Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Hornady drops another

Hornady 130 gr .308 bullets out of an ‘06 or .308 have been great performers on our local WT’s.

Good bud has killed several with his two ‘06’s, 130 gr Horn SP over 59 gr BG at 3K+ fps. His relatively new Rem 700 can barely keep up with his 80 yr old vintage 1903 Springfield, both near MOA with that load. The Springfield barrel is about mint thru the Hawkeye, thus giving the M-700 serious competition.

Supply getting low, I needed to get more of those bullets. Midway says they’re discontinued. Surprise, surprise. Horn did it again.

Well, I was able to find some from an obscure on line dealer. So 200 are headed my way. Hopefully they’ll last us for a while.

Those bullets at that speed really do a job on WT’s, consistent exits with good tissue damage, quick kills.

DF

Still on the website:

https://www.hornady.com/bullets/rifle/30-cal-308-130-gr-sp

Well, hope that’s right, Midway wrong.

Guess time will tell.

DF

I like them in 30-30 Contender. Shoot really well, and are quite effective on various varmints and deer.

Although there are references to a varmint bullet, this one doesn’t seem that expansive, like one would expect. It holds together pretty well at 3K fps with good exits on WT’s, performs more like a hunting bullet.

DF

Hornady Inter-lok 200gr. RN out of my .35 Whelen have given excellent performance both on target and on whitetails. Using a Ken Waters Pet Load with this bullet my rifle shoots tight little cloverleaf 3 shot groups @ 100yds. A great bullet in .30 cal. is Sierra Game King 165gr., used these in .30-06 on the last couple of whitetails I was very pleased with this bullet's performance.

If you can't get the Hornadys, Give the Speer 130 Hotcore a try. The wife and I have been using them and are great IMHO. I am not
running them as fast as you are but still get good blood trails. Daniel

If you’re referring to the HPBT 165 SGK I would tentatively second this. I have only started using this bullet but am very pleased so far. Have also been using the 6.5, 130 grain version in my 6.5X55 with satisfactory results.

I have 125 NAB's and 125 NBT's that would probably work. But, my Bud and I have had such good results with the 130 Horn SP, I wanted to get some more.

I'm thinking the 130 Speer would probably work, just never tried them.

Midway showing "discontinued" may be more sensitive to real time status than the Horn web site. Hope I'm wrong.

DF

Although I have never shot a whitetail with this bullet I do shoot them for accuracy and reduced recoil in several 30 caliber rifles. Midsouth does not show it on their website. There may be some truth to it being discontinued. Sad news if so.
Rick

Well, the supplier who "had" these bullets in stock actually didn't when they got my order. So, I canceled the order.

I'm sure their B.O. would end up showing Horn discontinued these bullets.

Oh well, may try the Speer 130's or just shoot the 125 NAB and NBT's that I already have.

DF

I handloaded the 125 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips for another hunter, she was having a little trouble dealing with the recoil from the 165's.

She took a fat whitetail buck at about 120 yards. The bullet went through both shoulder blades and was really flattened when we found it under the off-side hide.

It surely did drop that buck though!

Regards, Guy

The 165 hpbt is a bag ass mofo the 140 version of the .270 is bout the same

Never used the 130 but the 150 is a winner.

I have loaded a lot of the NBT 125's for a friend, they have worked very well on whitetail deer. I would not be afraid to try the Hornady 130's based on what the NBT have done.

I just got a new bullet chart from Hornady.

Can’t find the 130 .308 SP. So it must be off the radar.

The 130 Speer was suggested, but with several boxes of 125 NAB’s and NBT’s, I’ll go with them for now.

My Bud has a good supply of Horn 130 gr ‘06 ammo and he should be OK for a while. He really likes those lighter weight bullets.

They work great over 59 gr Big Game powder at 3K+ fps. Whacks’em hard. They go down quick.

DF

I am sure it was a low production bullet with the 150 being so popular in 30 cal.

I looked hard for another bullet when they discontinued the .338 200gr SP Interlock. I found Federal Fusion in 185 and 200 shoots very well in my 338 Federal. Federal no longer makes the 185. I hope they at least keep the 200gr Fusion.

Do you guys think Horn is the worst about shutting down fav bullets?

DF

When I read the title I thought it was going to be about another deer killed by a hornaday bullet.

Haha

I wish…

DF

Low end products require high volume sales for success. Hornady has lots of low end products…

If you have a favorite bullet of any brand, better buy a bunch when you can. WAM out.

Dirtfarmer,

You might try the 150 interlock. I’ve probably killed more deer with that bullet than anyother out of various 308’s. Never left me wanting.

I have some good 150’s that I may try.

Thanks.

DF

I had great results with the 125 Sierra PH in 308’s loaded to around 2875-2950 from 308’s. Darned near as good as a 270

beretzs,

I've accumulated a sizable stash of both 125gr. Sierra PHs and Nosler BTs. intending them for reduced recoil .308 and possible 30-30 ammo. When I talked to a Sierra tech., I was cautioned to not load the 125 PH to velocities below about 2700 fps. He didn't think it would be a good bullet for the 30-30 and stated that the bullet needed more velocity.

I've set the BTs aside for a future 30-30 project and plan on using the PHs for a .308 Tikka compact and my daughter's Abolt at the same velocities you're running yours.

While reading this thread, I've thought that the PH bullet would be a great replacement for Dirtfarmer's 130gr. Hornadys. The only problem being that while Sierra has not dropped it, finding them as NOS or partial boxes is a pain in the butt.

I actually started using them cause of reduced loads in the 308. If I remember right we were down in the 2400 start speed and they acted just fine. These were on larger Northern deer that would dress 125-170lbs but they'd scramble the insides just fine and I saw nothing that resembled lack of expansion, never caught one either, but nothing ran far. As the shooter grew into the gun I goosed it some and they worked the same at 2900. I'd say load them and not worry much. I'd bet you'll be plenty satisfied. The 125 Accubond or Ballistic Tips both shot well as well. I planned to load those 125's around 3100-3200 in the 06 to see how it'd work.

I remember questioning the tech. about the bullet being that tough and him restating that he felt it needed to be pushed to at least minimum .308 velocities.

Thanks very much for posting your actual experience with the bullet at the reduced velocity. It's also good to know that it works pushed harder as well.

I will continue with the plan for it as a .308 bullet and the BTs for the 30-30.

I’ll be pushing them 3,100+.

Should open up at that speed.

DF