Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hornady, 35 cal., 250 gr. performance

I took my 35 Whelen antelope hunting, and used the 250 gr. Hornady at about 2400 fps, which is what the rifle has been sighted for. I shot a buck at about 35 yards, low in the throat with the animal almost facing me. I was shooting upwards a bit and the bullet broke the neck just in front of the shoulders, but did not exit. I didn't do a necropsy, and didn't find the bullet. The internal organs all seemed intact. However, I have found a number of pea and gravel-sized bullet fragments as far back as the tenderloin.
This is just an observation, and I'm curious what others have found in using this bullet. I was worried it would be too stout for antelope, even with a spine hit.
Except for the small fragments here and there, the meat is in great shape with very minimal loss. Thanks, Karl

Similar to my experience using a .358 win at 2450 on a deer. There was a thread about them in hunting rifles.

Over at the marlin forums a poster did quite a bit of testing on the 200 horn RN in a 35 rem. His conclusion was it was fragile up close but too tough at 200 yds. Can't remember what his specifics were but he had pretty good pics of those bullets and other brands at the same speed and range it it seemed he proved the point.

I don't believe the bullet under discussion is a bonded bullet.....so it can easily be affected by hitting bone such as a spinal shot as you describe....and even worse if the bullet has to travel the length of the spine.

Personally, I'd dismiss this shot as an unusual event...even a bonded bullet might show signs of strange behavior in this circumstance.

Congrats on a successful antelope hunt.....I'd be willing to bet that the shot described would have put a bull elk down just as quickly.

One interesting bit of biological trivia is that pronghorns have VERY hard bones, much harder than those of domestic cows.

Thanks all for the insight. I'd never used an interlock in 250 gr. As to the bone hardness, John, I am currently braising the shanks, and while sawing off the lower ends, have found them to be like ceramic. The meat so far has been great, even though I found his band on purely sagebrush land.

I've never noticed any difference in the flavor of pronghorn on sagebrush versus grassland, even though I've heard about it most of my life, especially from various Montanans. But I've only hunted pronghorns in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, and it might well occur in ome other states.

I might be wrong. And no offense intended but ive always felt that if you shoot an animal and it dies then the bullet has performed to its intended purpose. Am I missing something?

Mule Deer- I shot an antelope about 25 years ago, here in NV with no farms or fields anywhere, and it was very sage-y and strong tasting. However, although the temperature was cool, it did not get into ice for about 24 hours. This time I was determined to do a better job, and I skinned it, took off the legs, loins, tenderloins, neck, and sundry rib and other pieces without gutting the animal. I was on foot, so I had to make several shuttles to get to enough of a road for my truck to get down. Then I wash off the meat, per one of your Campfire posts, and got it into ice chests for the 7 hour trip back to Las Vegas. Thanks for the tip about thoroughly rinsing the meat!

I've been lucky, I guess, in that every antelope I've bagged was cooled off quickly. The meat has been some of the mildest game meat I've had. In fact, I often make chile verde with it and it is awesome.

As to the original post, the 250 gr Hornady Interlock has been one of the most accurate bullets out of my .358 Win. (It actually has a 1 in 12 twist.) But due to the lower velocity of the .358 with heavy bullets, I usually shoot a 225 gr Partition. I am working on loads with TAC and the 200 gr TSX, though.

I'd settled on the Hornady SP 250 gr. as the bullet I'd use for elk because it did shoot so well. I am fully confident in the rifle, cartridge, and bullet for anything I'd care to try it on, although I've also had good results with the 200 gr. Core-lokt. Thanks to all for sharing personal experiences. I like doing meta-research.
Chili verde sounds like a great idea. I have anchos, chilacas, and serranos growing strong right now!
Karl

The only game I've shot with my .35 Whelen is a couple of cow elk using the 225 gr. Barnes TSX bullet. One was at 150 yards running off quartering to the left. The bullet hit just behind the short ribs and exited between the neck and right shoulder. Internal damage was massive. Elk #2 was standing broadside and I aimed for s ceter lung hit. At the shot the elk went down. When we got to her there was no hole in the chest. At the butcher's, we found that the bullet had hit her at the base of the skull shattering the spinal chord at that point. WTF? I'd called he shot as being right on so what happened? Afet I got back home and after resting up for a couple of days, I went to the range to check the rifle out. All I got was a shotgun pattern rather than the .50" the gun usually did when I did my part. I replaced the scope on the spot, sighted in and it was back to it's nice very tight groups. I sent the scope back to Leupold and whe I got it back they said they'd replace most of the guts inside that scope. I know that TSX bullet is very expensive but in the Whelen that work and work very well. Powder I use is Re15.
Paul B.

Mule Deer,

Why are antelope bones harder than other animals...is it their diet?? Just curious.

Thanks,
Eric

My dogs like Antelope meat,but they like fish guts also.

WAG: Stiff hard bones => speed. Muscle attached to soft bones would probably be a less efficient transfer of energy.

I use the .35 cal 250 grain Interlock at 2,504 fps. My experience so far -

* 1 dead boar (230 lbs?) at 40-ish yards: head shot with almost zero expansion.

* 1 dead Shiras moose at 222 lasered yards: lung shot, with almost zero expansion.

* 1 dead piglet (40 lbs, soaking wet) at 15 yards or so: .35 cal entrance hole, 4" x 10" exit wound, entrails sprayed for 30' ...

Until I read the OP's account, everything I had seen and heard pointed to this bullet being too hard. It does shoot like crazy.

FC

A small .35 test I did a while back when I got my Whelen.

250gr Hornady


250gr Speer HC


250gr Speer Grand Slam


225gr TSX

I've use Interlocks on a variety of occasions in the bigger calibers: 338, 358, 366, and 375. They are good bullets and work, but they are simply cup and cores.



I have used them at low start speeds like the 358, 250 grainer above which started at 2300-ish and landed in a moose some 200 yards distant. I have also started them fast and stopped them way out yonder. I have never had difficulty getting plenty of expansion.

Thanks again for the additional personal experiences. I can't hunt big game often enough to gather enough of my own information. I'm a teacher and have to aim for 3-day weekends. As to the load, I couldn't find any 225gr Partitions, so I went with what I had on hand. As it turned out, I could have taken any of my aperture-sighted levers...for all of which I have plenty of ammo.
Karl

Great pictures. Love that 250 Speer..