If you look back to the 1960 when Remington first came out with Core-Lokts and Winchester came out with the Power Points, they were advertised as premium hunting bullets, a step up from the "plain" cup and core bullets of the day. They dropped game from deer to moose with no problems for years, but now everyone needs bullets that costs 3 to 4 times as much just to shoot whitetail does. Most of the first deer I shot were with Imperial soft points and they worked just fine. For the price Iw ould say that Core Lokts are a very good hunting bullet, whether in factory ammo, or as bulk bullets, although from the latest Wholesale Sports catalog they aren't as economical as they used to be.
As far as having someone else sight in you rifle, or going by factory ballistic charts to do the work, I personally wouldn't shoot at game with a rifle that I hadn't sighted myself and put at least 25 rounds ( and usually more than that) down the tube, so I know where it's going to hit at the ranges I plan on hunting at. Just my .02