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?

i use the interlock and interbond quite a bit. I shot a large mule deer buck this last Thursday, at 365 yards, with a 270 Winchester, using the 140 gr BTSP. The buck was way uphill from me, facing downhill. I shot him thru the front shoulder, low in the shoulder. The bullet went thru the leg, blew a hole through a couple of ribs, went through the heart, penetrated the diaphragm, and then lodged in the liver. I recovered only part of the jacket, which weighed 28.5 grains. The buck fell downhill about 15 yards and then collapsed and expired. The bullet did it's job, but did come all apart during the process. I'll post a pic later on.

I love the 165 grain BTSP out of my 30.06. I shoot it at a slow 2680fps but it kills everything dead! Can't beat them for the price and how they perform.

I am relatively new to handloading for whitetails. My dad raised me on the trusty .270 and we've always had good luck with 130gr Winchester SP's from your friendly neighborhood Walmart.

I'm still learning some of the theory behind what is good bullet performance on animals. I understand and appreciate the weight retention of the recovered bullet, but I guess I'm missing something. Wouldn't a pass-through be preferred? I was raised to appreciate a good blood trail more than a DRT, but I'm still learning.

I never used win. soft points in 270 and wouldn't after having so many 30-30 170s coming apart in the shoulder of white tails as a kid. I have used the 270 with hornady btsp interlocks with total success on deer and elk.

Looks good. I've seen similar results many times. I used the same bullet (165gr. btsp interlock) on my buck this year and never recovered the bullet. I was using my 300 wsm at a range of 600 yards though, but still no recovery of the bullet.....They are great and pretty much all I ever use in all of my rifles. Thanks for posting your results and hey at $23.00/100 (if you load your own) they are damn hard to beat!!!! Perfect for practice and hunting is what I always say....

Sounds like maybe you should have been using your 7mm instead

I really like these bullets! I shoot them in several different calibers and I've been impressed with them all.

They shoot good, kill good and don't cost a fortune either...what's not to like?

Todd

Thanks for posting that picture!

The most "premium" of cup and core bullets IMO...

Ain't recovered any of the four 100 grain .257 BTSPs I've put through pronghorns. None went more than 50 yards.

I will take a Hornady over a Sierra any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

The most consistently accurate bullet I have fired in my .30/06 is the 180gn Hornady BT. It is a fovored bullet for me though the 165gn does much the same thing. Either way, a hreat choice for any deer, goat or antelope hunting.

One interesting observation I've made in bullet choice threads is the Hornady IL rarely has any naysayers. With almost every other type of bullet there's always controversy or conflicting experiences.

Very true--them seem to be very consistent over time. That's nice to have something to count on without having to stock up on specific lots.

Call me something less than a fan. My first big game animal, a bull elk in the early 1980's, dropped to a 162g BTSP from my 7mm RM, range around 110 yards estimated. The bullet center-punched a rib leaving a crater on the back side, missed the far side ribs and came to rest under the hide. Retained weight was 77.2g or 47.7%.

I didn't (and still don't) consider that was much of a challenge to a bullet's integrity and switched to 160g Speer Grand Slams the following year. It took me 20 years to recover one of the Grand Slams and when it did it had destroyed both shoulder joints of a 5x5 bull before coming to rest under the hide. Shot range was again about 110 yards estimated. The Grand Slam retained 113.7g or 71.1% of its weight, or 47.3% more than the Hornady.

Yes, the first bull died, so by some yardsticks it is hard to say the bullet failed. Every animal I shot with the Grand Slams died as well, though, and I had and still have a lot more confidence in their ability to penetrate. I quit using them after Speer changed the core but my hunting buddy continued to use them and they continued to do the job. I think he is still waiting to recover one.

I recover about 50% of Hornady soft point boat tail. #3045 165 BTSP. My 308 load is 41.5gr of H4895. The ones I have recovered have been just under the hide or hanging from the exit wound. I have had pass throughs at 25 yards and 300+. I have had recovered bullets at 440 and 25 yards.
It all matters what you hit while your inside.

55 yards from sitting. into the chest and out the off side lung. did not recover the hornady bullet. 1" exit wound and soupey lung heart mix.
Dropped on her feet.

The interlock is excellent. I used them for 10 years, 180grn 300wm.

I also used them for a few years in my 257R, 117grn.

I did try the 165grn SST, and it was the only bullet I've ever recovered from my 300wm, from both shoulders of a 10pt buck at 45yrds or so.


The Hornady custom factory loads with the interlock have been very accurate in everythhing I've shot them out of also. Great product.

Sounds like I'd be a fan, personally... that sentence is all I needed to read.

efw �

Lots of people would agree with you and I have no problem with that. The bull dropped because of placement. I�m pretty sure it would have dropped if I had shot it with similar placement using a .22-250 and a 40g BT varmint bullet.

I didn�t feel there was much challenge to the bullet�s integrity yet the bullet lost over 50% of its weight. My concern was not would the bullet work on a broadside but rather would it work in more difficult circumstances. Grand Slams, which I used for the next 20 years, dropped elk just as quickly plus they retained more weight and penetrated better (it took me all those years to recover one), which is what I wanted.

Over the years I�ve only taken one animal where penetration was needed from rear to front, a quartering away buck that stepped forward and turned away as the trigger broke. The buck dropped so fast I thought it has stepped off a ledge. The rifle was the same 7mm RM but with a 140g North Fork bullet which was later found up against the sternum. When recovered the North Fork weighed 131.2g for 93.7% weight retention. I don�t know how far a 162 BTSP InterLock would have penetrated but don�t have a lot of faith it would have done as well. One of those things we will never know.

Did it work? I didn't see any deer pic.

And after you used them for a few years in your 257R, you changed to...what? And you changed...why?

Just curious.

My same feeling with the CoreLokt. Though the jacket may seperate, the lead still does it's job. Bullet disintegration is what would worry me.