The Remington Corelokt hunting bullet has been with us since 1939. While there have been slight changes in profile or jacket thickness, it has largely remained a flat-based, softnose projectile. That is, until recently, with the introduction of the new Corelokt Tipped line of ammunition.

One could argue that over the space of those 85 years the traditional cup and core soft point bullet has been filling freezers for millions of hunters and, therefore, why meddle? I mean, don’t fix something if it’s not broken, right?

Luckily for us, Remington will continue to offer the traditional Corelokt ammunition as long as a goodly portion of the aforementioned freezer-filling millions continue to buy it. The new line is not meant to replace the original, only to offer an additional choice for hunters and shooters.

Two design changes incorporated with the new line include a boat tail base for better velocity retention and less wind drift at longer ranges as well as a polymer tip to better resist magazine deformation and ensure positive expansion over a wider range of impact velocities.

The Corelokt Tipped is being offered initially in .243 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, .270 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, .280 Remington, 7mm Rem Mag, 7mm PRC, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .300 WSM, .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 PRC and the .360 Buckhammer.

Being as ODFW’s lottery did not see fit to award me with any wins this year, I luckily was able to purchase a leftover tag for the Northside-Ritter private lands cow elk hunt. Having not used factory ammo in some time for any big game hunt, I decided to borrow a .300 WSM rifle from a family member and give these new Corelokt Tipped bullets a try.

At the range they shot quite accurately, which is not uncharacteristic for either the rifle, a Winchester Model 70, nor the .300 WSM cartridge. Even though this particular rifle had been sighted in with 180-grain Nosler Accubond handloads, it required no adjustments be made to the scope when switching to the 150-grain Corelokt Tipped. I suggest always checking zero when switching loads in any rifle, but this was a pleasant happenstance which I have found to be frequent to .300 WSM rifles.

The Garmin Chronograph gave me an average of 3290 fps muzzle velocity, which is screaming right along. Not having any ballistic gel media with which to test penetration, I resorted to the gallon jug method. The 150-grain Corelokt tipped, which is the only bullet Remington currently offers in the line for the .300 WSM, penetrated three jugs and stopped in the fourth at 100 yards.

The retrieved bullet weighed 67 grains of its original 150, resulting in 44 percent weight retention. I am not sure that the traditional Corelokt of the same weight, fired from the same rifle at the same speed, could’ve or would’ve done any better.

August, like much of the summer, is hot and dry, forcing the elk to come down into agricultural land much earlier than normal, searching for better feed and water. I’ve got several months to punch my elk tag; that will be the real test for these new Corelokt Tipped bullets!

Are you a fan of Corelokt bullets? Write to us at shootingthebreezebme@gmail.com today!