Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hornady .257 120gn Hollow Point

G'day fellas,

Is the 25 cal Hornady 120gn Hollow Point a harder bullet than the Hornady 117gn Interlokt or 117gn SST? I have loaded some up in my .25-06 but not fired them yet. What game have you taken with the 120gn HP and how did it perform?

Thanks for your replies.

Aussie Gun Writer who posts here says the 120 gr HP is tougher which is why I shoot this bullet.

Doc

I've used that bullet a lot in 25/06 and 257AI for many years. It has performed flawlessly.

I have only recovered a couple bullets and they looked like a Hornady ad.

Moreover, it has been one of the most consistently accurate bullets, across several rifles, that I have used.

According to an email I received from Hornady several years ago, the front portion of the jacket is the same thickness as the 117gr BT, but the rear portion of the jacket is thicker.

My only complaint is that Hornady has not manufactured that bullet for some time now, and I can't find any available.

I had a box of them on the bench for years. I tried H4831 and got lousy groups. After figuring it was the bullet (or my rifle's twist), I left them sitting for 20 years. Last fall I tried Mule Deer's Rimshot Magnum load and the velocity and accuracy were both there. My back was really messed up last fall and I did not hunt. However a friend of mine with a new .25-06 barrel could not find ammo, so I gave him the 120 grain HP/Magnum loads and he was mighty impressed with its performance on deer.

I read somewhere, on the 'fire possibly, that it is rumored that Joyce Hornady designed/built the .257 120 hp stout for use on elk and such....

I have a full box of them, but have not killed anything with them. I do here a lot of good about them being good killers of game.

I thought I'd heard that too somewhere. My range is closed for a couple of weeks so I'll have to wait a while to see how they go on paper. Thanks for your replies.

Hornady has been pretty prompt when I have emailed them a couple questions. Worth a try to get it from the source.

Good bullet for the 25-06 to bad they are no longer in production.

Hornady's website still lists them in the Interlock bullets.

Like a lot of companies, Hornady has been trying to please MOST of its customers by making their most-popular bullets, since they don't have enough production capacity to make enough of everything during the extended Obama-inspired buying spree. But the 120 HP is not discontinued.

Just an FYI , this is what was left of a Hornady 120 gr HP from the mid 90's. First shot blew up on the shoulder when it hit the buck at 175 yards out of a 25.06, brought him down with a spine shot as he was getting up to run. Never penetrated to the vitals. Hope they have gotten better, I haven't used them since.

Any bullet can fail in a single example. It's best to shoot a few more so you can average the results. I would be happy enough with this bullet in my own .25/06 for most everything I'd use the cartridge in.
John

Indeed, John. Even those precious "premiums".

I called Hornady a while back. I was told they were planning a production run and they should be some available in November.

I forgot to ask which November!

I've only used it once. High shoulder shot on a whitetail with a 257R at 100 yards. Bang, flop, through both shoulders and an exit. I heard the rumor they were tough and I was considering taking it on an Axis hunt. Wanted to make sure it would open at distance. Emailed Hornady abut minimum opening speeds in case I had a longer shot. Response below.

"You are talking to a fellow 257 Bob shooter – and I’ve come to learn there are not many of us out there! That 120gr HP does a number on animals for sure. Because it does not have a polymer tip to force that expansion, impact velocity is a bit higher than our SST’s and I would not recommend taking shots where impact velocity dips below 1850fps, which should put you at about a 400 yards maximum distance. Thank you and good shooting!"