I ran the 139 grain for a bit when I had a 280 Remington, seemed soft, I switched back to the 139 grain interlock ....I was loading to 3000 fps, might be ok at lower velocity. Defiantly caused meat damage if you clipped a major bone etc. they shoot pretty good. I don’t know if they have changed. Nosler went through the same learning curve with the ballistic tips . For a basic cup and core bullet the interlock is very good imo.to be fair I have not used them in many years. These days I’ve been running accubond and ttsx, and som ballistic tips. I did pick up some hornady eld-x for my 243ai and my 280 ai. What rifle did you plan on trying them in?
30-06 bolt action
I have used the 150 grain SSTs and 150 grain Nosler BTs in 30-06 for the last few years and can't tell much if any difference between them on our skinny Carolina deer. I don't recall ever not getting an exit hole and 9 out of 10 times you get a blood trail Mr. Magoo could follow. I hunt from a stand and I do tend to wait for broadside lung shots. Like any softpoint 150 grain out of a 30-06, they can wreck a shoulder quarter if you hit it. If you are planning to shoot at any angle or have a chance at shooting a buck over 200 lbs, moving up to the 165's might be a good idea.
That said, I don't know that the polymer tipped bullets are much if any better than traditional soft points unless you are going to shoot at really long range. That is what they are designed for.
