Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hndy .284 154 gr. Interlock

Anyone have experience with the Hornady 154 gr. Interlock on large boned game (elk, bear)?

Been using 160 gr. NPT for years with good results, just built a second 280 and would like to try the Hornady as it's much more available.

What say ye?

Thanks in advance.

Following with interest, got a 280 in the works myself.
About 2000 I watched my brother drop a medium sized bull moose at 300 yards with one (154 interlock) thru the shoulders (broadside) out of a 7mm mag. The bull dropped at the shot, thrashed for a moment and that was it.

They are extremely accurate but was wondering the same thing, will they hold on large game such as elk.

I’ve killed 5 cow elk with the 154 Hornady SP. 3 with a 7 mag, 2 with a .280 Rem. They are one of the most accurate lead tipped 7mm bullet I’ve found. If they don’t shoot in your 7mm, I’d seriously suspect the rifle..

They work great as a large game hunting bullet, though I’d keep the distance under 400 yards. I can’t remember how many shots exactly total for the 5 elk, but I’ve recovered 4 bullets on the off side of the animal. I have had no core-jacket separation issues.

Here is the last elk I took with them in 2019. Big ol’ nanny cow.







Todd

They have been making bullets a long time, doubt if there are bad bullets of recent manufacture. I’ve never used Hornady, except recently in a 32-40, bullet went all the way through, into chest, out right hindquarter. This was leaving barrel at 1800 fps, deer was 60 yards away. I’d load those bullets, go hunting with confidence. Send them to me if you don’t want them.

It seems like I’ve been reading recently on this site about some Hornady bullets being quite soft. If Nosler would just keep stocked the 7mm Ballistic Tip 120’s & 150’s, as well as the 160 Partition, most bases would be covered. Yea, I know, long range shooters would need others. Actually, right now the 160 NP is quite available, though at an increased price. I grabbed some as I plan to mess with a 280 soon. I probably should grab more of the blems. For deer only, the 139 or 154 Hornady should be dandy.

You can’t go wrong with a Nosler partition. You don’t have to worry about nuthin when you use em.

I've had good results with the 154's on deer. I have not tried it on elk. I would not be afraid to use them on elk and a 280 though.

It's been a while since I've used that combination, who knows, they may have changed the bullet construction.

That 154 is probably the best bullet Hornady makes. I've killed deer, bear, bull elk and many many feral horses. I've got no complaints in either accuracy or terminal performance

That's it in a nutshell Hornady's admin beancounters on a regular basis have their engineers fu*k up proven designs to save a nickel on 10 dollars in production costs every damned time..mb

Magnum Bob is rght 👍 Hornady ain’t what it use be. Corporate greed has caused them to put quite a few bad new products out there. I have been told by the top that they knew they knew they were faulty before the released them to the market. The 154 is a good whitetail bullet but it ain’t no partition. Hell, anythng will work till the chit hits the fan.
I’ve killed a truck load of animals with alot of different caliber interlocks (from coyotes to brown bears)before i decided i better start using a better bullet (i’m old and a slow learner). Hornady use to be the gold standard, not anymore. They’re are no conspiracies but there are no coincidences.
Let the flaming begin. Some people love them. There are just alot more reliable dependable options available. You decide. I can’t spell or write for chit but i do ok at shooting and killing chit. Somehow i survived more than a few train wrecks.

I killed 2 rag horn bulls with the original 154 Spire Point. Worked perfect.

Jon Sundra wrote years ago that he had used the 154 Hornady in all 7mms from 7/08 to the magnums with great satisfaction all over the world. Can't get a better recommendation than that.

Yes....that was years ago.

Hmmm, is this a bullet-by-bullet thing or has the whole line degraded?

I've always gone with the assumption that interlocks were a "higher echelon" C&C bullet.

This reply from Steve Timm (aka: dogzapper) to a similar question in 2008.

Don't know how today's vintage is but my rule of thumb is real simple."the older the hornady box is the older and the better the bullets are from Hornady". Just one of my targeted purchases at gunshows and usually for a lower price than at the gunshop/ box store...mb

That's an interesting outlook. I have a few boxes of Hornady bullets, some 154 gr. and some 175 gr. IIRC where the box does not say Interlock. I probably bought them when I was still living in California. I left permanently in 1968, never to return. Might be interesting to section one from each box and see just what I have.

While I've shot various calibers and weights of Hornady bullets, I can't recall ever using them on game with one exception. I used quite a few .243 Hornady 100 gr. bullets at coyotes and let kids use my rifle for their first deer hunts. That bullet killed nice Nevada Mule Deer just fine. Four neighbor kids used the rifle to take their first deer.

I forget whether they were the .35 caliber 250 gr or the .375 caliber 300 gr. bullets where two boxes with the same lot number had bullet noses noticeably different. I spotted the defect when I was seating bullets and some came out much shorter that what they should have been. This was in the early 1980s.
PJ

Could someone explain how the interlocks have "degraded"?

For one thing they've changed the ogive a bit and I find them harder to get to shoot well in my rifles. In the 30 cal 150 and 165 grain sizes it looks like a vintage Interlock had a baby with a Winchester Power Point.