why do people not use premium bullets?

[CoElkHunter]

Those Remington Core Locs work, plain and simple. Along with the vast majority of those other cup and core bullets. And for the most part the premium bullet really isn't needed.

I moved on to the monolithic copper Barnes bullets 20+ years ago, but all of the animals that I killed before that time are just as dead when I shot them with that old trustworthy cup and core bullet

YES! I've shot all my elk up to this point with 225g REMINGTON CORE LOKTS in my .338 WINCHESTER MAGNUM. ALL ONE shot kills up to 150 yards. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I used a .300 WINCHESTER MAGNUM with 180gr BARNES TTSXs on my ONE PG hunt in RSA in June 2022 and killed everything (no zebra or eland but a kudu, gemsbok and wildebeest) with one shot up to 300 yards. I'll probably stay with the Barnes even in my .338 because they MAY be a better choice at extended ranges and one can find the Barnes now less expensive in .338 versus Remington than three years ago. But I've no complaints with the Core Lokts either in my experience.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Maybe those premium bullets aren't accurate in their rifle.

Core Lokts shoot well in all my rifles. I've read some posts on AH where Barnes are more finicky in different barrels as an example?

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I suppose that as a relatively older hunter (having been going on African safaris for the last 49 years ever since 1974), I can offer a slightly different perspective on this.

Remington Core Lokts were the “Premium” bullets of our time. As a matter of fact, I have been using their 220Gr factory loaded cartridge (out of a .30-06 Springfield rifle) quite successfully on all manners of African plains game over the years (as you can see below). Not just once but several times over, including one-shot kills on bull eland (the largest of the African plains game) and leopard over bait. So I can safely say for certain that my successful results were not flukes.

We had another particularly favorite bullet of mine during our time- The old Winchester Super X soft point (also cup & core in construction). The (now unfortunately discontinued) 175Gr factory loaded cartridge served me extremely well in my 7x57mm Mauser rifle over the years.

Since the 175Gr Winchester Super X soft point for the 7x57mm Mauser is now no longer in production, talking about it is moot. But the 220Gr Remington Core Lokt for the .30-06 Springfield is still in production and I still always voice my preference for this cartridge whenever my outfitters can source a rifle in this caliber for me.

Oh, I’m perfectly well aware of the fact that so many excellent more modern bullet designs are available on the current market today (Barnes TSX, Swift A Frame, etc). And I’ve got absolutely nothing against them. As a matter of fact, whenever a younger novice hunter asks me for opinions on the best bullets for an African safari… I always recommend the most modern bullet choices to them (like Swift A Frames).

But when I myself am personally hunting with a .30-06 Springfield rifle, my preference will still always be for the old 220Gr Remington Core Lokt Cartridge. Why? Because it has & continues to work for me very well. And since I’ve been using it for so long with successful results, I see absolutely no reason to stop using it now.

Herein, I will add that modern isn’t always necessarily better in every context. For leopards & lions (esp. those that are shot over bait), I personally prefer the old fashioned cup & core soft points such as Remington Core Lokts or Nosler Partitions (if you can still find them, that is) or Federal Classic Hi-Shoks over the modern monometal expanding bullets such as Barnes TSX any day.

It must not be thought that I am eschew all forms of modern bullet designs. Nothing could be further from the truth.

During my heyday, my preferred cartridges for hippopotamus (for instance) were RWS 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids and later Remington 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solids (fired out of a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum).

Nowadays, my preferences for hippopotamus (for instance) are always exclusively for Barnes 300Gr TSX monometal expanding factory loads and Cutting Edge Bullets 300Gr flat nosed monometal Safari Solids (as loaded by Hendershots Custom Ammunition).

 

[C.W. Richter]

Rem Core-Lokt 270 gr SP out of my Son's 375 (one shot, straight down.) Box of ammo cost him $40 at the time and it was the best printing factory ammo out of his particular rig (a Montana 1999 w/ 2-6 Leupold.) "Premium" is not always premium performance (much of it is advertising.) If more traditional bullets didn't work, the industry wouldn't even exist. lol Let's talk about some of the "Premium" bullets that failed some of us at times (i.e. DGX, Barnes not expanding, etc. etc.) I handload, so i use what I like (for terminal performance) or what the gun likes for grouping and long-range accuracy. Premium to me is what puts an animal straight down, and in some cases at 700 yds. I don't think Premium is required for typical <100 yd shots. Are you a sales & marketing person?? My preference for terminal performance (excepting DG) are Nosler Partitions, IF they shoot well in a particular gun. We've taken sheep w/ 'em to 450 yds (and the result is typicaly Dead Right There!) Swift and/or Barnes Solids for DG, and the most frangible, thin-jacketed bullets for cats (Ballistic Tips, Bergers, and old-school SPs.) Only for longer-range (>450 yds) are some of the more premium bullets necessary (Barnes MRX/LRX, Bergers, GMX et. al.) There's really no need for shorter range shooting. We've discussed this before on here, but I took an oryx w/ a .338 using Barnes (at 60ish yds)-bullet went straight through, it put its horns down and came straight for me..put another one (also in the right spot) and though its performance was the same (akin to being shot w/ an archery field point) it went down on its knees and finally expired. The bullet was "too Premium" for the job at hand. What I really needed was a Nos PT that would EXPAND and cause a large wound channel, etc. Why do people buy Prius'? It's cheaper and gets the job done for them sans any "keeping up w/ the Jones' based on some bs ad!" I could never have a Prius for several practical reasons. lol Thank God!

 

[BeeMaa]

Bullet technology has advanced significantly since the early days of the NP and Rem CL. Bullets like the Swift A-Frame, Norma Oryx, Federal TBBC (in larger calibers) and the Barnes TTSX/TSX have surpassed the abilities of earlier bullet designs on thick skinned (and sometimes dangerous) game.

That doesn't mean that they are right in every situation. Call it "horses for courses" the way @WAB described. Nowadays everything has a specialty bullet. The problem with going to Africa is that we are extremely limited in the calibers and ammo we can take. In that case I will always defer to the most accurate fully bonded/monolithic softs and hard solids available.

If I were shooting small varmints at 500 + yards with a 22-250REM, I'd probably use a 36 grain Barnes Varmint Grenade. But I'm hunting Africa with everything from dukier to buffalo on the menu. A do-it-all bullet is needed in this case. For me it's a 375H&H loaded with 300 grain Woodliegh Hydro for the T10 and elephant and 300 grain Barnes TSX for everything else. One gun and scope with two loads for light travel.

I'm not flying 8K miles to come home with a story of the one that got away because I showed up with a Nosler Partition.

 

[Hogpatrol]

My rifles have always shot more accurately with premium bullets, some customs but mostly Bergers.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I think the question better asked would be when on an expensive over seas hunt, why wouldn't you use a premium bullet? Are the premiums always better? No, but sometimes they are and quite significantly so which can make a huge difference on something big and ill tempered.

Normally don't like to quote myself, but perhaps this one time.

375H&H Mag 300gr Nosler Partition...surpassed?

I've never shot any of the bullets being discussed. I've never loaded a rifle round. I'm 58 and didn't even consider myself a big game hunter until 2017. But, even I knew that the Nosler Partition and Swith A-Frame were designed for different purposes. Even I knew that the Partition...

www.africahunting.com

 

[R.M.C.]

I grew up using pretty much whatever the local Wal-Mart or Kmart had on the shelf, core lokt and federal soft points. I made the switch to premium bullets after wild boar from a nearby game farm started showing up in my area, and they started letting hunters shoot bears on the first week of rifle deer season. The difference is astounding, but totally unneeded on the smallish whitetail in Pennsylvania lol

 

[318AE]

This is a lot like motor oil threads in the car enthusiast forums.

I hunt a lot with vintage rifles. I’m not sure if you consider a Woodleigh a premium bullet. I don’t like to shoot Barnes or mono metal bullets in those rifles. For one, they don’t regulate well in the doubles, and don’t shoot to the point of aim with the open sights. I like A-frames, and generally like copper over lead (Nosler, Norma etc). I’ve shot a little bit of vintage ammo. I think the Woodleighs are quite a bit better than what those rifles used 100 years ago, and they were effective then.

The light for caliber mono metals retain nearly 100%, but the 220 grain 30’06 core lokt above at 75% weight retention is still 165 grains….

This is a great forum. We talk a lot about cartridges and bullets. It really comes down to how close you can get and shot placement.

 

[Tgood1]

Without trying to stir the pot but just imagine the sheer amount of game of all sizes taken by corelokts for non reloaders, Sierra game kings for reloaders and nosler partitions mixed in as well

 

[Tbitty]

Pretty simple: dead is dead. There are many use applications where a "premium" bullet is 1000% unnecessary. Just the same, there are applications where a premium bullet is 1000% the better choice.

For the vast majority of my whitetail and feral hog hunting, I personally prefer a plain old soft point or any rapid expansion bullet to hit them hard, create a big wound channel, and transfer as much energy as possible while still getting pass through shots. I guarantee that a Core Lokt will kill a whitetail deer just as dead as a Partition, TTSX, A-Frame, or anything else you want to name. And, honestly, cup and core does it better than a "premium" mono bullet like TSX that need long range, heavy skin, or slow velocities to perform its best.

Application driven, there is certainly a time and place for better bullets. But there is a lot of value and reason to use non premium as well.

Match accuracy and terminal performance to the job at hand first. Price, be it cheap or expensive, should not be the first factor.

 

[YancyW]

My rifles have always shot more accurately with premium bullets, some customs but mostly Bergers. View attachment 555574

Berger bullets actually explode before hitting the animal, it is the shrapnel and the concussion of the explosion that kills them.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Berger bullets actually explode before hitting the animal, it is the shrapnel and the concussion of the explosion that kills them.

I thought you were describing a mortar round? Made by Berger? LOL

 

[WAB]

This is a lot like motor oil threads in the car enthusiast forums.

I hunt a lot with vintage rifles. I’m not sure if you consider a Woodleigh a premium bullet. I don’t like to shoot Barnes or mono metal bullets in those rifles. For one, they don’t regulate well in the doubles, and don’t shoot to the point of aim with the open sights. I like A-frames, and generally like copper over lead (Nosler, Norma etc). I’ve shot a little bit of vintage ammo. I think the Woodleighs are quite a bit better than what those rifles used 100 years ago, and they were effective then.

The light for caliber mono metals retain nearly 100%, but the 220 grain 30’06 core lokt above at 75% weight retention is still 165 grains….

This is a great forum. We talk a lot about cartridges and bullets. It really comes down to how close you can get and shot placement.

Woodleigh is an outstanding bullet if you don’t push it too fast. Absolutely a premium bullet, and like any bullet, is best used in its performance envelope.

 

[AimSmall]

On a moose hunt in BC, another hunter, from Germany, with ALL of the proper gear, including a carbon fiber R8 with Swarovski optics shot a big bull with a Nosler ballistic tip that exploded on the shoulder... That bull was never revovered. $2 more would have bought a partition.

 

[pilar]

I have hunted from the equator to the arctic circle killing stuff mostly one shot & DRT with a .300wm & federal blue box , but I do recommend going heavy for caliber with cup n core , I.e , 165-180 308 , 180-200gr 30-06 , 170+ 7x57 , 270-300 375h&h

 

[WAB]

On a moose hunt in BC, another hunter, from Germany, with ALL of the proper gear, including a carbon fiber R8 with Swarovski optics shot a big bull with a Nosler ballistic tip that exploded on the shoulder... That bull was never revovered. $2 more would have bought a partition.

Not a fan. The A-Frame is everything the partition always wanted to be.

 

[Brent in Az]

Core Lokts shoot well in all my rifles. I've read some posts on AH where Barnes are more finicky in different barrels as an example?

That's true. I tried using some Barnes 180 grain for elk loads in my '06. I loaded them all with the ultimate precision using digital calipers, as well as digital powder measures. The cartridges were blueprint that couldn't get any better.
My barrel didnt like those bullets one bit, and I couldnt get the consistent accuracy I was looking for

 

[JimP]

That's true. I tried using some Barnes 180 grain for elk loads in my '06. I loaded them all with the ultimate precision using digital calipers, as well as digital powder measures. The cartridges were blueprint that couldn't get any better.
My barrel didnt like those bullets one bit, and I couldnt get the consistent accuracy I was looking for

I would of used the Barnes 160 instead of the 180. A 180 grain cup and core would of been different, with the monolithic Barnes bullets you can drop down in grains and get the same effect.

 

[Brent in Az]

I would of used the Barnes 160 instead of the 180. A 180 grain cup and core would of been different, with the monolithic Barnes bullets you can drop down in grains and get the same effect.

I ended up testing, as well as using the Nosler partition, which performed very well off the bench, and in the field.