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

Yep, I've experienced it. That's why I pretty much stick with the better bullets now like the Barnes TSXand Nosler Accubond for example. I want predictable bullet performance and with theseI get it.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

I wasn't too concerned about how it holds together on deer. The deer we have around here are pretty small, and even if the bullet sheds it's core, there should still be enough mass to get a good exit wound. The one deer that I shot with the 300wm, was a doe that I neck shot. She went down like a ton of bricks with a massive exit wound with the neck bones visable. Even pushed to magnum velocities, these CoreLokts seem to work fine on deer sized critters. For elk, I had Federal Premiums with 180gr partitions. These loads don't group very good out of my gun(2 1/4" @ 100yds). Now that I have so many once fired brass, I'm going to try loading up some differant bullets and see if I can tighten up the groups and end up with something that will perform well on deer and elk.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

The biggest problem with the magnums is people loading too light of a bullet in it. Magnums are designed to deliver HEAVY bullets downrange with much more authority. A 300 magnum is a waste of good steel when shooting 150's or 165's. It starts to shine with 190 or 200 grain class bullets. Same with the 06. A 180 grain isn't going to tear up a deer as bad as a 150 will. I've got quite a collection of recovered bullets from game taken at various ranges. I've never recovered a ballistic tip. Don't use them any more as they are a veritable bomb when they hit something. All that I find is schrapnel.

RE: Recovered bullets
 

I'm looking at adding a 308 to my collection so the 300 can switch over to a full time elk gun. I now have about 100 rounds of once fired brass for the 300, and plan to reload as soon as I can get everything bought and set up. I'm thinking of trying the TBBC bullets, 180-200gr for the 300 and when I get the 308, 165s in it. Will they open up enough on small southern deer at 308 velocities for a clean kill, or should I look for something that's a lighter constructed bullet for the 308? Also which rifle should I get in 308? I've been researching online, and like the Tikka and the Weatherby Vanguard Sub MOA.

Thanks

RE: Recovered bullets
 

The 165 out of a 308 is devistating on deer. As for a rifle, go to various dealers and find what fits you best. All of the suggestions in the world won't help if it don't fit.