Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is an interlock ever the wrong choice in the lower 48?

That's interesting. Since I joined the 'fire' in 2010,...

you are the only one I've read say those 2 things. I had my share of blow ups from Speer H Cs ON GAME and dropped them.(the bullets that is)

Jerry

Not to argue just different experience.

I don't know how many WT I've killed with the 7 RM and Hornady 139 BTSP----3300FPS---chronoed and never had that happen.

Yes, STUFF happens, sometimes just once.


Jerry

140 factory rolled did well in my Montana. I'm not concerned about them bouncing off.

My guns prefer Sierra Gamekings.

By all rights, they should. The sierra is a sleeker design. However, the interlock is a stronger bullet. I use both on game and notice more blood shot when I use the sierra GK. I've also seen more jacket and core separations with the GK. With that being said, I've never had either one bounce off. This year, my buddy took a nice 3 point mulie with his 22-250 and the old 55gr. interlock and I was surprised how well the bullet did in the little cartridge. It busted right through the leg bone, and I mean busted the hell out of the leg bone, smashed through rib, took out the heart, busted though another rib and landed in the offside hide. I found the bullet and it lost half its weight, but it was still impressive how well it dug for a little pill. Killed that big ol buck deader than hell... I'll be using either a 225gr. .338 interlock in my 338 wm or 200gr. partition in my 30-06 this year on my elk hunt. I have full faith in either bullet to perform well on any sized bull I run across...

Took my first big game animal, a bull elk, with a 7mm RM and a 162g BTSP InterLock back in the early 1980's. Hit a rib dead center going in, missed or barely nicked the ribs on the off-side, where the bullet was found under the hide. Retained weight was less than 48% even thought the challenge to the bullet's integrity wasn't that great.

Switched to Speer 160g Grand Slams and used them and my 7mm RM exclusively for the next 20+ years. Finally recovered my first the last year I used them in my rifles. It had destroyed both shoulder joints of a 5x5 bull with over 70% weight retention. If Speer hadn't changed the construction of the Grand Slams I might still be using them. (My hunting buddy still is and I used his 7mm RM/160g Grand Slam handloads to take my bull last year.)

Are the Interlocks ever "wrong"? Depends on what you want for performance. I've often said most any bullet will work most of the time. For myself, I prefer North Fork SS, Swift Frame, Barnes TTSX and Nosler AccuBond for my hunting. Reliable but limited expansion coupled with higher weight retention and the ability to penetrate deeper are what I want out of a bullet.

Asking if an InterLock is ever "wrong" is like asking if a .308 Win is ever "wrong". I've never taken an animal that I couldn't have taken just as well with a .308 Win. That said and when hunting elk I prefer my .280 Rem, 7mm RM, .30-06s, .300WM and .338WM. Thought a lot about taking my .308 Win this year but decided that while it might do the job I had better options. The .300WM and .338WM are the choice this year. The only question now is which to carry and which to leave in the truck as the backup, a question that will be answered by range time this weekend.

Just because something isn't a "wrong" choice doesn't mean there aren't "better" choices.

I'm doing the majority of my hunting this year with 150 Interlocks in my 30-06.

Interlocks have always worked well for me. My preferred bullet next to the partition.

Had a 130gr .270 fail to make two holes in an average-sized buck in a steady rain in 2011. Left me with no blood trail, so I had a tough tracking job. Pefect mushroom, total destruction, just no blood. If not for a clump of hair knocked off the far side of his ribs, I would have written it off as a m-miss.

I've got some .277 150s to try with RL26, so I haven't given up on them just yet. The 130s were the most accurate bullet ever fired in that rifle, by a good bit.

Jerry, I've never seen anything other than picture perfect HC's come out of animals, including one 160 grain from a 7mm RM pulled from the off-side of a bull elk. It looked marketing-picture perfect.

Me personally, I've only used the 120 gr. 25 cal, and 150, and 165 gr. 30 cal's, and those at 250 Savage, 30-06 and 308 velocities, so I really can't speak to the entire lineup of HC bullets.

As to accuracy, I've never had an issue getting little groups with them, and sometimes among the very best for a given rifle.

All this is to say, no one's experience is all-encompassing and weird things happen with bullets.

Brad I agree.

I told olkelkhunter the same in a post above.

I suspect bad lots of bullets give bad experiences on occasions.

Jerry

I will say it again my daughter killed her moose with a 270 using regular ol 140gr hornady btsp.. one shot one dead animal.. nothing wrong with hornady bullets..

My load is 56 grains of IMR 4350, Win LRP primers and 3070 Hornady Spire 180 grain bullet for my 30/06. I've used this for shiras moose, elk, mtn goat, bighorn sheep, antelope, black bear and deer. IMO-- the right bullet for the lower 48. Hornady 3070 spire point is an interlock flat base bullet. This has been my load for 25+ years, no reason to change. I'm 2" high @ 100 yards----never had changed the Leupold.

No.

Love this post...

This is hilarious!

Ever notice those guys never smile? They don't look like they are having fun at all.

They look more like they are engaging ISIS or guarding some Mid East embassy.

jorgeI---I use the KISS method. Bob

The 154 rn's shoot so well in my 7mm-08's and are accurate that I bought 7 boxes when they were discontinued. At New England deer and bear ranges, can't think of a better bullet to use.

I use Nosler PT's for the most part and Hornady Interlocks for target practice as they shoot to the same point of aim for same weight/caliber almost every time and are much cheaper.
However, I have lost 2 head of game to Interlocks that didn't do what I thought they should.

1 was a large elk my son shot at about 100-125 yards. Bullet hit the perfect location just behind the shoulder but the elk was stepping the heavy leg bone came up right in the line of the bullet flight. My son grabbed the wrong box of bullets in camp that morning (he also prefers the PT's) . I saw the bullet impact and the elk ran, so we assumed it would be just a few yards away. There was a blood trail 4" wide for at least 100 yards, then slowed to a trickle but enough to track for at least 3 1/2 miles. Never did find that elk. I assume the bullet hit the heavy leg bone between the knee and scapula and deflected or came apart. Lots of superficial blood for a blood trail as even the small drops were always in the same foot print, but not enough penetration to get through the heavy shoulder bones.

Had almost the exact thing happen on a big Mule deer. I would still use them most of the time, but I use the partitions as my go-to bullet.

Bob

This right here. The .284 175 grain RN Interlock is out of their catalog as well. Some of us in the east and southeast hunt in some pretty thick places where fifty yards is a long shot. I wish Hornady would remember that.

RM