Has anyone else had an issue with Hornady Interlock bullets?
Last year I used my dad’s favorite gun a .260 Rem. because it was the first year sense 1974 that we could not hunt together (other then 3 times the army had other plans for me in deer season).
So off to the loading bench and worked up some loads using the 129gr Interlock at just over 2,800 fps and they shot great. Second day of season, I had a very nice buck slowly walking right to left at 167 yds and made the shot, he ran about 65 yds and bedded down. I found 5 hairs and no blood where I shot him, taking him in the snow, I found 1 pin-prick of blood on the left side of the trail, so it was the side I shot him on. Got to him and had to shoot him again to finish him. I could not find another hole in him and when I gutted him, I thought I had gut shot him. When I was skinning him, I found where my bullet went in about 2" behind the shoulder and traveled through him before going between the 3rd and 4th rib on the offside, where I found a perfectly mushroomed bullet that had 86 gr left. This bullet didn’t hit any bone at all.
The first time I had used the interlock was in a .35 Wheelen, one of Hornady’s SurperFormace loads, 200 gr SP. Hit a nice 140 lb doe at about 70 ft again, no exit and found a good mushroomed bullet that had 117 gr left.
I called Hornady and was told that the Interlock’s were not designed to pass through and retain only about 70% of its weight.
So, is this the norm as the rep said or do most of your shots pass through?
I never really liked Interlock’s. I played with them after having an over driven Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip (.30 cal) grenade on a deer at 75 yards. With the flat base I had accuracy issues and went with the BT versions as below. The one round fired for effect (165gr @ ~ 2740 fps in a 308 gas gun) achieved the desired result but as you noted involved tracking, fortunately the shot was inside 100 yards and it went through and through about 3" above the front leg and came out 3 ribs back (running snap shot). The autopsy revealed a small wound channel in the lungs and two punched through ribs.
I found the CT - 168gr Ballistic Silver Tip to be the top choice albeit hard to find and expensive, they have a much thicker jacket combined with the BT technology which produced through and through even with or without bone hits and a MASSIVE wound channel. Next was the Hornady A-Max (or what ever they call it now) again massive wound channel and and bone breaking capabilities. I ran Accubond’s in my 6.8 SPC @ to good effect out to 230 yards and inside of 15’. All three shots taken were terminal and through and through with 1 major bone hit (spine) at about 65 yds in thick brush. The inside 15’ was a straight down head shot and the 230 was a just over the shoulder into the heart out behind the front leg hit with one cracked rib but not a hit. As you may have guessed I am a 30 Cal guy and hunt in VA so I’m heavy and fast for these little 130lb critters but the rounds I use on them match my competition rounds so I am good with it.
Cheers,
Craig6
I have used the Interlock for decades, and I am not sure I recall ever having one go through. I use a lot of the BT one too. My wife’s .30-06 really likes the Nosler BT (green tip), although the Hornady’s will shoot to darn near the same spot in her gun, so they interchange if needed.
If you have a no pass thru bullet and load on one hand it’s good because all the energy is dumped into the animal. On the other hand a pass thru does produce a faster bleed out path, like a pass thru with a broad head. If you are a meat hunter
Than you may want less expansion and less meat damaged. I don’t chase deer anymore. I’m not obsessed with harvesting deer anymore so if I can’t get a low neck shot I pass. Some meat hunters or pelt hunters use full Metal jacketed amo all the time PS: some states are ng. For fmj. Every deer I’ve ever shot in the neck never ever moved from where they were standing. More moose have been harvested with 30/30s & 35 s not too many pass thrus but, a lot of harvested moose. ( or is it moose’s ? ) dead is dead meat is food.
I do love my .30 Cal’s and have been using Sierra 165gr HPBT’s over 40 years now and outside of a take down shot for a friends son, never recovered any other bullet (.300 WM plus a bad spine shot and traveled about 15" of bone).
I like my 7mm’s though not much as my 30’s, because of the bullet selection and when they cam out a few years ago with the 140gr HPBT I was in.
I am looking for an antelope hunt in Wyoming next year and thinking about using Pops 260 Rem as he had 5 boxes of 130gr Sierra HPBT and if they work as good as the 30’s and 7mm, I will be in there.
Now I have to figure out what to do with the 2,000 Interlock and 1,200 SST 6.5mm bullets Pop had as I will never shoot them at anything bigger then a song dog or paper.
BTW, I do my deer rifle hunting in WV and can’t think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving then at my boy hood stopping grounds.