Will anyone be willing to equate the penetration performance on whitetail of .260 Remington CoreLokt factory ammo to .308 Winchester 150 grain Ballistic Silver Tips? With one hunt into a new .260 that came out of the custom shop with a stainless 24” medium weight barrel topped by a Swaro BRH reticle, I’m still learning what a .260 bullet does to deer.
With the .260 combo last week my 15 year old dropped a deer at 215 yards. The CoreLokt bullet did not punch through but bounced into the neck after hitting the front shoulder - effective.
The .260 CoreLokt is the fastest 140 grain factory load I have found, 2750 fps @ muzzle. The .308 150 grain Silver Tips have always left their mark and made tracking easy when needed, farthest shot has been 165 yards - from a Model 14.
Earlier in the week a deer scampered off and I could not find hide or hair, although I think he hit it, but could not support the claim. Acknowledging bullet placement is important, a teenage hunter will still leave me tracking now and then. Will CoreLokt .260 leave the same evidence of a hit as a .308 round?
If I were to dip my toe into .260 loading in the 140 grain hunting bullet category, are Nosler Partition & Accubond and Lapua Naturalis good choices for whitetail? Any other bullets to consider for whitetail that would take advantage of .260 ballistics and BRH reticle? Given I have no loading experience, any reason not to start with Lapua’s .260 brass with primers already in?
Thanks
Pretty much any bullet in 260, short of varmint bullets, is going to bring down a whitetail. They are not tough animals, and not thick skinned. I would venture to say that any bullet 140 grains and heavier will go completely through a deer given its sectional density.
Kevin
not to start the ".223 for deer" discussion again, but I have killed 14 deer w/ an 18" barreled AR out to 165yds w/ a 65gr. SGK-all 1 shot, 1/2 of them bang flops, all did what they have done when I have shot them w/ a .300 win mag, 30-06, 7-08, 12ga. slug, etc. most of them had complete penetration. The 6.5's as have been mentioned have far greater penetration, SD, BC, diameter (bigger hole in deer) and every other number you can come up with. It will do a great job!
6.5mm 120 Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2600-2800fps from the 260 kills deer quite dead in my experience. Never seen "bullet exploding" as some have reported, but I also don't run max velocities from my hunting rifles.
Don't think one can apples-to-apples compare a Core-Lokt bullet with a Ballistic Tip in terms of terminal effects, though a 140 Core-Lokt should have little problem penetrating a whitetail shoulder at 215yd given its velocity and sectional density.
Good options other than the 120 NBT are the 130 Accubond, 125/140 Partition, 130/140 Berger Hunting VLD, 140 Sierra Gameking, 130 Swift Scirocco, and 120/130 Barnes TSX or 120 TTSX.
Thanks all.
I look forward to more experience with the 260.
Europeans have been using the 6.5x55 Sweede to kill everything from small deer to moose w/ (.260 Rem's ballistic twin). I have no idea what grain bullet they use since I'm just a white boy here in North Carolina, but they been using it for about 100 years over there.
The swede was used for elephants back in the day as well...
I agree, core-lokt's and Silver tips are different animals. So a comparison will consist of dead, Vs. still dead.
Core lokt's in my experience are "easier" to open, then some premium bullets. That being said you will hear arguments of weight retention, and jacket failures...
Remember what has been said, white-tails are quite easy to kill. Personally I think to much is made of the "penetration" issue. I see it as a back-up plan for a bad shot, or at too long of a distance for the shooter. Shooting in the pump-house(not length-ways, hitting every bone made) there isn't a core-lokt made that won't kill a whitey PDQ! If you stay away from bone the bullet will be a pass-through, unless you are WAY out there so will a 120 gr.
All of my 6.5mm's have always(regardless of bullet weight) been MONSTER penetrators. A 120gr Amax will penetrate both frame rails on a deuce & half.
I'm a firm believer in the theory that if it bleeds, I can kill it.
I shot a couple of deer with a 260 Savage LWH using 130 gr Bergers over the past few weeks. One was a neck shot at 50 yards and the other a sholder shot at 150 yards. Bullets went clean through both deer leaving a 2" exit wound. Both deer dropped in their tracks. The Berger bullets performed as shown on their website, The 260 has less recoil than my 308 and kills deer just as dead. Based on my experience, bullet placement is more important than bullet choice when it comes to harvesting deer.
I don't own any 260's but own two 6.5x55 Swedes. 140 gr Hornadys out of my Swedes have shot thru deer from end to end and side to side and cow elk thru one side and stuck in shoulder bone on off side, I call that all the way thru. 260's will do the same, it's a great cartidge.
I shot this eight point with my .260 Remington last weekend with a load I developed for feral hogs. It was a 150 yard shot with a Barnes 120 gr. Tipped TSX (2940 fps at the muzzle). After field dressing the deer I really felt like the Barnes Bullet was more than needed, next time I'm switching to a Nosler 120 gr. Ballistic Tip or maybe a 125 gr. Partition. Whitetails just aren't that tough. I've already filled my buck tag (two) so after this it's does only, I'll probably use my trusty 10FLP in .308 Winchester.
I belong to a hunt club on a lease and the old guy (I'm almost 68 and I'm calling him and old guy) that is the head of it uses a 260 Rem with 125 grain Nosler partition bullets and he fills all 6 of his tags every year. He loves the gun and swears by it and he's a very knowledgable guy on guns and ballistics. That's a great caliber for whitetails and like others have said they aren't that hard to kill with a modern high power rifle in the class we are talkking. My hunting partner in the club filled all of his 6 tags with his Remington 700 in 243 shooting a 100 grain bullet and all were one shot kills and they never left the shooting lanes.
I've shot several deer with my 6.5x55 and used Hornady 129gr SPT's. Worked very well, and never failed me. I used to use a 30-06 and switched to the Swede about 10 years ago.
Glad I did too. Nothing wrong with the 30-06 just didn't need all that, when that little 6.5 does what it does.
Watched my son a few years back shoot a little bull elk in the butt from about 200 yds with his .260. shooting 125Gr. noslers. Broke the bulls pelvis and dropped him right there. Could not have asked more of it. Don't klnow how far it penetrated but it sure did the job on him. He could have let him run a little further down the mt. tho.
I do not think that one could do any better than noslers in the .260. They should give complete penetration on any broadside hit on whitetails.
I know it's not the largest deer, but this was taken with my .260 140 gr Core-Lokt bullet Deer dropped dead in its tracks
6CM
My son shots a 260 and I first tried the 140 corelokts. He shot three deer all from 80 to 125 yards all in the shoulder or just behind it. All three deer ran a 100 to 150 yards before dropping. I didn't like that so I switched to the 120 accubonds and since every deer he's shot has dropped with
20 yards or instantly when shot. I like the 120's much better. This is on Pennsylvania whitetails.
Retired sniper. You can run, But you will only die tired!!!
I shot a 9 point in November, Field dressed at 140lbs, 120 grain Nosler Balistic Tip. The bullet hit the right front shoulder and exploded, no penetration, no blood trail, found two drops of dark blood where the buck was standing, Three of us did a grid search and found him about 75 yards from where he was shot. During field dressing, found the bullet and shoulder fragmented into the right lung.
I am switching bullets, not sure what yet, may try Barnes and see how they shoot in my rifle. The Nosler Balistic Tips shoot one hole groups at 100 in my rifle, but I want a bullet that will hold together if it hits bone.
Thanks for posting your results with the 120 gr. Ballistic Tip, looks like I'll be using a 125 gr. Partition for whitetails this year!
You could try the accubond. It is a nosler ballistic-tip style bullet, but bonded to hold together better. Hornady makes a similar one called the interbond that usually retains weight better than the accubonds. I would personally go with the partition. Not usually as accurate as the plastic tip bullets, but definitely minute-of-deer. I like the 125grain partition.
Why not try the hornady gmx solid bullets. Ive had very good luck with them. Ive had a 150gr gmx in 308 zip thru the skull of a 150lbs pig from between the eyes to the back of the head and kept on going. A shot several deer with them and all were DRT. The 120gr are prob the length of a 130gr bullet due to the lack of lead.
Brian
I have never used the 260 but I have used corelokts in 308. Keep in mind this was about 15 years ago but the accuracy was terrible and they seemed to have quite a bit of weight variation. On white tail they never seemed to perform the same twice. I have always had great accuracy with sierra bullets and great performance ion white tails. My latest 270 load for white tail "was originally for thought upfor groundhogs" but it hits whitetails like a ton of bricks. 270 winchester with 100 grain sierra.
I loaded these for a couple other guys and they both had the same response. "Kills whitetail instantly".
personaly i cant wait to try the 260 this year on game. currently have loads worked with 120 nosler ballistic tips and getting ready to work soem uo with the 130 HPBT from sierra.
The Hornady HITS Calculator (http://www.hornady.com/hits/calculator) suggests that the .260 Rem Core-Lokt Ultrabonded bullet will behave more like the the 168 gr .308 Ballistic Silvertip than the 150 grain.
Hence, the .260 should work as well or better than the .308, particularly when you take into account the fact the the .260 is a tad flatter shooting to boot.
In fact, .260 Rem bullets in the 120-130 grain range would have similar HITS scores to the 150 gr .308 Win Ballistic Silvertip and be even flatter shooting.
I've been shooting Pa whitetails for years with the 120 ballistic tips in my 260 and never had an issue with putting them down or penetration. You can have flukes such as yours with any caliber or any bullet. I shot a bull elk several years ago with a 340 weatherby and 250 grains nosler partition weatherby ammo three times at a 100 yards , two in the front shoulder and once thru the neck, He ran 700 yards like I never hit him. Crazy things just happen, I wouldn't judge a bullet over one event such as yours.
Retired sniper. You can run, But you will only die tired!!!
i gave up on ballistic tips years ago in my .280. i switched to hornady sst and have had nothing but 1 shot bambi and wilbur kills ever since. the sst is like the interbond, only half the cost. the one downside...an ugly cannelure thats way to high up on the ogive. if you can ignore the cannelure, they are the best $28/100 bullet [mine shoot MOA or better] on the market.
I've had a ballistic tip .308 bullet pass completely through a whitetails's fore leg bone then pass through two ribs (going in and coming out) and it apparently never expanded despite passing through 3 bones.
Both exit holes were the same size as both entrance holes.
I've also shot a doe with a .257 Corelockt at 20 yards and she took off like a scalded dog.
When I field dressed her I realized that she ran over 100 yards with damage that should have been impossible.
The shot took out her left front shoulder, her heart, her lungs, and her liver. Her insides were jelly.
From these experiences I've come to the following conclusions about hunting whitetail.
#1 Adrenaline trumps everything but crippling spinal damage.
#2 Bullets do not always perform as designed.
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