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

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.

Howdy Big Redhead

The 300 Win mag.

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.

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.
Magnum Man

I've also had good luck with Power Points. They're usually very accurate too!

Does anyone have a box of new production 180 grain interlock 300 weatherby ammo? Curious to see if they are supplying Norma with the old style interlock? That would account for the box of ID ring interlocks in between two lots of newer ones. Thanks.

Weatherby is listing interlocks in their catalog as below. I can't imagine getting 70-80% weight retention on a new interlock when driven at weatherby velocities.

Actually thought we would cut some bullets in half to see if the interlock was in the same place Magnum Man