Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Hornady Whitetail Ammo

I read the thread about Federal Fushion ammo but just got a good deal on Hornady AW ammo in 7mm-08.

Any feedback on deer or any other game animals would be greatly appreciated

If it's loaded with the 139 grain Interlock it'll knock the stuffing out of deer, no problem.

I haven't used the ammo, but I have used the 139 grain interlock that they load in it. It's a stellar performer. If your rifle shoots it decently, I'm confident you'll be quite satisfied.

I have been using it for a couple of years and as Mathman said its a interlock ,very good bullet.......my 1972 win 70 in 270 shoots it very well.............

Yep. The American Whitetail and Fusions in 7mm-08 have both been shooters and good killers for the money. Fine choices for deer.

I put down 3 with it year before last, same caliber. All were close range,likely less than 60 yards. None went over 30 yards but I shot a couple of them more than once. Where I hunt it's important to put one down before it gets into a thicket where you need a saw to get it out. It made some good holes but bullets fragmented very badly causing me to pick a lot of fragments out of meat as far as a foot from impact point.

I actually prefer the Fusions simply because they don't fragment. I just don't like picking shrapnel out of meat or worrying that I might ground some up into my burgers.

R H Clark. I'm curious, are you getting fragments with rib/lung shots or shots on the shoulder?

Thank you, I've used the 154 interlock for years and like the performance but in the 20-22" barrelled 7-08's I use, the 154 is probably going around 2600 fps or so. Figure with the 139's, should be around 2750. With the 154's I've not had the fragmenting issue. Its a bullet I would also trust on most BG in North American at 7mm-08 speed, excluding the big bears

Hard to say since only one was shot once because it dropped being spine shot. I shoot a bunch of jumped, fast moving deer. These were shot through both lungs and shoulders. I butcher my own meat though and traced fragment paths a foot from impact removing more than a dozen small pieces from each deer. All I can tell you is that I've shot lots of deer for the last 35 years. Most of them were with a 7mm mag or a 270. These were my first with a 7mm-08 and my first Hornady AW ammo. I dug more fragments out of those deer than I ever have on any other and I've shot several more than once before.

Thanks for that info.

I haven't shot any Federal Fusion or Hornady American Whitetail ammo in 7mm-08, but have shot a couple of whitetails with HAW in 6.5 Creedmoor and the bullets opened quickly and shot accurately.

This year I'm going to try shooting a few whitetails with the Winchester/Olin Deer Season XP factory loads in 243 and 6.5 Creedmoor, as I have found them to be very accurate in my RAR-Ps and they are something new to try.

One of the nicer things for a deer hunter living in Nebraska is that antlerless whitetail tags are available in large numbers, so a guy who wants to can shoot several deer with different rifle/cartridge combinations.

Carnac the magnificent is 100% sure if you shoot the deer in the front it will die with this ammunition.

I’ve had excellent luck with the Hornady interlocks. One of the finest cup and core bullets ever made.

I'm sure the 139 Interlock will do it's job. The question is, will the Hornady factory ammo go bang when you pull the trigger.

I believe it is the interlock bullet, which is a classic cup and core deer bullet. Their 100 grain AW load in .234 worked on 2 deer for my daughter.

This , i have had a few misfires out of the the last box. Never had any misfire issues before with HAW or any other brand. Got me thinking maybe I should go back to remingtons or try something else.

Recoil flattens the points in my 7mm-08's magazine, so I went with SST's instead. An Interlock bullet got my biggest buck from my .308 with 165's and I had an excellent blood trail for 50 yards with a heart shot.

Windfall...I have shot Core-lokts for years. Recoil has flattened the points on many of them as you speak of the HWA's and it has never affected the accuracy nor the performance of them on game, as I have paid attention to using them on target and on WT's. No problems with the Remingtons and most likely would be the same on the Hornadys even though I have never used them.

Midway's got a bunch of ammo on sale; Hornady and Federal. Not huge, just a couple or three bucks off, but buying a few might pay for your shipping.

I use it in my Ruger Hawkeye. Deadly accurate and I have taken 4 Bucks with it that didn't go more than 50 feet but two right in their tracks.

I have an GM barrel in 308 Win. for my ProHunter. Have not had it long and looking for a load. So far it has spurned my reloads for the Hornady American Whitetail with the 150 grain Interlock. It puts them absolutely in one hole. I am still working on reloads to test, but I may just buy the Hornady bullets for it. However, I have not tried these bullets on game and am wondering how they will hold up on deer and hogs. This thread seems like a good place to get an answer.

At 308 speeds the 150 grain Interlock has been a winner on deer for me.

I just tested the Hornaday American Whitetail loads through my new Tikka 7mm-08. They grouped .990". Plenty good enough to kill a WT deer. I had better luck with my hand loads, but I do want to try some factory Fusions.

The Hornady American Whitetail shot well enough through my Savage lightweight hunter. Good enough to hunt with but nothing special. Good ammo for the price. I tried the Hornady Precision Hunter 150gr 7mm-08 and was impressed with the results. Usedit this year on a deer at 225 yds high shoulder shot DRT with little meat loss. Don't knowwhat it will do at 50 yds. I'll have to wait for next year to find out. I usually handload 140 partitions and they work well. Also had good luck with Win 140 powerpoints . I'm still using 140 gr Nosler solid base in my 280. Bought a lot of them years ago and they still work.

I killed a six pointer 170 yards 270 130 grain AWA Interlock is good

Corelokt is some of the more expensive of the 7mm08 offerings Ive found. Fusions are hard to beat for their cost but the best performance Ive had is from the barnes Vortx ttsx. it is pricier at about $30+ a box but it will leave a dang good exit and blood trail.

My nephew has killed 2 dandy mule deer bucks and a 4pt bull elk with them, the elk took 2 shots but one would have sufficed. For the price, it's hard to beat.

Never tried any Hornady products

Buddy at our cabin used this ammo in hes 7mm-08. Performed as expected, deer ran 40yds and curled up.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS. It's what my wife shoots exclusively AND I'm a handloader. I honestly can't make better ammo. Factory hits the same POI as handloads I had previously made for her. Hornady is GREAT stuff.

I did a three shot group with 150 gr in my 30-30 Marlin 336C and called it good enough. It was the best group ever from that rifle.



It proved to be a buck stopper, too.

The American Whitetail 139 grn. load is the factory load my Kimber shots best. Followed by the blue box Federal 150 load. It didn't like the fusion load at all.

My 7-08 didn't like it. Looked more like a shotgun pattern than a rifle grouping. It was way slower than I wanted, as well.

That buck is a brute bud!

My son used them in his 30-06, 7600. It’s accurate and makes deer really dead.

Congrats dude! That is a hoss! Nice shooting as well.

That will take care of the critters your after.

Please give a report on the Winchester Deer Season XP’s performance on game when you get a chance. I’m getting awfully good reports from friends all across the country about excellent accuracy and a very high percentage of uncanny DRTs.