Hornady Interlock: A Classic Performer?

[jimbires]

I think they work well in the 0 - 300 yards . I hunt with them in a few different rifles , I have no reason to change .

 

[javman]

Like both the Interlock and Interbond but Interbonds are pricey as heck.

 

[BenelliHunter]

Through hunting and depravation permits I usually kill 30-50 deer a year. A .22 mag kills deer as dead as a 300 win mag as long as the shot is placed right. Too many hunters blame a deer running off not dead on the bullet when in fact it is almost always the hunter. I typically use a 300 mag of some sort when hunting out of state simply because it allows me to take a shot I may not take with a lesser caliber/bullet- but bullet placement trumps bullet design almost every time.

 

[DoneNOut]

Hornady Interlock and Remington Core-Lokt. Deadliest mushrooms in the woods!

 

[Herbie]

I have used the 140 in my .270 for over twenty years. Everything has been a one shot kill though distances have been under 350 yards. Very good groups also I might add.

 

[bengineer]

I cant say enough about kills i have made with interlocks. Mostly 308/165, out to 400. Some 270/140. Under chest hide on an 80 yard running away mulie buck, right in the zatch. 4 exits from a 400 yard bull elk chest. Exit from double shoulder knuckle hit on a 200 yard WT buck with a 162 from a 280AI. The list goes on.
memtb was concise(r).

 

[RogerPA]

I killed my first deer with a 154 interlock out of a 7mm wby no complaints. If anything on deer I've had less stellar results with "premium" bonded bullets than the more traditional bullets a la interlock, partition et el.

 

[rbTanzan]

35-40 years ago I used the 140gn Hornady Interlock in 270 on quite a few plains game. They work reasonably well but I noticed that they did not hold their weight well, dropping to 40-50%. I recovered quite a few in small-medium game like Uganda cob. (That is not a compliment.) So I moved on to Nosler partitions at the time. I recovered many of those, too. Even in larger caliber like 338s in hartebeest. Over the years, experience has led me to value penetration and bullet integrity as the most important hunting factor following bullet placement. So nowadays I consider loads with Hammer, Barnes, and Hornady's GMX. If the OP wants to practice with Interlocks, they might find a GMX load to use for hunting.

PS: penetration is a relative issue. Even deeply penetrating bullets can be recovered in the right situations. We've got a nice 416 350gn TSX from a hartebeest, but it was quartering/facing and allowed good penetration. Buffalo provide good options for penetration with recovery, too. But monos tend to provide an exit on most medium game.

 

[73driver]

I have taken whitetail, mule deer and a spike bull using a 30-06 H4350 and 165 grain Sierra GK. This combo has worked great for me and I think the Hornady bullet should work as well or better than the Sierra's.

 

[Chas1]

Dead each time...they work.

 

[Hugnot]

The Hornady Interlock is a fyne bullet despite its blunt lead metplat & short boat tail. I shoot 100 grain 6mms thru my 10 twist 6mm AI at about 3250 fps with great accuracy up to 400 or so at rodents. I shoot the Interlocks when I can't get 87 VMax's.

I shot a real big white tail just under 400 yards with the 139 7mm boat tail at about 3000 fps MV & the bullet expanded into a perfect mushroom and was lodged just under the hide on the opposite side.

A good cheap effective bullet.

 

[Alberta Wexit]

Have used for close to 40 years. In 270 win- 140gr BTSP, 300 Savage 165gr, 30-06 165gr, 338 win mag 225gr, 280 and 7mm rem mag 154gr also in 7mm-08. all work well on whitetail mule deer and moose. Longest personal measured shot 270 win was 460 measured yardage with BTSP. Probably accounted for 50-75 animals in these rifle. One fellow used his on plains game in Africa all animals died. Not any long range but accurate

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I loaded up a ladder for my Tikka T3x 3006 of 165 grain Hornady Interlocks last night. 56-57.5 grains of H4350 to see what groups best.

My goal is to find a simple, affordable bullet that will anchor whitetail at ranges from 0-300 yards.

Anyone have experience, feedback with the Hornady Interlocks? I used them in factory American Whitetail ammo in a 308 and it laid them down.

I've used the 165 interlock in both fb and bt form in both 30-06 and 300win launched from 2700 to 3300 fps depending on the rifle (prolly better than 10 30 cal's have eaten this pill for me). They work well but will bleed speed a bit quick for really lr stuff. My longest kill with them so far was 3 seasons back at 642 yards from a 300win and the expansion was diminishing, but it killed anyway; my shortest kill was about 30 yards(also from a 300win).
VERY accurate with rl22 (78gr) from my current 300win and I 4350 (57.5gr) in my current 30-06; both are 215 primed. I always carry 500-600 spare with a few hundred loaded for each rifle. In my 300 rums I've gone to a bit heavier pill (180-225 hdy) as I'm a bit afraid of a 3500 fps impact from a 165 going varmint bullet on a deer.

 

[arch408]

Hornady Interlock and Remington Core-Lokt. Deadliest mushrooms in the woods!

My sentiments exactly. We have all kinds of (premium, expensive) bullets, but I've never had a CoreLokt or interlock fail and I've been using them for over 50 years.