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

This bullet shoots very well in my 257R at around 3050fps.

Where I hunt, a deer is usually within a step or 2 of thick, thorny, snake-infested brush. Consequently, I tend to go for high shoulder shots to drop them in place. Concerned that the 100gr IL might not be up to the task, especially at short range, but IL's seem to have a very good reputation (poor man's partition? :))


Thinking perhaps I should just stay with heavier bullets. Anyone have field experience here that would reinforce or negate my concerns? Thanks for your input!

The 100gn Interlock is my favourite all round bullet in the .250 Sav and the .257 Roberts. I have shot pigs up close with the Roberts at over 3100fps and they have died. I didn't do post mortems. A medium size pig will have a chest the size of a deer. I'd be confident of that bullet to take a deer at close range. I;ve shot that bullet for over 20 years.

Saying that, if you want to try something different the 100gn Scirocco is a great bullet in the Roberts. I shot a fallow buck at 20 metres and the Scirocco stopped under the skin on the offside after penetrating through the chest. It retained 79% weight.

My Favorite as well for the 250 Savage and 257 Roberts. I've taken a lot of deer with them without a single problem. Well, the main problem is that they're discontinued.

Guy needs to hit gunshows with both eyes open never know when some will show up...mb

I, fortunately, have five boxes of them, which will feed my .250s and .257s for years to come. In fact, I use Interlocks for all my rifles. They just plain work.

Yeah they sure do...mb

I have 11 or 12 boxes. I scrounged around when they were discontinued and got a box or two all over the place. I'm not actually loading them in my 257 Roberts' at the moment. One's loaded with the Scirocco and the other is loaded with the old 100gn Nosler Solid Base which are also a very good bullet. I'm down to 16 left I think and then I'll go back to the Hornady in that rifle. I missed three boxes (300) of the Solid Bases last year as someone beat me to them. Grrr.

I have only 3 boxes of them here for my 257R. They shoot very well and have had no troubles killing deer with them, albeit mostly lung shot.

I need to scrounge more.

They were a great bullet back in the day and I used them in my 2506 and 257 weatherby with great success, but they did nothing special that any other hundred grain bullet in 25 calibre would do
When the ballistic tip came out I started using them and never looked back

I don't have any experience with the Interlock in 257. I have used it in 243. It does fine, but when I want to anchor deer, I go with the Partition. The 115 Partition out of a 257 Roberts has been my DRT recipe for quite a while. It is certainly up to the task of holding together at short range when smashing bone.

My only concern would possible be loss of Chili Meat with the High Shoulder shot. I don’t care for it being “ground” before field dressing….
Kevin

Those things are unobtainium here in Canada as is pretty much everything except Hornady and they dropped the 100gr 25cal.

Hornady definitely seem to own the market in the Southern Hemisphere but Nosler seem to be the second most available bullets

I used this bullet for many years in my .257R. I was just thinking yesterday about how effective that combo was for dropping deer where they stand with a shot in the lungs. It was by far my favorite deer round of all the calibers I've tried, for efficiency and very little damage to the meat. Use it with confidence!

I guess I’ll be the dissenting vote.

Have had core separation on them from a 25-06, even out at 300 yards or so on antelope.

I still bought several boxes when they were discontinued, but I don’t take high shoulder shots as routine, either. If I did, I’d use a little tougher bullet.

That’s all I used in my 257 Wby for over 20 years, love the bullet. 👊🏻

So you understand that Hornady has discontinued those, right? Unless you have 'em on hand or can find some, there's no point in trying to go down that path.

I've had real good luck with the 100 grain partition. Otherwise, I prefer heavier cup 'n' core bullets. One bullet which has failed miserably for me is the 110 grain Accubond. I had 2 grenade inside deer, nothing but TINY fragments left, the same day. The deer died but the fragmenting bullets wrecked a whole lotta meat .. completely jelly-ized the off-shoulder on both of them. I mean soup.

Tom

Likewise. That little bullet definitively punches FAR above it's weight class..

Yes, I have a good supply of them. Thanks!

Be sure to report your after action results here!

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.

Do not fret on the 100g Hornady flat base as the 117g Sierra flat base, btsp kill deer fast, also the 117g Hornady btsp.

I also use the 117 grain Sierra Pro Hunter flat base. Killed 4 whitetails with that bullet, all dropped in their tracks. Excellent accuracy with my Savage 250-3000 1 in 10 twist.

I could fill 10 pages with pics with said bullet via 257 Wby. Use with confidence 👍

We Americans complain loudly about shortages and prices but it never dawns on us the difficulty and cost shooters in other countries have. $124 for a box of ballistic tips would nearly cause me to give up shooting, nearly I said.

I have never shot a deer with 100 gr Interlocks or Spire Points, but my late friend who sold me my .257 Roberts killed a dump truck load of deer with them evidenced by the many racks in his house and garage. No telling how many does he killed either. His handloads with H380 were accurate, as well. I shot about 50 of them at target practice. I’ve got 3 boxes of them that came with the rifle, but shoot 100 gr Barnes TTSX these days. Good hunting!

Hornady does load the 100 gr. Interlock bullets in the Custom line 250-3000 ammo. At least they say they do, though I have yet to find any available to buy. I wonder if they will load the new 90 gr. CX bullet in a Superformance for 250-3000. None of these are available now, so I look at every gun show for 100 gr. .257 bullets.