Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hornady InterLock Experience on Game

I have never used this bullet on game, so I am looking for some experiences of folks who have. I typically hunt whitetail/wild pig size game and am sure it will work fine, as most bullets do. Specifically looking at the 150gr out of a .30/06, 100gr out of a .243, and the 60gr out of a .223. Thanks.

It's not called " the poor man's partition " for nothing. Great bullet.

same here. i picked up a cpl boxes of the 100gr for my 243 to try. i shot two doe last yeAr using the 150gr in my 308. one went maybe 30yds. the other i had a good blood trail but never found her.

BTW, don't think the 60 gr 224 is listed as an interlock.

This is the .223 load

.223 InterLock

There have been many mule deer, whitetails, and elk that have fallen to the Hornady interlock around here. They usually shoot darn good too.

Ah, I stand corrected. Their 60 gr component bullet is not listed as an interlock. Learn something every day. Thx

A shame Hornady has discontinued many of their Interlock offerings for bullets that offer more pizazz. I loved the round nose, and they hardly offer them anymore.

100gr Hornady SP have never failed me in the 243 and have good luck with the 150 gr in the 308 and 30-06 as well as the 165 and 180 gr SP's . I think they are the best of lead tipped cup and core bullets. Magnum Man

The .308 165 and 180 grainers have performed well for me in various rifles. I've had blow ups and very poor penetration with the 250 gr .358 at 2400 fps and the 140 gr .277 boat tail at 2950 fps.

They angered a bunch of people a couple years ago when they changed the internal construction of the .308 180, and degraded its performance. I haven't heard of any similar changes to other bullets they make. I heard from enough credible people to stop using them. I went to Noslers for all my 180 hunting needs.

Sounds good to me, and the ammo shoots well in everything I have tried it in. The 60gr .223 load shows as an Academy Sports exclusive. I don't know if the component bullet is the same as the bullet in the Academy load.

I've used the Hornady Interlock .308" 180 gr. RN in the .30-'06 and the .323" 195 gr. SP in the 8x57 quite a bit. For deer & black bear I liked the 180 RN a lot, but the 195 SP seems just a little hard. For the 8x57 I'm going to try the 170 Hornady and 175 Sierra for a while.

Best "non-premium" in my book. Never failed me.

Yep. Shot a couple dozen deer with a 100 gr. .243 and a dozen or so others with the 60 grainer in a .223



Best CNC bullet. Period.

Great bullets. I've used them for years with no complaints. They are pretty boring in the accuracy dept. and on game performance. Definitely "the poor man's partition".

My friend uses the 150gr. Hornady light magnum loads, that pretty much duplicate factory 06 speeds, on elk and deer. I generally use 165's in my 06 and 300 wsm, as I don't like to buy tons of bullets for different rifles. Both the 165gr. sp and btsp work great on critters as does the 162gr. btsp from my 7mm rem mag. I've loaded up some old 225's for my 338 this year for elk. I'm expecting same same results with them...

I have been using the 154 grain Hornady Spire Point in my 7x57s on whitetails and mulies and began using the Interlock shortly after Hornady introduced it in the late 1970s. I did not notice any difference in accuracy but what I did notice was that I would catch a Spire Point in a deer once awhile, but only caught one Interlock in a deer.

2800 fps H 4350 load hit a Mule deer that was above me at 180 yards. Bullet entered the brisket and stopped under the hide of a rear ham.

140 gr. IL outta the fhaggy .270 will kill just about anything around here.

My 358 Win really likes the 200gr PSP, deer and coyotes are not so fond of the 200gr PSP. No bullets recovered, all game has been recovered with no to short tracking jobs.

I think it is a great bullet for the price, as many other guys said. My cousin uses the 180gr in his Sako 30-06 and shot close to 400 large game animals with them last year. He did not lose a single one. The animals he hunted were Blue Wildebeest, kudu, gemsbok, waterbuck and Red hartebeest. The majority were wildebeest and they are pretty tough. Plenty of pass throughs with good wound channels.

I could not get them to shoot in my 30-06 but the 140gr 6.5s shoots quite good in my 6.5�57 and have taken game up to the size of kudu and the results are very good. Also plenty of pass throughs and good wound channels with the 6.5.

If they shoot well in a rifle I would use them with confidence.

Pieter

+1 Pieter.

180g IL SP is my go-to in the 30-06.

Similar experience with the 150 in the 270 Win.

I'm trying the 139 grain out of a 7mm-08 this year. Anyone had any good experience with it?

Yep. I've killed a pile of deer with the 130 INTLK as well. No issues.

I hope the new guys, and the guys at Hornady notice this thread.

You NEVER have a thread go three pages on the fire without a couple guys tuning in to say how much someone else's choice sucks...

Their is a fella on alaska forums and he cusses the interlock like their is no tomorrow. His bud used 338 rcm for moose using 225 hornady and lost most of a shoulder but he never elaborated if it was the sst or std sp interlock. I suspect it was the sst. I killed my first elk up by Timothy lake area using a interlock bullet. I killed plenty other animals using the interlock.

Bang. Flop.

That's been my experience with 170 grain 30-30 loads out of a Marlin 336.

The 150 grain interlock sure has worked well in my .300 Savage for many decades....

I've killed a couple of handfulls of aoudad with the 154IL/7mag combo. Not a complaint one from me on this fine bullet. My son has also levelled a few aoudad and whitetails with the 139IL/7-08 combo and it is a great combo as well.
Just this past May I was in Namibia and shared camp with a fine fella from Michigan who was on his 27th safari. He was toting a .338 and 200g IL's and they worked perfectly.

They must be pretty well regarded as being accurate too. When I bought my Hill Country Rifles 7mag a couple of years ago, they guarantee a sub 1" group with factory ammo. The ammo used to test the 7mags they produce was/is the Hornady Custom 154g IL loads.

I'm not really counting deer.

JGR: I used a .375 and Hornady 270 grainers on PG in Namibia on one trip.....absolutely perfect performance.

I was thinking that bullet would be perfect for elk too. Any experience with this bullet on elk??

I personally prefer the 165 grain bullet in a .308 bore, especially if the cartridge is a .308 Win or .30-06 Springfield.

The only time I ever saw any indication of bullet misbehavior was when I hit the spine on a raking shot, at close range, and at about 2900 fps mv with a .30-06. I can hardly fault the bullet in that case. The rest have been pass-throughs without any excessive damage. And, accuracy was more than acceptable. I have fired the 150 grain Interlock, but have never taken game with it. Accuracy was quite good in the rifles I fired them out of, and I would use them without reservation if inclined to do so. I simply prefer 165s.

I avoid the 150 SST like the Plague. The ones I had were glorified varmint bullets.

In 6mm, the 100 grain spirepoint flatbase is the most accurate bullet I have fired out of my .243, averaging about .6, so they discontinued it...

In my .30-30, with IMR3031 and the 170 grain FP, the rifle I have exhibits exceptional accuracy for a rattle-trap M94, and on-game performance cannot be faulted......so they discontinued it.

In .223, I have no experience with anything other than the VMax, and that's not what you're asking about, so I can't comment.

Yep.....The one on the right caught one....

Thanks Ingwe. I was digging thru my stuff earlier today and ran across some 270 gr. .375 pills. I also found some 300gr. Hornady solids????

You probably wont need the solids.....


Like any cored solid, they had a habit of deforming slightly on heavy game like elephant. Monolithic solid is the only way to go, should the great herds come back

... I will never use the solids...

I used the 270gr IL in my 375 weatherby mag many yrs ago on a east north side any elk permit. One dead elk no blood shot meat didn't recover a bullet though far as I know it's stuck in a tree I suppose.

I have used the 100 gr 243 dia,the 139 and 154 gr in 284 dia,and the 150 gr 308 ia ,with nothing but good results,over the last 35 years.

I use them or NBT these days.

60 SP has worked fine here on deer in the 223. I don't think I'd want to push it faster though.

The 195g 8mm is great in the 8x57 a little too "soft" formy liking in the .325WSM. I loaded up the 140 for a buddy in his .270 wonderful and consistent performance and accuracy.

The Hornady Interlock is one of my go to bullets.

I've used a bunch of 154 gr spire points in my 7x57 for a lotta years and has always been a consistently accurate bullet that has performed well on NY whitetails.

The 140 gr BTSP does just as well from a 270 WSM.

Dan

And a a 130 IL out of a 270 Bee at 3500 fps MV!

I have used:
243- 100gr
270- 130gr, 140gr BTSP, 150gr (pile of them from antelope to elk)
338- 200gr
375- 270gr

All with no problems.

I've also seen blow-ups with 140 grain .277 Interlocks, but they did penetrate, and they shot amazingly well.

However, I had the opposite effect when shooting the 250 grain .358 SP's, at 2,500+: I've found them to be tough, with exit holes scarcely larger than the entrance holes. But I've never had to track an animal with them.









The .284 154 grain spire points are like magic from my 7x57: amazing accuracy, 100% reliable penetration, and animals DRT.













I've not tried 150's in .30 cal, but only because I tried the 165's first, and they seemed to do well enough:



[img]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd77/jkubesch/IMG_6608_zpsfcc38495.jpg[/img]



I'm pleased as punch with the IL's.

FC

The 129 gr. Hornady InterLock is the preferred bullet in both .260 Remingtons that I shoot. It's neck and neck with the 120 gr. BT for accuracy, but the 120 BT wrecked far more meat than I like, even at over 200 yds. The 129 gr IL produced terminal results almost identical to what I'm used to with Partitions - small entrance, lots of internal damage, little meat damage, more penetration than necessary and on the few that I've "caught", 70% weight retention. I don't hoard much, but I found a garage sale where a widow was selling off her hubby's items and she had 600 for sale in the box for $10/100...so I'm stocked for a while.

I look for two things when considering a new caliber, Nosler Partition in the desired weight and Hornady Interlock in the desired weight.

It doesn't get any better for a woods hunter.

Mike

I've been shooting 165 and 150 grain Hornady Interlocks out of all my .308 bores for 14 years. On whitetail deer, I have had complete pass-thru on every shot except one brisket shot in 2001.

When looking to cook up a new load, I usually look to see what Hornady has before venturing elsewhere.

I have had excellent performance with the 150's in my 30-06.

Also used the 100gr in my 25-06 and the 139gr in a 7-08 and a 7mm Rem Mag and all worked well.

I'm a fan of the Interlock.

I have a bud who is a bullet snob you mention shooting anything with a cup and core bullet he shakes his and thinks you broke some sort of law... Ever since he shot a brown bear with a tsx he thinks it's the only bullet to use. But he doesn't talk much about the elk he lost using that good ol tsx. I like the tsx killed could animals with them. But I won't shake my head if you are using regular ol cup and core bullets.

I had a 25-284 built my load was using a 100gr hornady my buddy was going on a ceremonial deer hunt he used it a produced 7or 8 one shot kills no tracking just dead deer.

Lions, Tigers and Bears!

Couldn't agree more. ^^^^

100g BTSP out of either of my 6mm's has proven to be very deadly. 150g BTSP out of any of my .308's and '06's too.

Great bullets. just watch the speed...

Of all the Hornady bullets, I've used the .308 165-gr. Interlock the most, both the BTSP and the old RN (no longer made) at muzzle velocities of 2600 - 2850. I have always found them to be accurate, with a good combination of penetration and expansion on deer, elk, moose, and boar. I've used Partitions, as well, and have not found much difference between the two. However, I've used both at moderate velocities, as noted above. If I were driving them at 3000+, I might notice a difference.

This, by the way, is one of the advantages of the 308 and 30-06, and other rounds that push bullets at moderate velocities - you get good performance with regular cup-and core bullets. Many guys with magnums will load cup-and cores for practice and premiums for hunting, but with a 30-06 and the like, one load can be used for both, keeping things simple, less expensive, and still effective.

Some have said the BTSP version is a lot softer than the flat base SP. I've not noticed any difference myself. My impact speeds are nearly always sub 2900.

What have others noted re the BT version?

There's no difference. We are talking the same bullet, but with different base profiles. I've used both and couldn't tell any difference. Same results, dead critter, hole thru and thru, and minimal blood shot meat. Excellent accuracy with both types.

Had wayyy more devastation than anticipated with the 150 SP at 35 yards on a dink deer from a hot-loaded 300 Savage. For close range, folks suggested a slower velocity would be better. DRT for sure though. Same bullet at 90 yards, just perfect. Have found pretty good to excellent accuracy in 243, 30-30, 300 Savage, 308, 7-08, 300WSM, and 280.... Great bullet at $25/100. No reason to bother with any other C&C bullets.

Used my 7mm RM and a 162g BTSP InterLock one time, back in the early-to-mid 1980's. It drilled a bull elk smack in th emiddle of a rib, passed between the off-side ribs (possibly nicking one but nothing significant) before stopping under the hide.

Retained weight was under 48%, even though the challenge to its integrity wasn't that great. Haven't used them since - or any other standard cup-and-core bullet in my bolt guns for that matter.

The next year I switched to Speer Grand Slams. It too me 20 years to recover one. When I did the range was about the same as with that first elk but it destroyed both shoulder joints before coming to rest under the hide. Retained weight was over 70% even though the challenge to its integrity was much, much greater.

Cough gasp oh [bleep] had a friend use a standard 225gr IL in a 338 win mag on a 9 footer on kodiak one shot dead bear. So say what you want I use it on a big bear

I could never get speers to fly straight. I weighed them and found the greatest deviation I've ever seen in bullets. They have been the least accurate bullets I've ever tried, and I've tried a lot...

The Grand Slams routinely gave me nice, tight groups with a "flyer" opening the group up to about 1". About one shot in four would be such a "flyer". Opened one up one day and found a void (air pocket) in the lead.

They sure worked well on game though.

The 100 gr Hornady interlock soft point flat base using IMR4350 has been my most accurate hunting load in 243 Win. All of my Tennessee (90 to 170 pounds) deer have been 1 shot kills. Some have dropped when they were and none have traveled more than 50 yards. I find that I shoot the 243 Win better than larger calibers. Practice more with them also!

They work great just like Nosler, Speer and Sierra cup and core bullets.

Only used one once with a 243 in a 26" barreled Ruger No.1. Loaded over IMR4350 and impacted at about 90 yds. Bullet hit hit a rib and broke apart. No exit. Deer died before it hit the ground. Plan to keep using them as they are accurate in my 700 CDL

More people should use Hornady ammo. They gouge customers less than other manufacturers and their cartridges come in correct size boxes making them very easy to store.

The only InterLock experience I have is with the 220 .375 FP and the 265 .430 FP.

No complaints, never retrieved one. Nice holes in and out, dead deer. Accurate to boot. I just wish they'd start producing the darn things again. I can't sit on my stash forever.

I use them almost exclusively in .243, various .25s and 6.5s, .270, 7mm, and .30cal. No complaints with accuracy or game performance.

Interlock is my go-to bullet in most cases. I generally prefer a slightly heavy-for-caliber bullet (154 Grain in 7x57mm and 165 grain in .308/.30-06) but the 150 grain bulletrs are excellent in the .300 Savage. You'd have to go to the Nosler Partition to get any gain......and even then the difference would be prettyt small.

I've shot Sitka blacktails and caribou using them in several different calibers and cartridges. They are almost always superbly accurate, can't think of a rifle I have that doesn't like them. I have had some strange things happen when using them although it's never come close to costing me an animal.

Shot a big bodied buck on Kodiak one fall, 215 yards using the 350 grain round nose at 2550 fps from my 458. At the shot the buck jumped and crashed down on his nose, through the lungs hitting one rib on the way out with a 1" exit hole. All seemed fine and the deer was very dead after all, but when I skinned him that evening I found the whole jacket under the hide, on the ENTRY side! The jacket hadn't penetrated more than a half inch before the core slipped out and kept going.

I gave them up for a long time but decided to try them again a couple years ago, hard to pass up mostly full boxes of any brand bullets for $5 at a gunshow. A 130 grain .277 driven to 3000 out of my wife's 270 brought an ancient fork horn blacktail crashing to the earth like he'd been struck by a bolt from above last winter. Shot was about 35 yards through the scapulas and the bullet looked like an advertisement photo when we found it under the hide, meat damage was minimal shockingly, no jelly and no burger from fragments.

Next buck was a pretty nice average 3x3 I shot at about 75 yards with the 150 grain .308 spire point cruising along at around 2650 from my 300 savage. That buck was one of the ones with a strong will to live, I punched him three times through the shoulder blades as he ran left to right in front of me at the fourth shot he folded up. As I approached him he stood and ran toward me from about 30 yards. I used my last round in the gun to shoot him in the front of the chest dropping him again. The first shots through the chest and shoulders behaved fine, no bloodshot to speak of and I found one bullet that retained about 75% after punching shoulders. The final frontal shot however put a hole roughly 5" in diameter in the front of the chest angled down and exited behind the diaphragm and shattered the knee on a rear leg. Miraculously I didn't loose a whole bunch of meat even salvaged most of the shoulders.

One of my uncles used my wife's M70 featherweight 30/06 this fall to shoot a big bull caribou in the Brooks range. He put a 165 btsp interlock through the shoulders from 202 yards, dropping the bull like he'd been dynamited. When we cut him up I found exactly half of the expanded jacket next to the 2" exit hole. Meat loss was minimal.

So I guess I like them, hard to argue with dead animals and superb accuracy. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little leery of running one into a moose shoulder on a big bull or taking an angling shot on a big brown bear.

I've always considered myself a little bit of a bullet snob, as that is one of if not the cheapest part of a hunt and I want to stack the deck in my favor as best I can... TTSX,and Accubonds are really I hunt with.

When I picked up my all original, 95%+ Pre 64 .270 I wanted to go old school like JOC and decided to load the Hornady 140 BTSP Interlock over H4831 just like he might have back in the day. I'm really glad to read all these positive reports on this bullet.

I think they are the best bullets out there for the price and the best bullet other than the premium bullets. With the calibers you listed, I have not had experience with the 60 grain 223 bullet. But I believe unless you're into high velocity magnums you'll never need a better bullet than the Hornady Spire Points.

Picked up a new Ruger LH Hawkeye this year in 7mm-08. I was impressed with the velocities they were getting out of the sst and gmx load. Bought some Whitetail Interlock to break the barrel in as they are quite a bit cheaper. Rifle grouped a little over a half inch with them so I decided to stay with them. Took a nice Blacktail with them and had great bullet performance. Now wish Hornaday made them in a 154 grainer for Elk. 2750-2800 fps would be the cats meow with them.

Hi all, first post here.

I've used the 150gr SP Interlock from a short barreled 30-06 on a number of whitetail, always with good results. They were a very accurate bullet too. Performance wasn't anything spectacular, but they did the job well (and were noticeably better on whitetail than the FailSafe bullets I tried one year).

Unfortunately the 308 I have now doesn't shoot any 150gr bullets well, so I have a pile of them waiting for my next rifle.

The only Interlock bullet I've used that I had complaints with is the .358 200gr RN for the 35 Remington. That bullet seems to have a small window between no expansion and too much expansion; the Remington Core-Lokt 200gr RN is a much better choice in that application.

Response from Hornady when asked if the bullet loaded in the factory ammo is the same as the 60 gr component bullet:

"The bullet used in our American Whitetail offering is of heavier construction than the 60 SP bullet that we offer as a component. While the American Whitetail bullet is not currently available as a component, I can let management know that you would like to see it offered. Thanks"

That's interesting. So they beefed up the 60 grainer. I definitely wish they'd offer it as a component.

Update on this. My 13 year old got her first deer today with the 100gr .243 load. 65 yards quartering towards us (maybe 20 degrees away from head on). One shot into the neck/lungs. Bang/flop, no exit and I didn't bother trying to dig around and catch the bullet. Works for me, and I could not be prouder of her.

It was a public land/national forest deer and we put in the miles together to earn him. She spend hours on the range working on positions, and it payed off as she had to take a sitting shot. We got to watch the deer approach behind a screen of brush, and we had plenty of time to get the jitters. She did great!

EXCELLENT!

Haven't read the entire thread but this jumped out for me. My first elk was a heavy 5x5 with a 225 Interlock out of a 338 Win. First shot was tight behind the shoulder and I knew he was dead on his feet. He was on the edge of a steep nasty draw and when he didn't go straight down, the next one was on the point of the shoulder trying to break him down right there - it did. On autopsy, the first shot went straight through taking out both lungs. The second shot broke the on shoulder and deflected up through the neck - found it under the hide near the off side ear. That seemed odd at the time, but it certainly worked - bullet was nicely mushroomed and retained 65%.

A few years later, I shot a 4x4 bull with a 180 Interlock out of a 300 H&H. Steep uphill shot and hit higher than intended. Bullet went through the scapula and took out the spine. Dead right there but was surprised to find the bullet just the other side of the spine - I suppose it was fully expanded when it hit the spine...

If I'm loading for a new rifle, Interlocks are usually what I start with...

Thanks! I am very proud of her. She is an incredible young lady and I am truly fortunate to have her as my daughter. She certainly put in her homework, hunted hard, and never gave up hope. She wants an autoloading shotgun for Christmas, since her youth pump is too small. I imagine she will get her wish.

The 225 gr. .338s and 500 gr. .458s worked well on the deer i shot with them!!!!!!