Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hornady 150gr Interlock & .308

How would this bullet perform out of a .308 Remington 700 sps 24" factory barrel for whitetails? What would its maximum performance distance be? Thanks for any & all info.

It'll kill them quite dead, and quite handily at that. My "serious" gun is zeroed with them propelled by a stiff load of Varget.

I've never used them at long range so I can't comment on real low velocity performance.

I've only killed one deer with them, but based on that performance I've got great confidence in them. moving at approx .300 savage speed out of a .308, deer was shot at around 100 yds, heart/lung. bullet was not recovered, blood trail appeared to have been produced by a fire hose. I can't imagine you having any issues with them at .308 velocities.

What is your muzzle velocity? With Hornady's factory ammo velocity, you're good out to at least 400 yds. Velocity starts to get kind of low for reliable expansion after that, according to the std 1800fps guideline.

My favorite in my Ruger M77. Use IMR 4895 to get a little over 2800fps. No whitetail or Muly has complained, and I have never recovered any bullets. My maximum distance has been 125 yards so I can't halp you with longer shots.

It's hard for me to imagine a better bullet for whitetails. In fact, Hornady chose this bullet to load in their American Whitetail factory load. How far away? How far away can you be sure of putting the bullet in the right place?

Factory load velocity is 2820

I shot a decent 7 pointer a couple of seasons ago at 260 yds using the 150 gr Horn SP in a 308 win (using Varget, just like Mathman). This year the 308 is the backup, and it put the last four 150 Horns through it into a 0.70" group. This was using Hodgdon's max load of CFE-223 of 51.5 gr with a MV of 2962 fps. This was through a factory SPS barrel shortened one inch to 23". Good to go to 500 yds with this load.

Easy 2800 fps with 48 gr. of 748 and CCI250s out of my 22" BAR. A bolt rifle can throw in more powder no problem. Very accurate and pretty tough bullet from my newspaper tests.

Ruger270man, that bullet isn't a long-range bullet, but out to 400-450 in a 308 it should be the ticket. The great thing about bullets that have lead noses is that they open more consistently when velocity has dropped off.

That's my favorite bullet in the 308 win. Always accurate and kills the chit out of deer and elk (believe it or not). As far as interlock performance at "long range", I know the .308 165 btsp and .284 162gr. work great past 600 yards on deer and I would trust them on elk as well at that range..Sorry, no first hand experience with the 308 win and 150gr. sp interlock past 300 yards...

150gr Hornady Interlock out of a 308 intended for deer at any reasonable has one very serious flaw. If you should screw up a shot you'll need a better excuse than your bullet of choice was bad.

Very true

They knock big holes in deer.

Not the ones I've used and seen used. Always minimal bloodshot meat...

That's been my experience with Interlocks at moderate velocities: They kill well but don't "splode" the meat.

Killed a big axis buck about a year ago in Texas with a 150 .30 Interlock from a .308, range about 125 yards. I deliberately shot for ribs rather than shoulder, because I love axis venison. Lost very little meat, but the buck was down quickly.

Not saying you lose a lot of meat. But with factory 30-06 Hornady loads I shot quite a while back the rib cages would have holes a couple of inches wide on each side. Matter of fact I've seen holes in the hide on one or two that were inch and a half or so with overhead valves and pushrods hanging out. It's a deadly bullet.

In my XS-7 Marlin I've used them on deer and antelope, no regrets about my choice. they worked perfect both times and that antelope buck was over 300 yds the load was at 2825 fps at 10' from the muzzle. Good cup and core performance leaves 1"-1 1/2" exit holes in my book,lets the blood out and cold air in, leaving a blood trail no one can miss.I for one want an exit hole everytime. Magnum man

shootem,

Yeah, but that's with the ultra-fast .30-06! Not with the "moderate" .308....

^^^^^^ Now thats funny right there!