Bumped into a deal on 154 gr. .284 Interbonds that was too good to pass on. These were cheap enough to use for practice, plinking etc. These will be used in a 7mm-08 and if used on game it will most likely be whitetail, possibly black bear. Haven't heard much about the performance of these as hunting bullets. Anyone have experience with them on game?

I don't have experience with the 154s but I used to shoot the 162 gr BTSP out of my 7mm Mag in handloads. Took a lot of deer and a couple elk with them. I shoot the 160 gr Accubond now because I get better accuracy. I wouldn't hesitate to use the 154s on any deer that walks the land as long as your rifle groups them. Bears aren't too difficult to kill in my experience so I'd say the same thing in regards to them with the 154s. Put it in the lungs and get the skinning knife ready.

search old reports from JJ Hack. He used them in africa 165 gr 3006. He liked them on african game but I believe eventually came to prefer the barnes bullet because of better penetration.

When I first acquired my 7mm Weatherby I bought 2 boxes of Hornady 154 gr Interbond factory loads to rough sight in and for the brass. Those loads were wildly inaccurate and I almost sent that rifle down the road until I shot some Weatherby factory loads that grouped under an inch. Don’t know if it was the loading or the bullet that was so inconsistent. I never shot any at game, so this didn’t answer your question. Happy Trails

I like the performance of the bullets alot myself. They expand widely, make big holes in animals. They can be somewhat finicky like a Scirocco to load for, but if your rifle likes them, they are excellent hunting bullets. I used the 130's from a 270 WSM and the 154's at 3250 from my Mashburn along with 165's from a 300 Win. In all cases they wanted to be seated well off the lands but once you found the spot, they hammered!

beretz,

That's pretty much been my experience with Interbonds as well. In fact, used the 165 .30-06 factory load on a Texas pig hunt in a Sauer auotloader that grouped them WELL under an inch.

Like many bonded bullets, they don't penetrate as deeply as monolithics or Nosler Partitions, due to their wider mushroom, which also tends to stop under the hide more often than bullets which expand less. Which is why JJ Hack quit using them in Africa: While they killed well, they often didn't pop through the hide on the far side of animals, so often didn't result in blood trails, which can be critical over there due to so many animals living in herds.

However, did shoot one of my two biggest wild boars in Texas with that 165 .30-06 load, with a close-range running shot. It broke both shoulders and the spine, and exited.

My limited experience shows them to be a great bullet.....if “not” pushed too hard! When I started pushing them with impact speeds of 2800+ FPS on large game, they gave beautiful “mushrooms”, but penetration was lacking IMO due to bullet weight loss and large frontal area! They should work great in your 7-08....if they meet your accuracy criteria. memtb

I've used the 139's in a 7 SAUM, and the 130's in a 270 WSM, no complaints, good accuracy with both,and bullets held together at short range, and expanded well at long range.

A buddy of mine used to handload for his friend who went to Africa fairly regularly. The plains game rifle used was a 7mm Weatherby Magnum, and the hunter's favorite handload employed the now-discontinued Hornady 154 grain round nose bullet. When my buddy loaded some other bullets for the Weatherby, his friend didn't want to use them. He loved those round nose bullets as they worked so well on plains game.

If memory serves, the late Finn Aagaard used the spire point variety in his 7x57 and liked them very much as they killed well but didn't destroy too much meat.

I've used them on Moose and Elk out of my 338-06AI. Killed well and turned into big mushrooms. Like mentioned earlier in this thread they would tend to stop on opposite hide. That isn't a big deal in my opinion. They shot well also. For deer and bear they would be hard to beat.

I almost think the opposite myself, not trying to be contrarian at all memtb, but I think if you drive them faster they will blow that front end off a bit more and penetrate pretty well, at least that’s about how the BBC’s, Interbonds and Sciroccos have acted. I think if you can drive em fast enough you’ll fold them back a little more to achieve better penetration. But I could be way off base.

I do agree they’re great Bullets though and like another fellow mentioned, if you don’t care too much for exits they really churn up the insides pretty well.

Hmmm, thought we were discussing interbonds.

I said I had limited experience! That experience from only one caliber, with only 2 specific velocities (2700 mv and 2900 + mv) on similar animals at similar ranges with similar impact points on the animal. Perhaps if my higher velocities, been higher yet....my results would have been similar to your experiences. I didn’t recover any bullets with the lower velocities, yet did have a recovery with the higher. The recovered bullet, had a quite large frontal area, and a recovered weight of approximately 65%. I attributed the failure to exit on the loss of mass and large frontal area. Clearly I may have been wrong, as I soon went to a different bullet. The new bullet giving the results I wanted.....exit wounds! memtb

No sweat at all buddy. Didn’t wanna sound like I was saying you were wrong at all. I like large frontal area myself and decent weight as it seems to work for me. But I know your combos work great for you as well. Heck, I believe I use the same 250 TTSX in my 375 as you and that works plenty good too.

I have used them on two moose and one doe, one coyote. Excellent performance.

Accuracy can be finicky. I get 1.5" at 100 yards, good enough. Two shots into a cow moose at 200 yards broadside, neither exited. Found one under the hide, held together well, looked great.

MV was 2878 from a 30.06, 165 gr.

Doe was shot through both shoulders like a hot knife through butter.

Coyote was hammered and dropped on the spot. After a few seconds he hobbled off a few yards and died. They open quick, transfer a lot of energy.

Great bullet all around - you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for all of the replies guys! Not to get any arguments going, but I have been using the Barnes 120 GR. TTSX for several years now, (on deer only), and definitely like the exit wounds on every one. Even the hard raking shots have exited. May have to give these a shot though, just because. After all, I'm finding myself with a bit of extra time of late and load work up & testing is an enjoyable way to spend time!

If nothing else you can always return to the TTSX's if you don't like them.

Your much more “open minded” than I am, and you’re willing to experiment! I’m “closed minded” and have stayed with the Barnes’ through thick and then. Heck, it took me years to step down to the 250 TTSX......but, I’ll drop it in a heartbeat, if they bring out something around 290 grains in a TTSXor LRX! So, I guess that I’m “not” totally opposed to change! memtb

The only reason that I’d switch from the TTSX or LRX is they quit making them. Happy Trails

I used the 139 gr Interbond in my 280 several years ago. I killed 4-5 deer with them and none of the deer could keep them from exiting. None of the deer went further than 30-40 yds. Just to be honest only one ran off. It was a 215 lb 8 pt! I don't use them any more. I like 154 gr SST too much now!

The 139gr has been quite accurate and deadly in a 7x57R and a 7x65R. They would open to a large rounded mushroom that would very seldom break through the skin of the shot's opposite side.

Started loading their 154gr but never got them to group acceptably in three rifles I tried them. I heard of others having the same problem.