Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Has Hornady changed the Interlock?

I was on canadiangunnutz last night and read that some people recently had some "failures" with the 308 cal 180 grain interlock. The posters also mentioned that the bullets had a slightly different physical appearance (no little ring above the cannelure that the 180s always had) and that the sectioned bullets seemed to have thinner jackets than before.

Has Hornady changed these bullets? Anyone else seeing anything different in terms of performance?

Thanks!

I would propose that any failure is likely due to poor shot placement.

What kind of "failure" are they talking about? Did the deer/carribou/bear/critter "run" after the hit? No "bang-flop"?

I seriously doubt they have changed the Interlock, could be just a cosmetic change to the outside of the jacket.

Or it could be its performance once it hits the animal. Lack of penetration or more destructive of tissue then used to. I personnally haven't had an animal move forward when hit properly with a 180g Interlock. So let's hope they are still the same.

The reports that are coming from CGN include core jacket separation, core fragmenting, and some guys have even sectioned the old IL and a new IL, and the jacket does appear to be thinner and has a smaller IL ring and no cannelure. This hasn't happened to me, but is reported by others.

thanks jordan. I think the op on CGN sent some samples to hornady for an explanation.

Complete fragmentation and shallow penetration at 200 yards (30 06 at 2800 fps muzzle vel) after hitting a rib was one example. That lead to sectioning and comparison of jacket thickness between the older and newer bullets and these fellows are say
ing there is a noticeable difference.

How about a 270 gr .375 spitzer that failed to penetrate a black bear neck at at 35 yd. Is that failure enough to demand attention?

Ted

I recently shot a coyote, through the ribs, at about 40 yds with a 250 grain Hornady interlock out of a 35 Whelen. I was really surprised at the size of the exit (about a 4 inch diameter hole)in an animal that light. I really didn't expect that much expansion from that bullet. A similar shot with a 220 RN out of a 308 Norma left a golf ball sized exit.
Subsequently,in the 100 yard backstop, I compared some bullets. The old Hornady 250 grain RN bullets typically expand to where there is about 1/4 inch of shank left. Old Hornady spire points typically retain about 1/10 inch more shank. The new bullets fragment. I have to think there has been a change and not for the better. I'll have to section some and see what's what. GD

Well the problem is they weren't designed for up north of the 49th, something to do with so far up, so cold all the time, they say not to store them in your igloos, and I guess the rotation of the earth that far north.

But yes, it would be something for Hornady to look at, maybe someone can find out if they did in fact change things.

Was thinking of the Fisher family the other day, hope they are all doing well.
My dad is now 87 and just had one eye done for cataracts, don't know when they will do his other, so he may not get out this year, and I don't think I will either.
Bill

I shot a fox with a 190 30 cal BTSP close to 30 years ago with the same result. I've seen more damage and fragmentation - sometimes- with them over the past 20 years than I'd like. 375s in 270 SP or 300 RN all work. They are a cup and core bullet for Pete's sake. It's how this type of bullet works. Then again, 25+ years or <3 years ago, the 190 BTSP has also run itself through moose completely for me so what's not to like.
They're cup and cores; they expand, sometimes a bit much, but very rarely not at all. Know thy bullet. Just remember, if you can't kill it with a properly chosen modern bullet, most likely you wear some or most of the fault.

Before I was old enough to hunt, I watched three 150 gr. .308" Hornady Interlocks explode on the surface of a single deer's shoulder fired from my father's .30-06. We had to track the deer through 18" of snow in a forage sorghum field. Dad's hunting partner was the one that got the killing shot at the deer and he killed it on the run with a shot to the neck from a .270 Win. The deer's shoulder looked like it had bloody water balloons tossed at it from dad's .30-06. They didn't penetrate, the range was around 100 yds. I'm sure Hornady makes a good bullet, but dad must have gotten a bad batch for some reason. But that experience caused dad to NEVER shoot a Hornady again, and has caused me to never hunt with one. Again, I'm not running down Hornady, but one freaky incident can certainly change a hunter's opinion of a bullet. I'm sure folks had similar experiences with early Nosler Ballistic Tips, which is my favorite deer bullet in .30 caliber, but I haven't had that type of experience.

I'm running my own experiment or tests this deer season '10.

The last couple of years I've killed 5 deer with 180 Speer Hot cores in 300 Win Mag @ 3000fps.from 100 to 260 yds. All were MISERABLE failures as far as I'm concerned. They killed the deer but bullet performance was totally unsatisfactory to me. EVERY ONE fragmented or totally seperated. More than one DIDN'T exit.

Before this thread started, I had ordered Hornady 180 s.p. I was disappointed to hear of this rumor. They do not have the small grove above the canalure but that is the only difference I can see. I can't figure how to section one with my tools or lack thereof.

I switched the bullets, no difference in group size OR POI. Today I shot my first deer w/H180 s.p. at 260 yrds. lasered. The 140 lb.doe DRT and had normal entrance and REASONABLE exit. Bullet entered behind right shoulder and exited THRU the left shoulder. When I cleaned & butchered, the lungs were well ruptured & the left shoulder WAS NOT disentergrated. The bullet busted the left shoulder exactly where the scapula joins the upper leg bone.(humorus?) Some blood shot but not excessive. Exit wound in hide was about 1 1/2" dia. (way over penetrated) lol. This was EXCEPTIONALLY BETTER than any of the S.H.C's.

This is ONLY one bullet so far out of one box. We're allowed 5 deer limit in the zone where I hunt.

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED, I'll report future results thru this deer season in Arkansas. It ends 12-19-10. (modern gun) I'll be off work all next week and SHOULD have more results. I HOPE the others bullets give similar results. Jerry

Changing the Interlock? Tell me it isn't so..........

JWALL,

I am interested in all your on-game bullet performances. It is that type of real field data that counts for many of us.

It would truly be a sad day if they did!

THANKS for the responses: First an EDIT (aka correction) I mis-spoke about distance for the first 5 deer taken w/180 SHC's. The longest was 289 yds. lasered. Even at that distance the bullet performance was LESS than desirable, only part exited.

Since Monday I could have killed 2 more does, HOWEVER, our rut is getting into good swing and I was HOPING a good buck might be on their trail. I KNOW I have 2 GOOD bucks working the area but in the rut they could be anywhere. I still have more than 5 weeks left.

We have TOO many does, I have been seeing 5 to 1 doe to buck ratio the last 3 yrs. That's not scientific but my actual sightings. Yes, some of those does COULD be RE-COUNTS, I have NO way of positively knowing. I KNOW I am NOT double counting the bucks.

I have taken 3, 1 each the last three yrs., top of the representation for our area. A 6 pt w/ 17-1/2 in inside spread,wt of 175 lbs. on scales. A 10 pt.w/ 15 in inside spread and wt. of 195 lbs. on scales. AND an 8 pt. w15 1/2 in inside spread and wt. of 178 lbs. on scales--140 class score.
We have some decent bucks BUT if we don't reduce the doe population ALL our deer will begin getting smaller.

I said all that to show that we have ENOUGH deer to justify a bag limit of 5 AND I shouldn't have any trouble testing BULLET PERFORMANCE. Be patience and PRAY for me to have success.

Even IF I take 5, I only have ONE LOT of Hor. 180 s.p.i.l.s I would like to be able to try more lots but even if I order more nothing says I would GET different lots. Sometimes we have to deal with what we have. Good Hunting for now. Jerry

Steve Hornady has enormous respect for his Father's bullets. It's extremely unlikely that he would mess with their design.

Not to say it isn't true....just extremely unlikely IMO.

They've certainly changed the old .277" 140 a time or two. The first box had the cannelure quite a bit back from the current location, and the bullets fragmented on typical whitetails.
On a plant tour, I asked them about that. They denied they'd changed anything at all.
I had the evidence on my loading bench at home.

I simply refuse to use them any more. I had pretty good luck with the first box I'd tried, but that latter bunch was like a hand grenade. I've gone back to Sierras.

The new batches of 30 cal. 180 Interlocks that I have are a bit different from the old ones. Most obvious is the absence of the groove above the cannelure, which Hornady assured me when I phoned them about it that it was an ID ring, which wouldn't affect performance. I assume this was so you could tell loaded 180s from loaded 165s.

The heels on the older bullets also had a slightly more rounded (larger radius curve) edge than the new ones. Perhaps more related to possible performance is the apparent change of the tip design. On the new ones that I have the copper jacket extends a bit further and the obvious "scalloping" of same, which I think would be the result of the "innergroove" feature, is not visible. So maybe the jackets are thinner, at least at the tip, and these changes at the tip are to compensate. Purely conjecture on my part as to the reason for the changes, but one could likely safely assume that cost of production is the main factor behind the changes. Why else tinker with something that worked so well? If it ain't broke don't fix it.....

I did shoot a large bull moose, broadside, high through the ribs a couple of years ago at about 250 yards with the "new" version. He took two steps, fell down and died quickly. Bullet diameter entrance hole, exit hole around an inch. Launched around 2750 fps in '06, impact velocity would be around 2250 fps. I shot a coyote at 50 yards through the chest with the same bullet � 2 �� exit hole. I think if I was shooting a rifle with higher velocities I would be looking at a tougher bullet.