I just shot a 600 pounder with a Tikka T-3 Lite 30-06 with a Pentax Gameskeeper 4-12X 40. It went down immediately being hit in the shoulder with the bullet lodged in the backstrap. I was not too happy with the bullet when I got it out. it was a Hornady
Light Magnum 165 grain SST, factory loaded. The retained weight was only 93.5 grains. True, it did the job and mushroomed nicely, losing almost half of it's weight surprised me. Any thought's. It was only a 50 yard shot.
My thought is that the SST isn't as hardy as the Interlock. I shot non-Light-Magnum factory loads in .30-06, & kept digging jackets out of the backstop at the range. I switched to Interlocks in handloads, & now I pull out intact bullets.
On my actual elk hunt, I used factory loaded 165 Interbonds, resulting in 1 pass through, & a 2nd resulting in a perfect mushroom lodged in the off-side temple.
And yes - this is a neat place where we can argue about bullet failures in dead critters...
FC
