Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hornady Interlock performance

Evening ladies and gents...

I was fortunate to take a mule deer late last week with a Remington Model 7 in 7mm-08 shooting a 139 Hornady Interlock over 48 grains of RL 19. A modest velocity load which, in my opinion, cup n' cores excel. However, I was not expecting the performance that I experienced in the field.

I shot a mule deer from about 120 yards away. He was quartering away from me extremely hard and my only shot, which I took, was a few inches to the left of the Cheerio. I took said shot, the deer went 20 yards and died very, very quickly.

The bullet shattered the left leg about 4 inches below the spine, went through the guts, through the goods and exited at the neck/shoulder junction on the right side of the deer. Unfortunately, most of the back left ham was full of bone fragments and jelly and was inedible.

I knew at 7mm-8 velocities this bullet would perform well but I wasn't expecting that.

Anyone else have similar performance from this bullet or was this just an anomoly?

Have a great evening fellers...

I'm thinking that shot is going to make a mess without much surprise.

I've use the Interlock in my 270 for a lot of years with great performance. Been using the 100 Interlock in my .250 Savage and .257 Roberts the last few years and getting just what I expected. They are great bullets for deer sized game.

The "mess" was not the point of the post...

The point was the end to end penetration with a cup n' core...

Had the same thing happen, but in the opposite direction, last year. .308 Winchester, 150 grain Interlock, and a straight on shot at the chest. Found the bullet under the skin in the back end of the animal.

I sailed a 154 grain Hornady RN from front to back of a whitetail doe a few years back. I shot her directly in the chest, and I found the exit out the back of her right ham. She ran about 60 yards or so. I was shooting a 7mm/08 that day, and if I remember correctly, it had a 21 inch tube. The Hornady interlock is a fine bullet.

Mr. GregW;
Over the years we�ve shot a fair pile of game with Hornady Interlocks, mostly deer (many dozen mule and whitetail) with some bears, a California Bighorn sheep and an immature bull moose thrown in that I can think of off the top of my head.

A good friend in the Yukon has used them for moose, caribou and sheep up there as well. I believe it was he that coined the term, �Poor Man�s Partitions� based on their proclivity to exit.

In the last few years as discretionary funds have allowed for more playing around, I�ve been experimenting more with Barnes X�s, TSX�s, TTSX�s and Hornady Interbonds, but barring talking to big bears, I wouldn�t feel unprepared for much here in BC with Hornady Interlocks.

Having said that though Greg, the only person I know who was stalked by a grizzly killed it with a Hornady Interlock to the neck out of a 7mm Mag. He�s killed more big elk than I�ve seen with them too.

Anyway, we seem to have a lot of red boxes on the shelves of the reloading room most of the time and I can assure you we wouldn�t if they didn�t work for us.

Good luck on your upcoming hunts Greg.

Regards,
Dwayne

Doh! my apologies..

Regarding performance, I haven't had the pleasure to kill anything with an interlock just yet, but by all reports I've heard/read, it is a tough, well made bullet. I have some loaded up for my 7mm SAUM, and look forward to using them in my other rifles when I get a chance.

So, two hole wouldn't surprise me on an end to end shot, but then again, not much surprises me when it comes to killing critters.

I have had similar performance out of Interlocks...especially at "moderate" velocities....easily my favorite Cup-n-core...
Ingwe

My favorite CC also.

I haven't had that kind of penetration like you did mainly because the type of shot never presented itself, however I have been using them in my 264 WM and 300 H&H at top velocities with excellent results on deer and antelope. None have stayed inside those animals shot.

The worst angle I had was on a mule deer shooting the 300 H&H with 180s. I thought the deer was more broadside then he was so at 100 yards the bullet hit the deer in the shoulder angling up into the neck, breaking it and exited. I don't know how much it penetrated before exiting, but basically from the center of the shoulder to the front half of the neck.

A friend used to shoot the 139s out of his 7mm RM, but the huge entry holes and lack of penetration it created convinced him to quit using them in that cartridge.

The 150 grain .308" versions, both flat base and boat tail, knock deer down hard from crisp 300 Savage to full on 308 Win. launch speeds. Hits have ranged from 40 to 250 yards.

Zipped .277" 130gr bullets through two deer on separate occasions each at less then 30 yards with a muzzle velocity of 3,295fps avg! Both went 20 yards and died..

Currently have them loaded in .300 Savage, .300 Win Mag, .338-06, .35 Whelen. I look for 2 bullets when considering a cartridge/caliber Interlokts and Partitions!

Mike

Ive shot a few critters with them in 30-06 and 375 H&H. The only one Ive recovered was a 30 cal 180 Interlock in the far side hide of a Brown Bear. It weighs 120 grains. IME they almost always come out, and give plenty of "shock" effect also. Best of both worlds.

I like the 154 Interlock's in my 280. Just shot some Sitka's down in Steelhead's old stomping ground's with said bullet.

I shoot the 200gr PSP from my .358 Win and I got penetration from the base of the tail to the brisket of a 220lb buck at 75yds a couple seasons ago.

They've done the same in .243/100 gr,.30-30/170 gr, .308/150gr,

.30-06/180 gr, .308 Norma/180 gr and .338/225 gr.

Probably my favorite deer bullet though I shoot a lot of bulk Core-Lokts also.

They are certainly among my favorite cup-and-core bullets as well, though I wouldn't expect performance like that every time. At moderate muzzle velocities (2800 and under) they will penetrate pretty darn well.

I have recovered quite a few Interlocks over the years, ranging from 130 .270's to 225 .338's. Recovered a .225 .338 from a whitetail buck that probably weighed 200 on the hoof, on a quartering away-shot at about 200 yards. The bullet entered the left rear of the rib cage and was found in the right shoulder, mushroomed back to the Interlock ring. Muzzle velocity was about 2750, as I recall.

Also recovered a 139 7mm from a broadside shot on a barren ground acribou bull shot at about 100 yards with a .280, muzzle velocity around 3100 fps. Same sort of expansion. My wife shot a pronghorn buck at the base the throat as it faced us at 100 yards or. Fund the 130 .270 Interlock under the skin on the back of the neck, pretty well mangled. That's the only one I've seen separate jacket and core, but they were together, and the bullet did go through some hard neck bone.

There have been a few others recovered, but most went on through. Probably I have recovered several Interlocks because my wife and I have shot a lot of animals with them!

Hornady bullets are one of my favorites. My brothers and I have literally killed hundreds of deer and dozens of elk with them. We used the 130gr .270, the 139gr and 154gr. 7mm and the 165gr. 308 bullets. My youngest brother who is 60 years old now has taken two male grizzly bears with his .270 and the 130gr. Hornady. I need to say that I mostly use Nosler Partition now, but I still have a great deal of respect for the plain old Hornady.