Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257 100gr Interlock

Just looked at my 257 Weatherby ammo and the box says 3600 fps with that bullet. So you have one heck of a safety margin with any other 25 caliber, imo

And they have worked well on deer for you in your Weatherby?

They work fine in my 257 Robert's at 3000fps. A coworker of mine used them in his 25-06 at 3300 fps and they were fairly explosive on ribcage shots with alot of bloodshot meat which was the same experience I had with 100 gr Corelokts at the same velocity level in the 25-06. So I save the remaining stock of 100 gr SP horns for my Robert's and use 115-120 gr bullets in my 25-06's.. I don't want or need anymore blood shot meat than necessary...mb

Just got the gun so no data yet

They were the "drop them right now" load in my camp mate's 257 Weatherby.

I expect that as the primer shortage deepens we'll see a lot more queries like this. Heck I find myself with a healthy supply of LR primers but a stupid big supply of LP primers that have no use in building "normal" loads in game cartridges (and only limited personal use in .45ACP which is about my only other use for them). But, I discovered that they work great in midrange and softer loads with cast bullets, so life is a little cheerier. Example: I actually am getting better accuracy with LP primers than with LR primers in a couple.32-40 single shot target rifles. Doesn't take much to ignite 14 grains of powder needed to keep a 185 grain lead bullet barely supersonic out to 200 yards.

My advise to handloaders faced with decreasing components and constant need to shoot: think outside the box. Not every shot you fire has to be a rip-snorter.

I’ve used the same bullet(s) for years as well but the design looks to have been changed along the way. Notice how the newer box says interlock & a model # and the older box does not - only mentioning spirepoint? Might explain the differing opinions.

Great bullet. I've used this bullet in my 257 Roberts for close to 20 yrs. Whitetails and pigs. Stop worrying

The 100gn Ballistic Tip is a good bullet also. But they are now costing AU$124/100 here i Australia...........if you can find them. Some of my 100gn Interlock boxes are marked $25/100. Even the last boxes I got when I scrounged around were only about $63/100, just about half the price of the Noslers.

But I do shoot a lot of Ballistic Tips too in various calibres.

The Interlock ring inside the rear of the jacket was added in the 1980s, if I recall correctly. But the Spire Points worked pretty well before then.

The bullet I used most in my first .270 was the non-Interlock 150-grain Spire Point, both because it was VERY accurate (as in 3-shot groups around an inch--at 300 yards), and because it penetrated well. Once shot a 300-pound buck mule deer in the the chest as it was facing me, upslope from me on a mountainside me at about 20-25 yards. The buck dropped right there--because the Hornady broke the spine at the rear of ribcage, and exited.

Found out a few years later that was because Hornady used a somewhat harder lead core than other hunting-bullet companies. But the Interlock ring made them even more reliable.

Went from the inner groove bullet introduced 65 to the interlock in 77. Joyce was still alive and hawking them at the Nebraska Rifle and Pistol Association annual meeting in Kearney that year.

Use 100gr Interlocks in my 25-06 and I’m very satisfied with both accuracy and penetration. Furtherest whitetail kill is just under 200 yds but everyone has resulted in a complete passthrough.

I see Weatherby are still offering the 100gn Interlock in their factory ammo so Hornady are still making them.

Swifty,

Thanks for that 1977 info.

However, according to my notes, didn't purchase any Interlocks until at least 1980--probably because very few of us were ordering bullets back then, instead relying on local stores. Now it's kinda weird to remember those times, when STACKS of bullets of all brands were in stock. It probably took a few years for the Interlocks to appear on store shelves.

The local store I shopped at most back then was Sportsman's Surplus in Missoula, and the bullet shelves extended at least 50 feet--and always had PLENTY of every brand in stock.

Ah yes, Mr. Brady's magical store on Brooks St. What a great place for a broke college student that was also a budding rifle loony! I must have spent many hundreds of hours looking at and handling thousands of used guns in that store!

From Hornady website:


"In 1977, Hornady introduced an even more important innovation, the “InterLock” design. Bullets with the InterLock feature have an interior ring that locks jacket and core together, thereby minimizing separation."

Those will work great.

I have shot a lot of WTs high shoulder with 80gr bullets and never seen a failure with proper placement.

The proper high shoulder goes through the thin scapula below the spine and stuns the brachial nerve while destroying the blood vessels below the spine.

Animals drop due to nerve damage and quickly bleed out due to blood vessel damage.

When I ran low on Remington CL’s, I tried most types of bullets. The interlocks never failed and neither did partitions. There’s plenty of good bullets today, but these are favorites. I’m trying TTSX’s (and some other monos) more these days but my supply of interlocks and partitions - well I hope I’ll never run out. (I hate it when Hornady discontinues any interlock bullet!)
A close friend shoots only hand loaded 100 grain 257 ammo in his 722 for whitetail and has most of his adult life. Last year he shot a magnificent buck with that combo - he’s not about to change.

I just picked up a box of .25 cal 100gn A Frames. I guess they'll be just like Partitions.

Use them in my 25-06 and they have not disappointed.