Hornady interloks

mbogo3 said:
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
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These comments are spot on with some of my experiences as well.
 
While I have taken some game with the older Interlocks with great success, I had a 270, 140 IL

completely disintegrate on the ribs of a Whitetail buck. Left a large, shallow wound, without any penetration. 80 yards, MV was 3002 avg.

So I have relegated those bullets to the "practice" category. :)

Regards, Dave.
 
Perhaps we are seeing a trend. Many years ago I shot Speer mag tips and they were a very good bullet for me. As was said above older interloks worked well also. However, reading other information it seems the newer versions of these products don't seem to be performing as they once did.

Are we just seeing a drop in quality making us purchase the higher end product. After all there is quite a difference in price between regular and premium bullets.

As a side note in the past I could never achieve the accuracy with bullets that I can today. The old magtips would give me 1.5 to 2 inch groups at best while today it isnt too hard to get just about any bullet to 1 inch out of a good rifle.

Is there a correlation between the accuracy craze and the performance of todays bullets on game. Is one a trade off for the other ?
 
Cleftwynd said:
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....
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That's odd because an SST is just an Interlock with a polymer tip.
 
mbogo3 said:
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
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Not sure about the newer ones. I used Hornady ammo in my Ruger M77 MkII 15 yrs ago. It liked Hornady ammo, in particular the Light Magnum round. But havent used them since then. Maybe they have lost the quality they had back then...
 
The one member here has done bullet performance tests in wet newspaper for several bore sizes. Just recently did one for .375, and the 235 interlock was excellent. Just your basic cup n core bullet, mechanically "locked" by crimping the bullet. If i remember correctly the Hornady SST is basically a tipped Interlock. The tip aids in aerodynamics and initiates expansion like a hollow point.
 
I've never lost an animal due to failure of the interlocks but I have had core separation when shoulder bone hits occurred and through and through penetration for a good blood trail is definitely not assured. For moderate velocities they are all right and if they were all there was to be had I would use them even though there are better bullets out there.
 
Any cup and core bullet is going to perform much better at non magnum velocities. Pushing them 3000fps+ is only asking for separation. Go to an Interbond if you want to push the velocity envelope. Most cup and core bullets were designed for that 2700 fps window of the 180 grain .30-06, etc. Push them much beyond that and you are beginning to stretch their limits - no matter what brand they are.
 
A friend of mine hunts with a 338 and uses handloaded Hornady 225 interlocks. He said they are very accurate in his gun , with no issues so far.
 
saskcop said:
Any cup and core bullet is going to perform much better at non magnum velocities. Pushing them 3000fps+ is only asking for separation. Go to an Interbond if you want to push the velocity envelope. Most cup and core bullets were designed for that 2700 fps window of the 180 grain .30-06, etc. Push them much beyond that and you are beginning to stretch their limits - no matter what brand they are.
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I think it is important to note that the critical velocities being discussed here are impact velocities not muzzle velocities, and that impact velocities are entirely dependent on impact distance. Having said that, I have never pushed 150 gr. SSTs out of my .270win faster than ~ 2950 fps and they have always performed very well, so that's basically in line with your numbers. I guess it would be alright to use them as a longer distance round out of a magnum with 3000fps+ M.V., since impact velocity would typically be much lower at longer distance (i.e. beyond 200y). A .300 win mag pushing an average 150gr projectile @3250fps. drops to ~2800fps by ~200y, for example.
 
My experience is that if started at 25-2600 fps from the muzzle they seem to work quite well but sometimes slip the core from the jacket, usually at the end of the bullets travel. I too think that the manufacturing process has been streamlined or some short cut taken because they aren't the same bullet as the old ones, sectioned with an end mill the interlock feature is tiny and not in the same place as it was in some of the old bullets. I shot a big black bear last fall with a 180 spire point out of a 30-06 in the shoulder and while it killed it, the bullet grenaded and lucky for me shrapnel did enough damage to the one lung to do him in. It was started at 2800 fps and the range was about 75 yards. The five deer I killed on the same trip were shot with the 130 grain .270 spire points and flattened everyone of the small blacktail bucks but I didn't get pass throughs on 3 of them.
I'll still use them on deer but I'll stick to the woodleighs or partitions for bigger stuff.

Just though I'd add that most bullets look good when shot into wet newspaper, if you took the same bullets and fired them into a few inches of it and a big bone or dry newspaper the cup and core bullets wouldn't nescessarily fare so well.
 
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So here is a question. The premium bullets obviously have specific characteristics cup and cores don't. I would hope since they are basically twice the price.

Realizing that accuracy in a specific gun is it's own issue what offerings out there in the cheaper cup and core category is the best choice.

Speeds
Interlocks
Sierra
Etc...

Let's say in the under $50 per hundred range.
 
I have used Hornady Interlocks as my standard whitetail deer bullet for about 20 years; 180 gr. 30 cal spire-points out of a .308 Win almost always gave complete pass throughs at short woods hunting distances. Any more details on recent changes to this proven bullet design would be appreciated. Thx, WK
 
Cleftwynd said:
Nosler Ballistic Tip is a good cup and core as well.
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My early experience with .30 cal 180gr Ballistic Tips as that they were too fragile and tended to over-expand, but they dropped deer DRT! I have read bullet tests on CGN that the more recent B-tips are designed with thicker jackets to help prevent blow-up; I have not used the new version yet. WK
 
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