Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Question about vintage Hornady bullets.

I ran across these bullets at an old country store recently and the guy said they had been sitting on the shelf for a long time. The boxes were old and still factory sealed but he allowed me to open one and the bullets are somewhat discolored. I could tell they were older vintage Hornady bullets. I asked him how much and he said $10 a box so I bought both boxes. I've been able to find very little info searching the web about this bullet and the Hornady site doesn't show them at all. What little I've found says that it's a big game bullet but it being a hollow point I don't know if that's true or not. I think I'll try to contact Hornady and see what they say. If it is in fact a big game bullet I think I'm going to try and work up a load for my 25.06 and give them a try on deer here in NC.

My questions are has anyone ever used these bullets? Also do you think that these two boxes are the same bullet? One says Spire point HP the other just says Hollow point. Looks to be the same. Thanks. Mike

Not much help, but my old Hornady reloading manual says that bullet is designed for “medium game”.

I tumbled some old bullets recently with a small amount of polish and they came out looking pretty much new. I only did it because they were soft points and the lead tips were oxidized and the bullets where covered in the white powder. It only took about 15 minutes or so of tumbling.

I would just weight and measure a few from each box to see if you get similar specs.

It looks like it might be a regular interlok bullet but with a hollow point instead of a soft point.

That’s their 120 HP that they discontinued a few years ago. One of my 25/06’s loves them. They’re made for “medium game” according to their manual. Advertised BC of .394 and recommended muzzle velocity from 2400 - 3200 fps.
I can’t tell from the box if they’re Interlocks or not. They may have been made before the Interlock design came to be.
Do a search of 25 caliber hornady 120. Some good info out there.

I bought some of the 120gr HP back in the late 70's.I don't think I ever shot any of them out of my 25-06.I remember they were designed as a hunting bullet and not a varmint bullet.I think one reason I didn't like them was the points were all crooked.

Guybo54

The 120Hornady HP ia one of my favorites. Been using it since 2006 in a 257AI, 25WSSM, and 25/06 for deer.. Had good luck with accuracy and terminal performance.

The only one I ever recovered penetrated almost lengthwise through a mature buck and looked like a Hornady ad. All the rest were pass throughs most DRTs (I prefer shoulder shots due to the thick thorney brush in our area).

I looked back through my Hornady reloading manuals. The Interlock feature was first mentioned in The 3rd Edition (1980).

It's definately a big game bullet. I recall reading the Joyce Hornady designed it for guys who wanted to use their 25/06's for elk, don't let the hollow point fool you!!.

Use them with confidence. I stocked up when I heard that Hornady was discontinuing them

What "South Texas" said.....

Thanks for the feedback and imput, I do appreciate it. Mike

If they are interlock, that will be printed on the bottom of the box. Deer will die even if not interlock.;-)

+1 for "South Texas". I do take exception to them being referred to as vintage, though. The ones I have in that packaging were bought as recently as twenty years ago. That's practically new on my loading bench.

Guybo54:

I have some old Hornady 30 cal, 180 RNs that I know were bought in the 60s. Also have some 180 Spire Points that I think I probably bought in the 80s. Joe is correct, the newer bullets have Interlock printed on the bottom of the box, the older bullets do not

Just a thought, if you send the lot number on the bottom of the box, they might be able to tell you the DOM.

Looked at the bottom of the boxes and you're right, the one that says Spire HP actually says interlock and the one that just says hollow point doesn't. Again, thanks all for the feedback. Mike

They’re not that old. I have bullets from Hornady like those and I use them on deer.

Most of my boxes are older ones like that.

Gibsons had them marked that were to good to pass up years ago.

They still do a job on anything shot with them.

I even have some Herter's bullets for the 6mm that work as good as newer ones.

Along with Speer,Sierras and they do the same.

Got a box of 60 120’s and a full box of 117 interlocks that have been sitting on my shelf since the early 90’s never to be used again on any critter after one blew up on impact on a deer at 175 yards out of a 25.06. Haven’t shot a Hornady big game bullet since.

Interesting...did you recover the deer? It was the 117s that had the problem, correct? thanks

Nope it was the 120, never have shot any of the 117 as I gave up on Hornady.

Bullet recovered from the shoulder hit. Many years ago that hole where the core was had fur and meat in it.



Base view



What was recovered from the other 120 that was a spine hit. Again it blew apart. Ended up finishing him off with a 41 mag shot to the chest. He would have been sore but probably recovered from the first shot as it never entered the chest cavity. Stopped in the shoulder.

Front view



Base view

Interesting, thanks

"At what point, in the animal's death, did the bullet fail?"
That used to be the standard response from one of the major bullet makers when somebody sent them a bullet (or photo of same) looking like yours, but I can't recall which company.
That said, I would tend to ally with you in that I quit on Nosler Ballistic Tips back in 1992 when a 140 out of a 7 mag blew up on a Nevada mulie. The deer (no kidding) cut a back flip and landed dead. But the recovered "bullet" looked just like yours - nothing but shrapnel. So I never loaded another, for the same reason as you. I mean - they failed, miserably, right? I finally (hearing they are tougher now) took a 270 WSM loaded with 140 BTs to Montana last year and killed a pronghorn and a mule deer. First BTs I shot at game in almost 30 years.

Sounds like enough folks have had good results with those Hornady 120's like the OP scored for it to not be too risky for him to shoot a deer with them.

Cheers,
Rex