Nosler vs Hornady

[Rick]

accubond was designed for a narrow mushroom and 70% weight retention. interbond makes a much larger wide mushroom and was designed for 90% weight retention.

First, what any bullet manufacturer tells you their bullets will do does not mean they actually do that.

Is that 150 grain 30 caliber Whizzbang Gamedropper going to produce the specified mushroom and weight retention when loaded in a 300 Savage that shoots an elk through the ribs at 200 yards, versus loaded into a 300 Weatherby magnum that shoots a whitetail through the shoulder blade at about 30 yards?

The bullet manufacturers are really up against it. Things have gotten better over the years, but they have no control over the range of velocities and the huge differences in game animals their bullets will be used to put in the freezer. Look at the upper and lower end muzzle velocities that .30 caliber hunting bullets might be used at, while at the same time 30 caliber rifles have shot everything from tiny coastal deer to huge coastal grizzly bears. Sometimes using the same bullet.

And then the bullet is supposed to deliver exactly the same expansion and weight retention, whether on a ribs of a scrawny whitetail out at 300 yards or through the shoulder blade of a bull moose called into almost spitting distance.

You can pursue The Perfect Bullet to the end of your career; you'll have fun experimenting and shooting as you develop loads, if nothing else. I preferred to stick with finding a bullet that performed reliably in all my hunting rifles and stuck with it. That bullet sure as hell wasn't a Hornady. Not after digging two bullets out of a bull elk that almost got away, that looked mostly like blunt pencil erasers rather than an expanded hunting bullet, despite those first two shots being at about 50 yards where they had more than ample velocity to allow them to expand.

Maybe Hornady had a bad day the day those bullets were made. Maybe it was a bad lot. But I'll never load another Hornady for hunting big game, even though I'll happily agree that bullets can change a lot over the intervening 45 years. For varmint shooting, plinking, whatever, sure, Hornady's were the most accurate bullets going in my AR15 - but I didn't hunt big game with that rifle.

Find a bullet you have confidence in and stick with it until you have reason not to any longer.

In days of need... use what you can get your hands on or beg, borrow, and steal from your friends.

 

[nowarningshot]

I have a bunch of light bullets designed for 6.8 spc velocity, and a 1885 in 270 with a 28" barrel. Bet they would act like 22 varmint bullets at 33-3400 vs the 2500 design range.

I agree with Dave.....partitions. Not as ###y as the new vld's. But hey, at ethical hunting distance, terminal performance is all that matters, ballistic coefficient matters for those long range showsm

 

[dgradinaru]

My experience with interlocks have been great but the interbonds leave alot to be desired. Shot a mulie buck two years ago with a 338 WIN Mag using 225gr interbonds @ 2800 fps. Shot was around 120 yards, recovered bullet weighed 126gr (56% weight retention), lots of expansion but almost pancaked flat. Shoots great in my rifle but I wouldn't want to used it on heavy bone. Not going to write the interbond off just yet as this was one bullet, planning on trying out 154gr 7mm in the future.

 

[IvoB]

If I can get two shots at 200 yards at MOA or better I am done trying to determine the best hunting bullet - makes no difference to Mr Coyote what puts him to sleep.

 

[Rick]

My experience with interlocks have been great but the interbonds leave alot to be desired. Shot a mulie buck two years ago with a 338 WIN Mag using 225gr interbonds @ 2800 fps. Shot was around 120 yards, recovered bullet weighed 126gr (56% weight retention), lots of expansion but almost pancaked flat. Shoots great in my rifle but I wouldn't want to used it on heavy bone. Not going to write the interbond off just yet as this was one bullet, planning on trying out 154gr 7mm in the future.

A .338 Magnum, a 225 gr. bullet, a little mule deer... and you actually recovered the bullet? And there was only 126 gr. left?

There's no right or wrong in what each guy settles on as their choices for their uses. But for me, performance like that out of that weight bullet in that caliber on a mule deer isn't performance, it's non-performance. My trust in Hornady for big game bullets still remains shaken.

I have been using Barnes for big game since way back when, when the original X-bullet was released. In everything from .308 and 30 Newton on the smallest size, through 358 Winchester and 358 Norma Magnum at the heavy end. They have turned out to be reliable performers on everything from small whitetails through moose, so I've just kept on using them.

I will say the original ones were evil for copper fouling barrels, whether a 30/06 or a 358 Norma Magnum. I did come close to giving up on them while doing load development, but I ultimately decided that the grouping ability after development had produced loads made the juice worth the squeeze in a hunting rifle where that bullet is rarely fired. I also sorted out the copper fouling issue by dipping the bullets to just above the bearing surface in a moly coating product to deal with corrosion in pulp mills. I had been experimenting with it back in the 70's, trying to figure out cast bullet hunting loads before the moly bullet period arrived years later and all the moly products for coating bullets and whatnot arrived on the scene. This is very useful stuff to have around for assorted things. But you have to be very deliberate using it... anything you get it on is going to be black forever.



That took care of fouling issues until the later models of Barnes bullets arrived With the developments since then up to the TTSX, you don't hear much if anything about copper fouling anymore.

 

[dgradinaru]

A .338 Magnum, a 225 gr. bullet, a little mule deer... and you actually recovered the bullet? And there was only 126 gr. left?

There's no right or wrong in what each guy settles on as their choices for their uses. But for me, performance like that out of that weight bullet in that caliber on a mule deer isn't performance, it's non-performance. My trust in Hornady for big game bullets still remains shaken.

Yes, not very impressive. I've had better results from interlocks, with better penetration( 7mm 175gr @2700) (8mm 195gr @2600fps)
I do like certain hornady bullets in given cartridges and velocities brackets but i agree there are lots of better options like Nosler parition/accubond, Swift A-frame, and woodleighs.

 

[mikeyb]

Just tried some 165gr SSTs I got for a screaming deal, 200 bullets for $40 from a friend of mine. I usually use Partitions or Accubonds myself. Decided to see what they could do out of an old .30-06, out of a 22" barrel they are cooking at 2937fps in front of 60.3gr of StaBALL with no pressure signs, easy bolt lift, nice primers, even in this 34 degree weather.

Hoping to do some more testing in the coming weeks but I'm impressed with the raw numbers so far

 

[remington jim]

dgradinaru : I think you got your Interlocks and Interbonds mixed up when loading ! lol RJ