Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Recovered Hornady Interlock BTSP

Just recovered this morning from a 8 point buck. He was shot a little bit back and it angled through to the far side, coming to rest in the rear flank under the hide. 30-06 Hornady factory load 165 Interlock BTSP bullet.

Perfect

Pretty much model perfect, and one of the reasons I like and use Hornady's quite a bit.

Dober

That looks a lot better than the last 165gr Hornady I recovered from a buck. This one is just a jacket and started out as a 165gr SST 30-06. Your plain-jane Interlock is a much better choice, in my opinion. Congrats on the buck!

What type of Hornady bullet was this ?

JPro,

That is why I no longer use SSTs. They come apart too easily. Like you wrote, BTSPs or plain SPs work much better.

RH

What more could you ask for?

+1. I love those bullets

The photo I posted was a 165gr SST in 30cal. I shot a few bucks with that bullet in the factory Light Magnum ammo (2,940fps per chrono). Every impact was majorly destructive and one neck shot was downright gruesome. Too fragile in my opinion, especially considering the modest impact speeds and the size of the animals.

BTW, happy birthday to himmelrr! Tough to do better than a Friday in November. Enjoy....

I agree with your opinion on the SST. It is an accurate bullet, though, and if I were routinely shooting longer distances, I would probably consider it.

That is about a perfect bullet performance right there.

That gives me the warm and fuzzies with those 2 boxes of Hornady .25 caliber bullets I have coming.

The Interlock is a very reliable bullet. I've seen a few come apart over the years, but only when severely stressed at closer ranges. As an example, my wife once shot a 15-1/2" pronghorn at 100 yards or so with a 130-grain Interlock from a .270 Winchester. The buck was facing her, and Eileen put the bullet at the base of the throat. Instantly dead buck--and the remains of the jacket were found under the hide behind the shattered spine.

I'd say that bullet worked perfectly, even if it didn't end up looking perfect!

I've had similar results w/ the 165 gr SST. I have a couple of lower-velocity "downloads" I use that are UBBER accurate through my '06 running around 2450 fps. They'll do everything I need 'em to do here in Michigan where 99.9% of shots are 75 yds or less, give me the accuracy I need to weave a bullet through little holes in brush, and don't destroy meat the way my full-blown (2900+) loads did.

I don't have to give such treatment to standard Interlocks, however. They'll just work.

Yeah, I like Hornadys. I'm running some 250 gr RN handloads for hunting (they were 'sposed to be "junk practice-shooters....")in the .338 now. MOA. Damn- I hate when that happens!

I can't recall any knowledgable hunter badmouthing Hornadys, used appropriatly. But I have a chit-pot of Sierras and Corelokts I've been given, or nearly... So far, no "failures" there either.

I'm running a bunch of handload 150 Sierras thru the 17" "Stub" '06 right now. The last 5 shots have resulted in 5 dead caribou - I have pictures..... but not on photobucket yet... I'll get around to it.

These are some of my absolute favorite bullets... 257 AI & 257 WM both love 'em, they shoot beautifully and every game animal I've hit with 'em just drops DRT.

117 BTSP is going hunting in the Bee this deer season in fresh 7 RM brass. I expect more of the same... DRT whether lung or shoulder shots...

I've not recovered a 165 BTSP fired from either a .308 or 30-06 after a lot of dead deer. It's been a good bullet for me. It also shares the same balistic coef as the .224 75 Amax which is nice when switching over to the yote gun.

I do the same thing. As far as the 165gr BTSP it has been an outstanding bullet for our family for years. Every recovered bullet looks similar to the one posted here.

So what was the weight of the recovered bullet?

I shot a nice 8 pt last Sunday in the right shoulder and had my 165 gr Sierra Gameking BTSP just under the skin just behind the left shoulder. Recovered bullet was 111.7 grains. Perfectly mushroomed.

This deer only went 80 yds, but it took 30 minutes to track him. There was NO BLOOD. with the sgoulder shot. It's thick where I hunt and I am thinking it would be a good idea to switch to a bullet that is more likely to give me 2 holes.

Any one ever try the 225 Gr 338 SST? Factory 338 RCM shoot great and fast in my 20". Just don't know if they will hold up?