Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hornady did change the Interlock

JW,

I'd sure like to hear what you find.

Obviously, we are in the early stages of this investigation. It's entirely possible that the change has been made only on certain Interlocks, for whatever reason.

I believe that the 30 caliber 180gr interlocks have an interlock ring in front of and behind the cannelure. I remember a number of years ago when their appearance changed: at least ten years.

Hmm. I've sectioned a lot of Interlocks, and never seen one with a ring in front of the cannelure.

As for changes in appearance, they happen all the time with Interlocks, probably when the forming dies wear out. I've been told by another bullet company that their forming dies wear out within about 40,000 bullets.

Well yeah, would be more than glad to hear your method. I thought I would drill a 30 cal hole in a block of wood press in the bullets and put them in a vise and saw thru them.

JWall I have the older 180 Interlocks and the 165 BTSP Interlocks for comparison lets measure from the bottom up to the top of the interlock.

5sdad, Never been ashamed of any pushfeed M70 I own a pre XTR 25-06, a USRA m70 Featherweight 6.5x55, a Win M70 300 Win Mag, and a Win M70 XTR 338 Win mag they all shoot well and are dead reliable. Don't have any crf M70's and don't know why I'd trade any of mine for a crf variety.

Wpah there is a ring above the canelure on the 180 Interlock that is visible from the outside but it is not the interlock that is on the inside.

Magnum Man

I sent this on to another fellow last night,......

"I've got a Milling machine,......and have been REAL successful "potting" slugs in "Cerro-Safe" in a Box mold (wood works fine at cerro temps),...then freezing the set up, and milling it with a SHARP high positive tool. Once cut,.....the whole thing comes unglued with nothing more complicated then boiling water.

For "Shelf Display",.....Hunter Training course samples and such,...substitute left over acra-glas. If the "Boxes" are done out of select wood,.....you get REAL pretty show-grade stuff.

I had a Corbin C-H1 Bullet swadging set up for a while,....sold the thing off, as it looked like something that could take over one's life,.....and most of his $$, too."

The main thing about the method above is keeping things COOL,....

.....Straight Copper has, in it's own right, some strange machining characteristics , Gilding medal some more...throw lead into the equation and the sawing & filing thing can get a little frustrating.

The machining stunts above yield REALLY nice samples, ....and I'd be more then willing to volly up for that detail, should you or anyone else here so require.

Cheers, GTC

I have never recovered a Hornady that seperated the jacket/core. My sample is small, maybe 10 bullets. I shoot Hornady's in quite a few calibers. My most recent recovery was a 180BTSP from a WT and another of the same from a large framed black bear. Both bullets looked good and no seperation. I hope the change is minimal at worst.

Joseph

I have some new 180g SP interlocks as well. I shoot red deer at quite close ranges as a rule, from 5 to 12 metres, I can let you know how they go.

Regarding BTSP versus SP - my experience backs up an earlier poster. At close range like this, the BTSP bullets (in any caliber) come apart every time.

John,do you know if the bullet killed the Elk?????

No the Elk was not killed, but he did bring the jacket to the hunter for inspection

I wanted to know if that bullet killed that Elk or did it need a finishing shot.

The elk is obviously dead.........hense him retrieving the bullet. The problem with this whole sinerio is that if things don't go quite right.....you don't hit him with the proverbial perfect shot.........or you have to do the politically incorrect Texas heart shot; what happens? If you have 120-180grs of lead and copper,traveling at 2700fps, it's going to plow through some meat; weather it does it in bits, or in one piece, it's still going to do it. The problem arises when it doesn't do enough of it.
If I've been killing animals by plunking a bullet through the ribcage for years, that doesn't mean that the bullet is going to do what I want when it meets the shoulder of a bull elk; that bullet it probably going to react quite differently than the bullet that has met little, or no resistance.
When I pick a bullet, I want to plan for the worst case scinerio, then, if things don't happen as planned, my suprise is pleasent; not unpleasent. for many years, I nievly thought that the Hornady Interlock was able to accomlish this for me; and for the most part, I was probably right. I recommended the Interlock to friends without hesitation. not only can I no longer do that, but I find myself having to look at an alternative.........at an inflated cost I might add.
Did Hornady mean to do this, I don't know. has it happened; yes. If you wish to, look at the other post to see the pictures. I'm not trying to change other peoples minds, but I'm trying to warn that things have changed. I've sent a package off to Hornady with no response; I thought that they where better than that. I had brand loyalty........that is in the past. I trust my own judgement now, and if others want to see, or hear about my results,they have been duly posted.
Mike

May I be so bold to ask: Why would one ever have to take a "Texas heart shot" at an unwounded animal? Must one take less than "the proverbial perfect shot"? If there's any question, wait for a better shot unless you or your family is starving. Patience is virtue....espically when hunting.

When I mention the texas heart shot, it's under the assumption that others would know that it's only taken when another shot has failed, and your dealing with a wounded animal.
Mike

The difference is that if the animal was killed by that bullet,whats the bitch?????if it was not then we need to investigate further.People who cry about a bullets performance if it kills the animal have OCD!!!!!!!!

Yes, the elk was killed.

The problem is that Hornady Interlocks have long been known as the "poor man's premium," because they almost never separated core and jacket. On a broadside rib shot on a deer a 180 .30 would just about always exit, and exit most of the time even on elk. Additionally, because they held together so well, Interlocks could be relied on to break considerable bone and still penetrate pretty deeply, unlike some cup-and-core bullets.

In fact, some hunters claim Interlocks compare to Nosler Partitions in penetration, given the same weight and diameter of bullet. My experience doesn't quite agree with that, but I have seen a lot of Interlocks perform very well on game larger than deer. Part of the reason was that they held together pretty darn well, retaining anywhere from 50-70% of their weight.

In the instance here the bullet did not even stay together on a broadside rib shot on a cow elk. Yes, it killed the elk, but on any sort of angling and/or bone shot, it might not have penetrated sufficiently. That is a long way from "poor man's premium" performance.

There have been other reports along those lines about recent Interlock performance, and it turns out that the Interlock ring has indeed been moved forward, at least in recent 180-grain .30 Spire Points.

The reason the bullet in question came apart is that the jacket peeled back to the point where the Interlock didn't retain the core. If the Interlock ring were still in the same place it used to be on the same bullets, 1/10th of an inch further down inside the jacket, the core wouldn't have left the jacket, because the jacket didn't peel back that far.

If you don't see the problem with that, then you don't understand why so many people have relied on the Hornady Interlock for so long, choosing the Interlock above many other cup-and-core bullets because it could be relied on to penetrate big game.

Exactly..Broadside shots are not always the norm if you want to eat Elk through the winter..

I have know idea why the manufacturers choose to change what is not broke.An earlier example I posted on the old Unicore versus the new Deep Curl showed the same penetration but more loss of bullet weight and less frontal area than the old Unicore...

Just because a bullet kills this time doesn;t mean it will next time on a different angle.

Jayco

Has anyone seen a change in packaging on the new Interlocks? I was thinking if I could find some of the originals, I would stock up on some of my favorites.

Thanks all,


ddj

trouthunterdj,

Well they have changed the packaging fairly recently (2009?). The packaging on the interlocks I purchased in 2006 have a different look than the ones purchased in 2009 & 2010. Obviously, that doesn't tell you when a change in the bullet was introduced. With how recent these reports of bullet changes are it sounds as if anything in the older style packaging is likely to have the interlock ring further back like it was traditionally.

We found a box of ID ring interlocks (with the lower interlock ring) in a lot number in between two newer ones... if lot numbers are actually sequential. Only Steve and his staff know.

ie/ 207xxx were newer design, 208xxx were ID rings, 209xxx were newer design or something like that. I don't recall the exact numbers now but you get the picture.

Guess thats why I like the Winchester Power Point.On big game moose bear ect I've always had WAY better performance from the Win bullet over the Interlock.Though I do have respect for the 30 cal 190gr BTSP Interlock thats it.