I just picked up some 6.5mm 120 gr. Hornady A-Max bullets for my .260 Remingtons.

Anyone use these as a hunting bullet, or is this strictly a target bullet??

How do they hold up compared to the SST or Interbond??

I have been loading the 120 gr. Sierra Pro Hunters and have been happy with the performance. How will they compare??

The long range guys are using them for shots that are way way out there..like 700-1200 yds.
It is a thinner jacket than the sst and that bullet is already known to be pretty explosive on up close shots.
I would not use it personally unless impact speed is really slow.

I killed a fat 7 point buck (180 lbs or so on the hoof) with the 155 AMAX out of a .30/06 last year.


I took him behind the onside shoulder at about 60 yards and it exited thru the center of the offside shoulder. He made it about 30 steps before sliding on his nose. The blood trail was terrific and all the deer plumbing was nicely blended. The exit wound was about the size of a .50 piece.

Ask him...
He didnt like them AT ALL.

Hornady used to call them "excellent on thin skinned game". Now they say not to use them. Don't know why the change.

Nice buck.....

i have killed quite a few deer with them. from frontal brain shots to double lung to sping shots that old boy was the only one that ever moved an inch and he only made it 30 yards.

I just use the regular hornady spire points whatever they are pointed softpoints, shoot well and kill deer.

I worked up an impressive group with the 162's in my STW...I'll give them a try next fall.

I do... 3 letters... S-S-T.

As said above..
I'd recommend not going with full max velocity... it would be a good choice with an MV in the 2400/2500 fps MV range...

I'd recommend a ballistic tip if you were unsure..

an SST or Interbond is closer to the Nosler Accubonds...which is a balllistic tip nose on a partition bullet..

My buddy uses 139 SST factory light mag ammo in 280, very explosive from what I have seen on bobcat, deer, etc.

I used a 105 amax, 400 yds double lunged, exit, deer stumbled all but 25 yds, 2840 mv out of a 6BR. Same load, seconds earlier, spine shot on another deer, 200 yds, bullet vaporized on bone at high speed, but DRT, Dead right there, Dropped right there....

Shot placement.

If I were shooting real long shots, the Amax would rank my top choice, or one of them, they WILL expand at lower speeds well. Close shots/high impact speeds, PICK shots.

But an Amax in lungs = DEAD deer quick in my book. No bones/hard angles if possible. Can act like a varmint bullet.

130 Accubond is a NICE all around 6.5 bullet IMHO. FWIW, I'd go with a 140 amax in your 260, more bullet, less speed, better close and works far also, HIGH BC, trajectory similar.

before Hornady produced the TAP they had a huge test involving auto glass drywall ect ect. A buddy who is an instructor at the academy has "The Red Book" which is a huge summary of the TAP results.
"THE" .308 Tap load was actually a 178 AMAX but i guess so many departments used 308win and had 1-12" twists that Hornady went with the 168 gr.
I handload the 178's in LC 74 BR-2 and TAC to about 2450 in a 20"
They are deadly.


The 155 gr AMAX consistently offers nearly perfect terminal performance characteristics--ideal penetration, good fragmentation, and perfectly placed large temporary cavity. All of the .308 AMAX bullets we are aware of fired in OIS incidents to date have remained in the suspects' torsos; damage on autopsy has been quite impressive and exactly as predicted based on lab analysis. The 110 gr AMAX has a shallower penetration depth with a rounded temporary stretch cavity, while the 168 gr and 178 gr AMAX have deeper penetration than the 155 AMAX, with a more oval, narrower temporary stretch cavity.

I've used a few 75 gr. 224 caliber bullets on thin skinned animals, with excellent results. I assume that as long as you stay with heavy for caliber bullets and stay away from bone, the V/A-max will act very predictably. JMO, Dutch.

Seafire

Learn something every day. I didn't know an accubond was a partition with a tip. Its got the H cavity jacket so it retains the base core regardless AND is bonded too with a thinner front section of the jacket?

Nice to know that info. And partitions always shot so so, but decent and folks running ABs get better accuracy so we now have the best of all worlds?

Jeff