Hornady interloks

powdergun

powdergun

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I was just looking over my current bullet stockpile and notice a box of interlocks. Memory serves I gave up on using them after shooting a couple of deer with poor results. Bullets zipped through the boiler room and did little damage. Both animals were dispatched with a second shot after the animal ran another 100 yards or so and stopped.

The first shot on both was close and the second was at about 150 to 200 yards. Examining both animals the exact same results with one round showing little expansion and the other showing good expansion.

What have your experiences been with interlocks ?

Info: bullets were 139 gr. 7mm

Disclaimer: I am not responsible if this turns into a premium vs rapid expanding debate I am hoping for more info on interloks
 
Those are the exact same bullets I load for my rifle and I have yet to have an issue with them not doing the job. With one shot in the boiler room, lungs and heart were turned to jelly. Interlocks are my hunting round and I have been using them for 7 years with great effect.
 
I haven't had any problems. I use the 174grain round nose .312" for 303British. Because I like those I've also loaded the 165grain SP for .308Win. I'm unlikely to take shots beyond 200m, most are within 100m.
 
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Ross Seyfried once described the Hornady Interlock as the cheapest premium bullet, it's an interesting twist on where lines get drawn.

I used to use the 139 grain flatbase in the STW, and wind them up to 3500 fps or so. Faster kills on deer are hard to imagine. In interested in your impact velocities.
 
I always loaded 139 grain Hornady Interlok in 7x57 for my wife.
She never took more than one shot at a deer.
Can't beat perfect.
 
interlocks are my go to bullet for most of my loading.I've been using 165 gr. in my 30-06for 20 years, also like the 174 gr. 312s.and the 154gr. in a 7x57,all flat base. Never had an issue with any interlock yet.
 
I use them in the 25-35, and 30-30, perform fine in those little peashooters. Haven't used them much in larger calibers, although I did try the SST's on deer and found they act like varmint bullets....
 
Love interlocks. They have worked perfectly for me. Never needed a second shot however I did finish a wolf with a knife after hitting her thru both shoulders with a 257 117 gr interlock. There was a twoonie size exit. Both shoulders were broken and so was the spine. She dropped to the shot and was still alive when I walked up to her 20 mins later or so. She watched me and tried to bite but couldn't get up. Stock behind the ear and a Spyderco thru the ribs and she died very quickly as I petted her. Weird feeling for sure. But other than that it's been fast one shot kills with good exit holes from 257-458 diameter
They work so good for me it's hard to buy premium bullets
 
Dogleg said:
Ross Seyfried once described the Hornady Interlock as the cheapest premium bullet, it's an interesting twist on where lines get drawn.

I used to use the 139 grain flatbase in the STW, and wind them up to 3500 fps or so. Faster kills on deer are hard to imagine. In interested in your impact velocities.
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I don t own a crony but the load,information puts it about 2800 fps out of my 7 08. Their performance almost seems as if they penciled at close range but at longer ranges worked fine. I should note that in both instances the bullet path was through the rib cage and did not hit shoulder. Perhaps it just may of been an oddball batch. After that I went back to my partitions and shoulder shots. No worries there.
 
I have used 180 gr Interlocks in .30-06 on bear with great performance. Rarely did they make it further than 40 yds after being hit in the boiler room. Heart and lungs turned to jelly as mentioned by others.
 
powdergun said:
I don t own a crony but the load,information puts it about 2800 fps out of my 7 08. Their performance almost seems as if they penciled at close range but at longer ranges worked fine. I should note that in both instances the bullet path was through the rib cage and did not hit shoulder. Perhaps it just may of been an oddball batch. After that I went back to my partitions and shoulder shots. No worries there.
Click to expand...
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I'll go with the result being a combination of low velocities, and hits at the rear of the lungs. If you didn't do anything else but go back to shooting your deer through the shoulders I predict you would see results with the Hornadys that mirror the results with the Partitions. Wound channels with flat base Hornadys are very similar to the NPT, degree of fragmentation, expansion,weight loss and penetration are similar right up to the point of pushing the Interlock too far. What you get with a partition is an insurance policy against total destruction.
 
The old Hornady's in the dark red box were great.The Modern ones in the bright red box ,not so great.Many bullet blowups and core separations from several calibers between 6.5 to 9.3 Had a 286gr RN from a 9.3x62 turn to confetti on a moose shoulder bone at 200 yards and cause a surface would failing to penetrate the chest cavity.....I called Hornady and of course they claimed nothing had been changed in regards to bullet construction.Several hunting friends called them with the same problems but ,they claimed it was the first complaint they had heard....BS they cut corners somewhere...Harold
 
Used literally thousands of Hornady's. 139 boat tails in my 280AI were all over the place in a Winchester F/W. Changed to 139 flat base and life was good. I have used them in my 7 STW simply because it likes them with phenomenal results and in my 7 x 57's 7 x 57AI and in the 280AI with fine results on game. That being said I do prefer the 154's for some of the cartridges mentioned. 225 Hornady's in my 338 Win mag have been the death of dozens of bears and more than a few moose...all one shot kills. That's just a few of the cartridges that I use Hornady bullets in, there are many more and other than the 139 boat tails in a whippy bbl, all have been great in both accuracy and in the field.
 
I load 100gr interlocks for my wife's .243 Win. So far they have taken several deer at ranges from 100 to 200 yards. They have done plenty of damage and dropped deer on the spot. However, I have also shot a few coyotes with this load. I shot one directly in the chest just below the neck (facing me) and it travelled nearly the entire length of the coyote, exiting about 3" behind the last rib and didn't expand. There was just a neat .243 diameter hole right through the yote. It seems that the softer body didn't allow for expansion. The dog was very dead regardless of expansion. On the flip side, I have shot other coyotes where the bullet hits something a little harder and expands as it should.
 
powdergun said:
I don t own a crony but the load,information puts it about 2800 fps out of my 7 08. Their performance almost seems as if they penciled at close range but at longer ranges worked fine. I should note that in both instances the bullet path was through the rib cage and did not hit shoulder. Perhaps it just may of been an oddball batch. After that I went back to my partitions and shoulder shots. No worries there.
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What is your load??
 
I've used Interlocks in about everything from .270 win to .375 RUM and I continue to do so.

Never had any issues with them, and they have accounted for literally TONS of meat in the freezer.

They're a good value priced cup-and-core bullet and they perform just the same as similar bullets from Sierra and Speer.

I do tend to do all my handloading right around maximum velocity (i.e - 150 grain .277 dia. @ 2950 fps from a .270 win).
 
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