500gr Hornady Interlock bullet experience here?

[Foxi]

Hi Folks,
did anyone made experience in .458 and the 500gr Interlock from Hornady ?
I 've good results by selfloaded cartridges and so I dont want to change to other (better !?) bullets.
Good enough for buffalo, or to soft ?
Please tell me,the good and the bad things.
Greetings
Foxi

 

[Velo Dog]

Hi Folks,
did anyone made experience in .458 and the 500gr Interlock from Hornady ?
I 've good results by selfloaded cartridges and so I dont want to change to other (better !?) bullets.
Good enough for buffalo, or to soft ?
Please tell me,the good and the bad things.
Greetings
Foxi

Have not shot a buffalo with that bullet but PHs usually advise against using them for buffalo - soft fragile bullet.
From shooting them into non-living targets, I suspect they have a low velocity limit of around 1800 fps.
Much faster and I would worry about over expansion/breaking up.
The Hornady DGS is a bit stronger and I have shot one (my only one) buffalo and plains game with the DGX at 2050 fps (480 grain) and it worked very well (recovered bullets shown in my photos).
I would not trust the DGX over about that velocity.
If your rifle will shoot the 500 grain Swift A-Frame with reasonable hunting accuracy, that is the soft that I definitely would prefer.
To quote John Luyte of Duke Safaris:
"I've never seen an A-Frame fail".

 

[Panielsen]

I was planning on using the Hornady DGX/DGS combination on my recent buffalo hunt, but after reading a great and tragic hunt report from @gizmo here on AH I switched the soft for a CEB Raptor. I did use the DGS however as my insurance shot, and it completely passed through and was recovered several feet away by a tracker. The bullet looked as though it could be reloaded after passing through both bone and hide on the buffalo. So in my .458 Win Mag I loaded 1- CEB Raptor, and 3-Hornady DGS bullets. Only the first two were fired and both performed excellently to put my buff in the salt.

 

[gizmo]

I was planning on using the Hornady DGX/DGS combination on my recent buffalo hunt, but after reading a great and tragic hunt report from @gizmo here on AH I switched the soft for a CEB Raptor. I did use the DGS however as my insurance shot, and it completely passed through and was recovered several feet away by a tracker. The bullet looked as though it could be reloaded after passing through both bone and hide on the buffalo. So in my .458 Win Mag I loaded 1- CEB Raptor, and 3-Hornady DGS bullets. Only the first two were fired and both performed excellently to put my buff in the salt.

I have to say you have me quite intrigued by the raptor bullets. I may give them a whirl if get get to hunt big stuff again. Again congrats on an awesome buff!!!!

 

[gizmo]

Have not shot a buffalo with that bullet but PHs usually advise against using them for buffalo - soft fragile bullet.
From shooting them into non-living targets, I suspect they have a low velocity limit of around 1800 fps.
Much faster and I would worry about over expansion/breaking up.
The Hornady DGS is a bit stronger and I have shot one (my only one) buffalo and plains game with the DGX at 2050 fps (480 grain) and it worked very well (recovered bullets shown in my photos).
I would not trust the DGX over about that velocity.
If your rifle will shoot the 500 grain Swift A-Frame with reasonable hunting accuracy, that is the soft that I definitely would prefer.
To quote John Luyte of Duke Safaris:
"I've never seen an A-Frame fail".

Velo I agree 1 million %. Swift a frames all the way. If I had it to do over again that's what I would have used. I love Hornady bullets in 30 cal and down but their DGX is junk period. I wasn't too impressed with DGS either.

 

[Panielsen]

I have to say you have me quite intrigued by the raptor bullets. I may give them a whirl if get get to hunt big stuff again. Again congrats on an awesome buff!!!!

Just beware my friend, they are addictive! I shot 4 animals from the tiny Steenbok to the buff and they performed identically on each. Not destroying the externals of the trophy but reaking havoc on the interior! I hope you do get a chance to try them and let me know if you find the same. Thanks again about the buff as well, just know that your trophy has better tale to tell around the great fire in the sky to mine then the opposite. You had us on the edge or our chairs until yours was found! Hell of a tough bull!

 

[gizmo]

Thanks buddy, I can tell you that the whole experience took several years off my life I think. It all worked out in the end. At the end of the day Andri and Beans made it happen for me.

 

[Panielsen]

Thanks buddy, I can tell you that the whole experience took several years off my life I think. It all worked out in the end. At the end of the day Andri and Beans made it happen for me.

They sure did! That speaks volumes of their professionalism! I am so happy that he was sorted out and soon to be on your wall, as you earned him. Post pics!

 

[gizmo]

Bro it's always nice to have a couple of bad asses in a tight spot!

 

[Velo Dog]

Have not shot a buffalo with that bullet but PHs usually advise against using them for buffalo - soft fragile bullet.
From shooting them into non-living targets, I suspect they have a low velocity limit of around 1800 fps.
Much faster and I would worry about over expansion/breaking up.
The Hornady DGS is a bit stronger and I have shot one (my only one) buffalo and plains game with the DGX at 2050 fps (480 grain) and it worked very well (recovered bullets shown in my photos).
I would not trust the DGX over about that velocity.
If your rifle will shoot the 500 grain Swift A-Frame with reasonable hunting accuracy, that is the soft that I definitely would prefer.
To quote John Luyte of Duke Safaris:
"I've never seen an A-Frame fail".

Thanks Gizmo,

And, my goofy brain missed my own typo on "The Hornady DGS is a bit stronger" and blah, blah, blah.
CORRECTION: "The Hornady DGX is a bit stronger" etc.

Your experiences with the DGX (and DGS as well) are quite noteworthy if not alarming.
Any lead core bullet can easily shatter if impacting heavy resistance at too high of velocity.
The DGX in .458/480 grain and-or 500 grain is probably somewhere below the magic 2125 fps level.
The Swift A-Frame is probably somewhere around the 4,000 fps level.
(And the much lauded Barnes or similar designed Monometal expanding type bullets are probably somewhere around the 10,000 fps level - LOL.)

For my Safari dollar, the only reason to not use the A-Frame as my soft on heavy game like Buffalo or even eland would be if I could not get it to shoot straight in my rifle.
My old double shot so well ("regulated" so well) with the DGX and DGS that I chose them for one safari and they performed very well for me indeed but again, I did not drive them very fast.
My old .450 No2 NE shot very small groups with them at 2050 fps.

For any bolt action or single shot, I'm confident that I probably would be able to figure out a powder/velocity combination that would shoot the Swift accurately enough for hunting (as opposed to competition target shooting, that is a whole different topic).
To whip a dead horse here - the A-Frame is the one I definitely would prefer when a soft is appropriate for heavily built game.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[Foxi]

Fellows,
with DGX and Hornady FM I had good success.
DGX 72 % Restweight with good penetration.
Hornady FM nothing could stopp these little devil.

And the Interlock is shooting 1 inch on 50m .
Not so bad for a double.
Foxi

 

[CAustin]

DGX from 416 Ruger recovered from the far side of a Giraffe!

DGS recovered from the head of an elephant!
Some have had problems I have not. I don't have the equipment to tell you how many feet per second the rounds travel at through my 416 but they have done the job!

 

[Velo Dog]

Fellows,
with DGX and Hornady FM I had good success.
DGX 72 % Restweight with good penetration.
Hornady FM nothing could stopp these little devil.

And the Interlock is shooting 1 inch on 50m .
Not so bad for a double.
Foxi

Hi Foxi,

Your experience with Hornady Interlock round nose bullets in your double rifle are exactly the same as mine with the Hornady DGX and DGS in double rifle (Army & Navy .450 No2 NE).
And, I was quite surprised that I could not get Woodleigh bullets to regulate anywhere near as well as the Hornady bullets in my vintage double.
From all that I had read and discussed with other double rifle owners, Woodleigh is supposed to be just about the only bullet that will regulate extremely well in older doubles.
However, at the end of the day, the DGX and DGS not only regulated best in my old double, but also they performed very satisfactorily on the animals I shot, including the buffalo shown in my avatar.
While carrying this rifle, I was not able to close with an eland and would have liked to have taken one with it but, clever Mr. Eland never let me see him during that safari except, when he was moving behind tangled foliage, the sneaky beast.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[Panielsen]

Hi Foxi,

Your experience with Hornady Interlock round nose bullets in your double rifle are exactly the same as mine with the Hornady DGX and DGS in double rifle (Army & Navy .450 No2 NE).
And, I was quite surprised that I could not get Woodleigh bullets to regulate anywhere near as well as the Hornady bullets in my vintage double.
From all that I had read and discussed with other double rifle owners, Woodleigh is supposed to be just about the only bullet that will regulate extremely well in older doubles.
However, at the end of the day, the DGX and DGS not only regulated best in my old double, but also they performed very satisfactorily on the animals I shot, including the buffalo shown in my avatar.
While carrying this rifle, I was not able to close with an eland and would have liked to have taken one with it but, clever Mr. Eland never let me see him during that safari except, when he was moving behind tangled foliage, the sneaky beast.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

Your Eland must have taken lessons from my Zebra! Ninjas I say, Ninjas!!!