During the discussion of Hornady Interlock performance a little while ago here, a Campfire member (who didn't post on the thread because it turned into a typical Campfire name-calling contest) PM'd me and said he'd had a 180-grain .30 caliber separate jacket and core on a 200-yard broadside rib shot on a cow elk. The cartridge was the .300 Winchester Magnum, and the terminal velocity at 200 yards would have been about 2650 fps.
He sent me the jacket, and it's one of the new bullets with the Interlock ring much higher in the shank of the jacket, not far below the cannelure. The jacket opened back past the ring, and the core popped free. In fact, the Interlock ring is now on the outside of the jacket, where the jacket turned inside out.
In the past the Interlock ring was maybe 1/4" above the base of the jacket. I have a few Interlock Spire Points in my recovered bullet collection, and with only one exception they all opened up to the Interlock ring and no further. (The exception was a 130 from a .270 that hit the spine at the base of the neck on a big pronghorn buck, as it faced my wife at 130 yards. We found the mangled jacket and what was left of the core under the skin at the back of the neck, which might be expected on such a close-range shot from a high-velocity cartridge. The buck went straight down.)
He also sent along a couple of bullets pulled from his handloads, so I can do a little "media" penetration testing. But right now it does look as if the changed location of the Interlock ring is indeed affecting terminal performance.
John,do you know if the bullet killed the Elk?????
