Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 250 Grain Hornady Interlock

Any real world experience with the 35 caliber ,250 grain Hornady Interlocks on elk. I would like to hear your stories.---Thank you

I do much of the hand loading for our hunt club, Ive loaded that hornady bullet for both my 35 whelen and my 358 win, carbine, and the ammo for several similar rifles of both types in camp. the base sample I can provide will be statistically limited, but I think rather valid.
I find not a thing wrong with that bullet it provides deep penetration and its accurate.
many of the older guys, in our hunt club have found the 7600 rem in 35 whelen,and 358 win blr to be very good elk hunting tools.
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...ain-Spire-Point-With-Cannelure-100-Count

Ive also loaded the similar 250 grain SPEER bullet,

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...rain-Hot-Cor-Spitzer-Soft-Point-50-Count

both bullets were accurate enough for hunting in my 7600 Remington and my 358 win blr, but I got the very distinct impression from the comments of several of our members and my experience dressing out several elk killed with both bullets by several of the members,that the SPEER has a softer jacket that allows faster expansion. I doubt you'll find either projectile lacking in performance.
keep in mind that your dealing with velocities that start out at about 2300-2500fps at the muzzle, out at the average impact range the bullets are moving slower.

I know that Ive loaded the SPEER version almost exclusively now for decades at the request of most of our clubs members as its got an outstanding reputation, in our hunter group.. now in my case the first time I used the hornady it was a pass through heart/lung shot that hit a bit low, it exited and the deer ran about 30 yards then acted drunk, staggered and fell.
I was impressed but the later use of the speer bullet had me reconsider as I have seen the same handloads with the speer bullet produce fast stops.
SAL a guy I hunt with used that hornady and hit a cow elk at about 150 yards with his 35 whelen and complained the elk ran almost 100 yards (yes the hit was a bit higher than ideal, but since I stared loading the similar speer hes been very well pleased.
I,ve made and seen several other mule deer hit in similar circumstances,with the speer bullet (mostly from my hunting partners 358 win loaded over 44 grains of IMR 4064 and a 215 fed primer) most fell a bit faster.
my hunting partner Ron rarely used anything but his 358 win BLR and over 35 years he killed 16 elk, he was very much of the opinion it was the ideal combo.
while Ive seen over a dozen mule deer and at least 6 elk killed with that speer bullet,over the last 30 years, I have yet to see any reason to not use that bullet.

http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...;type=Rifle&Order=Powder&Source=

http://handloads.com/loaddata/defau...;type=rifle&Order=Powder&Source=

we site both the whelen and 358 BLR in to hit dead on at 200 yards and either rifle so sited will hit about 10" low at 300 yard and about 3.0-3.3" high at 100 yards

Ballistics Results - 35 caliber
whelen
RANGE (YARDS) VELOCITY (FPS) ENERGY (FT.-LB.) TRAJECTORY
Muzzle 2500 3469 -1.5
100 2311 2966 2.5
200 2131 2521 0
300 1959 2131 -10.2

358 win
Ballistics Results
RANGE (YARDS) VELOCITY (FPS) ENERGY (FT.-LB.) TRAJECTORY
Muzzle 2300 2936 -1.5
100 2120 2495 3.1
200 1949 2108 0
300 1786 1771 -12.3

Thank you for the very good information!

The Interlock is a great bullet and I load it for three different calibers. However, for elk and other game that size IMHO their Interbond is the better one to go with.

I took a large red stag in Eastern Europe several years ago using a 250 gr Hornady RN interlock in a 35 Whelen. 75 yard broadside lung shot. Complete pass thru. The stag went about 25 yards before going down. Example of one but I wouldn't hesitate to use it on elk.

I've used them for years in a rebored & chambered to 35 Whelen 760. They kill all sizes of elk pretty damn dead!! For some obtuse reason I have a fondness for the RN style but that is just me! They also work just fine in my 740 rebored to 358 win.
Try them, you'll like them

They work perfectly!! I used them for a while in my Norma Mag until a hunter gave me a 20 yr supply of 280 Swifts. The Norma has been replaced with a 35 Gibbs and 200, 250gr Interlocks, this will no doubt last the rest of my hunting days here at the Lake. I've had a couple 220gr 30 cals act weird but the 35's all perform as expected.

340 mag I appreciate your Whelen posts and understand your usage of the 250 Speer. A few questions, 1. were the 250 Hornady bullets the SP or the RN? 2. I always use the 225 NPT in the Whelen ,have you tried them? Again I appreciate your sharing your collective Whelen experience. Magnum man

Ive never used or found a reason to try the Nosler Partitions in my whelen or my 358 win BLR, as the 250 grain speers seem to work almost ideally at the impact velocity they get used at, I have used the 250 grain hornady spire points, which I would use again if the 250 grain SPEERS were hard to get.
like I stated earlier the jackets seem to be a bit more rigid or impact resistant, on the hornady design, and the result is a bit slower expansion, but certainly not a problem. now I have used the nosler 250 grain .338, in my 340 wby and while I can hear the screams now from saying this, I found no real advantage over the 250 grain hornady spire points.
Ive shot a couple elk in the chest that were facing me with that hornady 250 grain in my 340 wby,and found the bullets in the gut or ham, certainly providing adequate penetration.here the 340 wby pushes the 250 grain to near 2900 fps and the hornadys more rigid copper jacket is an advantage, but remember the velocity at the muzzle is nearly 500 fps greater , the whelen pushes a 250 grain to about 2450 fps the wby 340 pushes the same weight to 2950 fps
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...ain-Spire-Point-With-Cannelure-100-Count

NOSLER 250 grains cost twice as much and in my opinion don,t provide twice the performance ,or even any useful advantage over the hornady that has worked out fine for ME. yes you might feel differently and if you feel theres an advantage then by all means make the choice than you feel matches your needs the best.
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...ter-250-Grain-Spitzer-Partition-50-Count

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...ain-Spire-Point-With-Cannelure-100-Count

http://www.35cal.com/loading.html

http://www.rifleshootermag.com/ammo/ammunition_rs_35whelen_200804/

ID also point out
I still use my 35 whelen 7600 pump action,and 358 win blr in far different and much more timbered areas where ranges seldom exceed 100 yards and in 45 plus years I can,t remember taking a single shot with the 358 BLR or 35 whelen pump that exceeded 250 yards


remember I tend to hunt, and favor hunting in timbered canyons almost exclusively which may not look anything like where you hunt, so my experiences might be different,look at these pictures to get a idea, a couple years back we had a club meeting and we took a brief survey and in 30 plus years not a single member had even had the opportunity to see or shoot at any elk out at 300 yards, most were shot at an average ranges closer to 120 yards which means a good amount were shot at 30-60 yards in the thick timber

Great info. Happened across a box of the 250gr spire point hornady's a few weeks ago ($20 for the bull box, NOS). Also picked up a box of 225gr TBBC's, but those were $2 each....

Unless one is using some magnum that can send a 250 gr bullet out in excess of 3000 fps, any bullet over 200 grains going to be potent elk medicine in whatever chambering it is in.
I kill elk very well with a 295 gr Powerbelt at 1200 fps or so and have a bigger tally for elk killed with 220 gr C&C round nose at 2400fps.

I will be using Nosler 180 gr partitions this year because I got them for $13/50 form SPS, which is cheaper than 180 gr Sierra GK. I will still be using the 220 gr rn for close in stuff.

Just waiting on something to run into!

Mike

Seems like Sheister used to have good things to say about them as well.

Mike

I used to handload the 250 Hornady in the .358 Winchester for one of my hunting mentors, after Winchester discontinued the 250-grain Silvertip factory load. He killed the biggest bull of his life, with antlers within whispering distance of B&C, one fall when he and an eastern buddy who'd never killed an elk were out hunting.

They were headed to "real" elk country, driving a 2-track road through sagebrush foothills, when a spike elk stood up around 250 yards away. My friend let his buddy shoot it, and when he did the BIG bull stood up out fo the sagebrush. It took more than one shot before my friend found the range with his .358 (which was probably sighted-in dead on at 100 yards), but when he did the bullet did the job. He also took several other elk and deer with the same handloads.

Why wouldn't they. Elk are not bullet proof. I watched a client a while back shooting a wildcat weatherby 35/378 loaded with 250 gr hornadys at about 3000 fps kill a nice bull at 150yds or so. Dead and the bullet didn't stay in the elk. Most guys way over think things.

I'm sure he felt the shot more than the elk did.....

I did not volunteer to test fire it for him, as his 35/378 wildcat sounded and looked like it kicked badly. The guy shot well though.

I've taken a few elk with the 250 Horn RN and I believe one with the spire point. Three bulls that I recall were taken at 80-150 yds and all died quickly from double lung shots and bullets were found perfectly mushroomed on the far side under the skin. I'd guess about 60% weight retention, but don't quote me. The cow I shot last fall was a bit further, about 230 yds, and the RN bullet passed right through. She ran maybe 30 yds. I have shot quite a few more elk with the Speer Grand Slam, it would give reliable exit wounds with the same shot placement. Didn't kill quite as quickly though IMHO. I could be perfectly happy with no other bullet for my Whelen than the 250 Hornady, of either shape.

I just looked up my journal notes, and my memory was pretty good. 150grain weight retention out of 250 to begin with = 60% Of the four elk, six shots were taken, six chest hits, three were pass throughs. 80-230 yards.