Plain vanilla Hornady Interlocks......

[Why not?]

....still work.

As much as I am a great fan of Speer Hot Cor bullets, there's no denying that Hornady still has a good bullet as well.

I think there was a thread here recently, concerned about problems with the Hornady Interlocks

Here's one taken form a moose my good friend shot this fall.

225 gr in .338 Winchester Magnum, 2800 fps muzzle velocity, one shot at 45 yd, DRT, retained weight 198 gr.

Ted

 

[BwanaDave]

Funny , there still working for me too

 

[Moose Masher]

I used them for Whitetails this year.
.375, 225 gr at 2700 fps, ranges were 40 and 60 yards.
No big craters, just nice neat holes through the ribs, and 2 dead deer.

 

[BigUglyMan]

Ted must be running low on Hot Cors for his 9.3 and is hedging his bets with Interlocks.

I've got a box of them too. And 50 primed brass waiting for loading.

 

[Jeff/1911]

Hi Ted,

This has been my experience too..in any rifle I've loaded them in - they have performed predictably on game and shot quite well in terms of group size.

Also, they are afforable, so a person can use them for load development and practice and not break the bank.

I'm a big fan of Hornady Interlocks!

Jeff/1911.

 

[Why not?]

Ted must be running low on Hot Cors for his 9.3 and is hedging his bets with Interlocks.

I've got a box of them too. And 50 primed brass waiting for loading.

The Speer 270 works fine on moose.....

and bears.

These 286 gr Norma Dual Core worked on various moose and bears, too.

You can perhaps give us a report on the Norma 286 gr round nose soft points.


There's probably no hurt in trying out a 286 gr Hornady, so I bought one box to see.

When are you coming to town?

Ted

 

[SuperCub]

....still work.

As much as I am a great fan of Speer Hot Cor bullets, there's no denying that Hornady still has a good bullet as well.

I think there was a thread here recently, concerned about problems with the Hornady Interlocks

What about the 270gr 375cal? Any reports on them?

.

 

[BigUglyMan]

You can perhaps give us a report on the Norma 286 gr round nose soft points.

Contrary to how it might appear I'm not hoarding them. I went to see the Chief on Thirsday to talk to him about quota Bison tags but he was in a meeting and I didn't get much help from the counter staff. Monday I'll stop by there again.

When are you coming to town?

Ted

I can barely leave the house anymore, let alone travel. Hopefully something will come up eventually. Failing that we're eyeing a move in that direction in a year or 18 months.

 

[guntech]

Hornady bullets have been my favourite bullet for over 45 years...

Typically recovered bullets look like these...

 

[colinmatchett]

The .308 165 BTSP hornady has been a great performer for me. Had fantastic accuracy in a bunch of different rifles and terminal performance has been very good. Shot a bunch of deer and bears and have yet to recover one bullet. I have been using 150 grain accubonds last couple of seasons just because I like to try some new things once in awhile.

 

[martinbns]

I go to them first in non magnum cartridges. I load them as long as the velocity is under 3000 fps, I find them accurate and reasonably tough.

I am not a big fan of cup and core bullets at ,uch higher velocity though, I have had a few come apart and not penetrate as much as I'd like.

The 165 spirepoint in the 30-06 and my current fav is the 129 gr in my 6.5x55.

 

[mike shickele]

I was one of the people that took part in the previous thread that everyone seems to be alluding to on this thread, so I find it appropriate to chime in here. I have used the 180gr hornady interlock for years in the 30-06, and up until this season it seemed to do very well; holding together, and generally exiting through the off side. Prior to buying a large quantaty of the bullets with the ID ring taken off (the current manufacture) I called hornady, and asked if anything else in the bullet had been changed at that time. The person over the phone said that only the ID ring had been changed, and I took his word for it. I didn't take a elk last year, only taking a very large whitetail, and paying no attention to how the bullet performed. Upon taking my elk this year, I noticed that neither of my bullets exited (different from previous experience), and neither bullet retained it's core. I had a buddy shoot a whitetail this year with new manufacture interlocks in a 30-06 as well, and he got the same results. I happened to have an old manufacture 180gr interlock around the house, so I took both the old manufacture interlock, and one of new maunufacture and found obvious differences in the 2 bullets. First and foremost, when I halved the old bullet, the core stuck to the jacket.........the new one poped out even before I had it totally seperated. The jacket is visably thinner up front on the new bullet; so much so that the expansion grooves seemed to be only token markes on the new one vs the deep grooves that where on the old, and the cannular was ovviously shallower on the new bullet. I sent the two sectioned bullets, one of the failed bullets (core only), and an unfired new manufacture bullet off to hornady as per my post failure discussion with a hornady tech, back to hornady.........I have not recieved a reply. I know nothing about the current manufacture bullets of other diameters, but the current manufacture 180gr interlock has definitely changed, and not for the better in my oppinion. I have now moved to the 168gr barnes TTSX for hunting; having to accept the inflated cost.
Mike

 

[GRiNGo]

Thanks for the input Mike, and good on you for challenging Hornady with your findings. I have another question. Is the Interlock and the SST the same bullet, with the exception of the tip, one being lead tip and one with polymer tip?

 

[Noel]

I was one of the people that took part in the previous thread that everyone seems to be alluding to on this thread, so I find it appropriate to chime in here. I have used the 180gr hornady interlock for years in the 30-06, and up until this season it seemed to do very well; holding together, and generally exiting through the off side. Prior to buying a large quantaty of the bullets with the ID ring taken off (the current manufacture) I called hornady, and asked if anything else in the bullet had been changed at that time. The person over the phone said that only the ID ring had been changed, and I took his word for it. I didn't take a elk last year, only taking a very large whitetail, and paying no attention to how the bullet performed. Upon taking my elk this year, I noticed that neither of my bullets exited (different from previous experience), and neither bullet retained it's core. I had a buddy shoot a whitetail this year with new manufacture interlocks in a 30-06 as well, and he got the same results. I happened to have an old manufacture 180gr interlock around the house, so I took both the old manufacture interlock, and one of new maunufacture and found obvious differences in the 2 bullets. First and foremost, when I halved the old bullet, the core stuck to the jacket.........the new one poped out even before I had it totally seperated. The jacket is visably thinner up front on the new bullet; so much so that the expansion grooves seemed to be only token markes on the new one vs the deep grooves that where on the old, and the cannular was ovviously shallower on the new bullet. I sent the two sectioned bullets, one of the failed bullets (core only), and an unfired new manufacture bullet off to hornady as per my post failure discussion with a hornady tech, back to hornady.........I have not recieved a reply. I know nothing about the current manufacture bullets of other diameters, but the current manufacture 180gr interlock has definitely changed, and not for the better in my oppinion. I have now moved to the 168gr barnes TTSX for hunting; having to accept the inflated cost.
Mike

One challenge I used to have was thinking a core always has to stay with the jacket to do its job. Opinions on this subject will always vary but the fact still remains, your game died and unless the bullet vaporized it seems to have done its job. If you want to see carnage try the Nosler BTH or Sierra GK. You can fit a soft ball through the wound track with them. But still they bring the game down.
Hornady SSTs give similar results in our experience. The Interbond however is a different beast with a bit thicker shank and perhaps a harder core. Great bullet with a high BC but too rich for my blood.

Been using the big red H products for a long time and will agree the cores do shed from time to time, mainly in the Spire point design. Round nose hold up very different in my experience. Off the top of my head:

.308" 165gr SP out of an 06 thru the head of a whitetail at 200+yds hit just below and behind the eye left the entire jacket under the thin hide on the off side. This would be around `95 or so.

Yet this year I made a near identical shot on my whitetail but at 80-90yds with a .257" 117gr RN and it went straight thru leaving no sign of lead or jacket that I could find and I looked hard. Same load on a doe at 80yds broadside thru both lungs and exited.

.338 250gr RNs out of a 338-06, one into a bear at 35yds in the neck on entry and thru the vitals stopping in the hide offside in a perfect musroom.
Second into a Bull moose at 180 yds, stopped under the hide with the same result.

7mm 154gr SPs went into my wife's elk at 150yds, thru both shoulders and held their cores except one that was just the core found.
Same load for my bull at 360 some yds was a double lung and exited while the second hit the shoulder quartering towards me, and clipped the spine then stopped between the ribs on the offside, it was barely holding the core but if you saw what it went thru you wouldn't blame it either.


Perhaps I should get out the recovered bullets box and snap a pic or two.

Depending on the calibre I am shooting (weight availability) they are my go to brand.

 

[mike shickele]

One challenge I used to have was thinking a core always has to stay with the jacket to do its job. Opinions on this subject will always vary but the fact still remains, your game died and unless the bullet vaporized it seems to have done its job. If you want to see carnage try the Nosler BTH or Sierra GK. You can fit a soft ball through the wound track with them. But still they bring the game down.
Hornady SSTs give similar results in our experience. The Interbond however is a different beast with a bit thicker shank and perhaps a harder core. Great bullet with a high BC but too rich for my blood.

Been using the big red H products for a long time and will agree the cores do shed from time to time, mainly in the Spire point design. Round nose hold up very different in my experience. Off the top of my head:

.308" 165gr SP out of an 06 thru the head of a whitetail at 200+yds hit just below and behind the eye left the entire jacket under the thin hide on the off side. This would be around `95 or so.

Yet this year I made a near identical shot on my whitetail but at 80-90yds with a .257" 117gr RN and it went straight thru leaving no sign of lead or jacket that I could find and I looked hard. Same load on a doe at 80yds broadside thru both lungs and exited.

.338 250gr RNs out of a 338-06, one into a bear at 35yds in the neck on entry and thru the vitals stopping in the hide offside in a perfect musroom.
Second into a Bull moose at 180 yds, stopped under the hide with the same result.

7mm 154gr SPs went into my wife's elk at 150yds, thru both shoulders and held their cores except one that was just the core found.
Same load for my bull at 360 some yds was a double lung and exited while the second hit the shoulder quartering towards me, and clipped the spine then stopped between the ribs on the offside, it was barely holding the core but if you saw what it went thru you wouldn't blame it either.


Perhaps I should get out the recovered bullets box and snap a pic or two.

Depending on the calibre I am shooting (weight availability) they are my go to brand.

I think that you missed the point though, they didn't do this prior to the change, and the bullet has obviously been changed. I never expected 100% weight retention, but I would hope that the core would stay with the lead most of the time. The first shot on my elk was broadside, through the ribcage, and the jacket was on the offside hide. If I ever needed to put the bullet through a big bulls shoulders I don't think that I could count on it to do so. The second bullet was through the sternum, only passing through chest and abdomen after, and it still lost it's core. I just can't feel secure in that.
Mike

 

[SuperCub]

For shooting deer with non-magnum cases, I personally don't care if the cores separate from the jacket. Deer aren't that hard to get a bullet into.


.

 

[mbogo3]

As I said once before in an earlier post, I had a 286gr Hornady go completely to pieces on a cow moose shoulder blade at 190 yards?[ Out of a 9.3x62] I've used mostly Hornady Inter-locs for 30 + years successfully in many calibers even on grizzly but sometime cores do fail.....Harold

 

[BwanaDave]

Good input Mike and thanks for chiming in.
I ran a pile of cup and core bullets through the milling machine a few years ago looking at the construction of each and posted some pics up on a thread about re-barreling a 98 mauser in 3 beers or less ,at the time I was pretty dissapointed with the speer hot cores that just seemed to pop right out of the jacket despite what the marketing folks would have you believe, the hornady's seemed to be swaged tightly to their jackets and the interlock ring and cannelure were quite visibly designed to retain the core to the jackets especially in the .458 cal interlocks , It will be interesting to see if you hear back from Hornady , like many I have used them on a couple of truckloads worth of deer, black bears, moose and one elk over the years and have only recovered two in all that time , both textbook mushrooms with more than 70% weight remaining. I use partitions , tsx, accubonds and just ordered 3 boxes of gmx's last night but I shoot way more 3070's from hornady than any of the others but that might change if indeed they have changed the construction of the bullet.
Keep us posted

Speer 270 gr .366 / Privi Partisan 286 gr .366

 

[Noel]

I think that you missed the point though, they didn't do this prior to the change, and the bullet has obviously been changed. I never expected 100% weight retention, but I would hope that the core would stay with the lead most of the time. The first shot on my elk was broadside, through the ribcage, and the jacket was on the offside hide. If I ever needed to put the bullet through a big bulls shoulders I don't think that I could count on it to do so. The second bullet was through the sternum, only passing through chest and abdomen after, and it still lost it's core. I just can't feel secure in that.
Mike

Oh but they did slip prior to the change. Maybe just not as much. No two impacts are going to put the same strain on a bullet. Just because the core slipped out doesn't mean it stops, it keeps going. Did you find how much further they went in your animals?

I should add too, in some of the bullets I have recovered, the cores are still intact, but were very near to coming out. As mentioned the Speer 9.3 270gr seems to let them slip readily. Norma Oryx are much worse when tested in the same medium but I am gettting OT with that.

 

[Boomer]

What about the 270gr 375cal? Any reports on them?