Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Interlock performance

I'd like to know more about the Hornady Interlock as I've decided to try some in .270 win this year..

Im loading the 130gr SP. Its the flat base like a Partition. very accurate by the way. What should I expect as far as performance on deer and black bear?

Tried digging some out of the dirt bank behind the target today but must not have giving enough effort to find one or they just disintegrated upon impact.

How much weight do they on average retain? They very accurate. Price is right thats forsure.

Anyway, would like to know more. I've basically only hunted Partitions,Accubonds and TTSX. I've never taken an Animal with the Interlocks.

Anyone shoot them into some Media? Any pics of recovered Interlocks from media or animals out there. Again new to me and like the price along with the fact the 130gr is accurate in this .270.

For those shooting the 130's in a .270 what kind of velocity are you after or expecting. I've one hell of a good load with H4831sc averaging 3021fps. Most likely the load I'll hunt as bear starts August 1st and I'm running short on time to shoot more.

Thanks guys and gals..

Speed sounds reasonable, especially if you have a 22" barrel, and given the fact they shoot very well. Though I haven't run that specific bullet, I've use a lot of interlocks (various calibers and weights) on deer with predictable results. I would use them in your 270 with no hesitation for deer/black bear. When my current supply of 130 ballistic tips runs out I will be switching to interlocks in my 270. Heck, they had to be designed with a 270 Winchester in mind!

I shot a nice cow moose with a 180 grain BTSP Interlock at 225 yards out of a 30-06. Bullet penetrated both shoulders and a couple ribs. Recovered the bullet in a shoulder roast on the off side. It weighed 154 grains and was mushroomed like a text book picture. Very little wasted meat. Cow died on her way to the ground in the tracks she was standing in.

I have a buddy that I load for (also 30-06) and he thinks the 165 BTSP Interlock has some sort of magic "jou-jou" on it. Kills moose every year. Was with him when he shot one this year at 200 plus. Died on the spot.

They are good bullets at non magnum velocities and non premium prices. Load some up and go kill some stuff.

Shot several Mule deer with 7x57 mm and a 154 grain Interlock and caught only one. Bullet entered straight on in the brisket, traveled length of deer and stopped under hide of left rear ham.
Muzzle velocity was right at 2800 fps.



This .284 bullet works on elk, also. Ranges varied from 30 paces to 240 paces.

I've had excellent luck with accuracy and game killing performance with the interlocks (both sp and btsp). I will add that the 140gr. interlock seems like it would be a match made in heaven for the 270 win.. I run 165's and 180's in my 30 cals and 162gr. BTSP interlock in my 7mm rem mag. I've taken deer up close and past 600 yards with the same results: Dead deer....

I have shot a few deer with my 270 and those are the bullets that i use.

I can't help with a recovered weight because i have never recovered any,just the deer.
They shoot darn good as well.

Have taken quite a number of deer with the 130 flat base Interlock over the last 35+ years in my ol' 270. Sometimes 3 or 4 deer a year with doe tags counted. At these speeds I always considered it bordering on being a bit soft even though I only recovered a couple in that length of time. Several deer had pieces of jacket and bits of lead along the wound path, but never shot one with that combo that I didn't recover the deer in a very short distance.
Even though I'd like the bullet a bit stouter I believe it's quite a bit stouter than the Sierras I've used.

Might I ask what your muzzle velocity is with the 130's? Thanks

They don't call them "the poor man's premium bullet" for nothing.

If I were limited to one brand and type bullet, it would definitely be Hornady Interlock.

I have used them in 257 rob 7 mm mag 30 06 308 and never found a need for a so called premium bullet. I have recovered a few from each rifle ( all whitetail) and the bullets looked like they could be in a magazine add. Absolutely perfict mushroom. I have no doubt the 270 130 gr would preform verry well..
I get equally good performance from rem cor loc.
In moose camp a few years ago a guy showed up with an adv 700 30/06 and shot his bull at 125 yds with the cheapo fed fusion 180s. 1 shot and dropped the moose in his tracks. Recovered the bullet under the hide on the other side. A beautiful mushroom.. Can't ask for better than that..

7mag/154's work great on deer, hogs, and aoudad. The guy I shared camp with in Namibia this past May used .338/200's with great results on plains game. It is my favorite bullet Hornady makes.

I've killed several deer with the 139 BTSP out of my 280 at about 2850fps from 15 to 326 yards. I've only recovered this one which took a 135" eight point whitetail that was sneaking away, uphill, 215 yards. It entered between the shoulder blades, destroyed a good ten inches of neck vertebrae and was found at the base of the jaw. Needless to say, he dropped in his tracks. It weighed around 90gr. I think the Interlocks are great bullets.

Only cup and core I've ever used on big game was Hornady Interlocks but have used those on mule deer and elk in the 7mm RM, .270 Win and .30-06 at impact velocities from about 2500 up to 3200 fps. They all stayed together well enough to do the job.

It's no longer in vogue to use SD as a measure of effectiveness, but for c and c bullets I stayed with bullets in the .240 range and up - 130 .277, 140 7mm and 165 or 180 .308 - and always got good expansion and penetration from various angles.

The fastest I ever saw an elk go down was a cow shot quartering toward me with a 180 grain Hornady Interlock from a .30-06 at about 200 yards distance. She went down so fast I couldn't see her when the rifle came down out of recoil and at first I thought I'd missed and she had run off. The bullet entered in front of the right leg and exited midway on the left side, leaving the chest cavity completely awash in blood when I opened her up.

Since you asked specifically about the .270, here are two Hornady 130 gr. 270 bullets fired at a MV of right around 3200 fps. Left one hit a 200 lb deer in the chest at about 100 yards, the right one was fired from a distance of 6 inches into that same deer's chest. Both lost a good bit of weight but held together to go all the way through the deer and were found under the hide on the opposite side.

I've shot or have loaded ammo for others who have shot deer with .257" 100 grain, .264" 129 grain, .277" 130, 140 and 150 grain, .284" 139 and 154 grain, .308" 150 and 165 grain, and maybe others I'm forgetting right now.

They are excellent in this application. The 130 grain out of a 270 takes care of business on deer, pronto.

Wish I could help you, but I'm another one that's not collected a spent bullet - only dead game. When I start working-up a hunting load, I usually reach for an Interlock.

.270 - 140's, .308 165's and 180's, .358 250's and .284 154's have worked like a charm.

FWIW, if you do some Googling of 24HCF, Dogzapper has had some really high praise for the .284 154, and .308 150. And he's felled a few critters.

FC

Haven't used anything in .277, but the 129g and 140g 6.5mm are excellent deer bullets.

I imagine an accurate load with a 130g Interlock out of a .270 at 3000-3100 fps would be deer load nirvana.

I have used the 130gr Hornady IL a lot on deer, but haven't used them on anything else. However, I have a brother who has used them to take deer, elk, moose, caribou, all four of the North American sheep, and two grizzly bears. He has always used reloads I put together for him, 130gr Hornady IL, 55grs. of IMR4350 in Win. cases and Win. primers.

I haven't used the .270 interlock because I don't hunt with my .270 much, but I have had very good luck with the 180 gr version out of my .30-06 and .300 Win on pigs and deer. The guide on an elk hunt years ago swore by them in his .30-06 and did not care for partitions as they "shed too much lead in the meat," in his opinion.

Another hog guide used the 150 gr in his .30-06 and it worked fine on big hogs.

The old barrel that was on the rifle most of those years was no speed demon so I'll say 2850-3000. Checked it right before taking it off and got 2780 with 59-H4831SC. That barrel was nearly a smootbore for about 3" ahead of the chamber, lots of rounds shot over the years. The new barrel runs well over 3000 with RL-22 and H4831SC.
I didn't mean that statement in the first post as an indictment of the Hornady, it's my favorite medium game bullet and the first one I reach for when trying out a new rifle. I've had nothing but good luck with them in .243, .250-3000, .257 Roberts, .270 Win., 7-08, and .338-06. The 270 pushes them just a bit more than the others. Got 4 boxes of the 150s to try in a new to me .308 and thinking about using the 165 in that .308 for elk this fall.

The Interlock is a bullet with a no frills price and a premium performance! The SST bullet works quite good also!

I swear by them in a number of calibres. Shot a lotta pigs and goats with them, and done a little media testing with them too in the 270 Win which I have linked if you are interested....

http://forum.nosler.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=23908

I have been loading them and killing critters with them for years. They work and have been accurate in all of my rifles. I have not shot the .270, but have used them in .308, 7 mag, 6mm Remington and .243. I have killed over 100 white-tailed deer with the 100-grain Interlock in my 6 mm. Very few bullets were recovered.

I now load Partitions for elk, but for deer and antelope, Interlocks have always been what I use.

Hornadys are easily my favorite cup-core bullet. They are cup-cores however with the usual rules and problems common to the type. That said they work well when placed well and not over stressed:



Here is one of the two reindeer my young man killed with a 150 grainer in his 280. (It was unintentional but very effective; the over-run 'second' neatly drilled the shoulder of the old bull he aimed at but it passed through and punched the head of another sending the antlers "all loose".)