Hornady

[93marlin]

There was zero meat affected. Obliterated the heart and went all of 60ft.

 

[Hififile324]

Some of the negative statements regarding Hornady quality is quite baffling to me.

I have competed in Bench Rest and Hunter Rifle ( light rifle sporter class 6x ) since 1978 and have won my share of matches. Most of my wins and best groups were with Hornady and Sierra bullets. I weigh all of my bullets and cases and separate for my match loads. Hornady tolerances are as good as any other brand to include Sierra and Berger.

I have hunted numerous big game animals for over 50 years and never lost a game animal with a Hornady bullet. My go to hunting bullet is the 180 grain, .308, Interlock Spitzer. They leave my .30-06 at 2750 fps, group 5 shots 1/2", and were used on over 100 game animals with zero failures out to 430 yards.

I cant say that about any other bullet brand, and I have used most of them.

By the way, I recently bought a case each of Hornady factory ammo, .308 Winchester, 150gr. Superformance SST and .260 Remington, 129gr. Superformance SST,. The ammo shoots amazing groups, is very consistent, and attains velocities I can't achieve handloading.

 

[pilar]

I always liked the interlock for North American game
having a 375 ruger now has me worried about using factory because hornday has limited options for African DG ( wish they made 300gr CX for buffalo )

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

As I said above, it's a hog, don't really care very much about the destruction.

If I had wasted that much meat (on a shoulder shot) on a white tail or an elk, I'd be a little upset.

Cup-and-cores still do what they've always done when impact velocities aren't too high. But, there was a legit reason why John Nosler decided there needed to be something better.

@sgt_zim
I hit a fallow deer in the neck with a 117grain SST at 3,300fps out of my 25. Damn near decapitated it with a neck shot and meat was bruised to down between the shoulders. Range a bit over 200yds.
Another shot behind the ribs slight angling away. Bullet 100gn speer btsp. When I skun it out the off side shoulder and leg came off with the skin. Completely jellied. Velocity 3,600fps range the same as above.
Cup and core work well but destroy a LOT of meat at high velocity.
Bob

 

[Osama Mahdi]

From Sports Afield, January/February 2023

 

[DG870]

Referencing the OP as to why Hornady bullets are so available I have to give Hornady a shout out as being a great company with a great record of promoting the shooting sports and managing operations to provide a supply of bullets in times where the demand is high and supplies of raw materials are hard to get. I’m a life long Nebraska resident and have used their bullets in most of my reloading for the 47 years I’ve been reloading (yes, I’m an old fart).

One thing that I think is significant is that Hornady is still a family owned and operated business and not managed by some CEO of a conglomerate corporation. I believe Hornady has made the decision to produce and supply the shooting community a steady supply of good quality projectiles for the most commonly used bullets so their customers can continue shooting.

I load for 20 different rifle calibers and shoot 2 or 3 times a week at our local ranges but sadly, only a few rounds a year actually are fired at a game animal. Most of my shots are fired at steel or paper. I shoot mostly their 55 grain soft point with cannelure for multi gun matches and their 140 grain BTSP in a 6.5 Creed or 168 grain BTSP in a 308 for long range matches. I use their Interlocks or SST‘s for my hunting rifles and milsurps. I have used their bullets for hunting deer, antelope, hogs and occasionally elk for 50 years and have never lost a properly hit animal. I use heavy for caliber bullets in rifles chambered for calibers that are appropriate for the game being hunted.

Locally, Hornady promotes the shooting sports and was involved in the development of the Heartland Shooting Park in Grand Island Nebraska and they sponsor many shooting events. They are innovative and have developed several new “improved” rounds. Sometimes this frustrates me because I like the “older” rounds like 35 Remington, 6.5 Swede etc and the 200 grain round nose bullets were hard to find for awhile. The 360 Buckhammer might kill the 35 Remington but there will at least be bullets for the 35 if you have brass.

Enough rambling, I felt the need to respond to this thread to say a few things positive about Hornady and try to look at the company and there impact on the whole shooting community. Have I had a SST bullet come apart and make a big hole in a game animal or not have an exit? Sure, but the deer, coyote etc was dead right there. I remember reading an article on cup and core bullets written by John Barsness that said something like “when looking at a game animal that was shot and cleanly killed with a bullet that had less than 95% weight retention, at what point did the bullet fail”?

 

[ChrisG]

There was zero meat affected. Obliterated the heart and went all of 60ft.

What caliber?

 

[Puddle]

From Sports Afield, January/February 2023
View attachment 573872

I've 'retired' the 6.5mm 143 grain ELD-X from Elk hunting and replaced it with the 143 grain Norma BondStrike bullet. I just simply prefer a bonded bullet when animal weights reach 400+lbs.

Also, I may have mentioned this before, but for the life of me I can't figure out why Hornady would offer in 9.3mm a 300 grain DGS but not a 300 grain DG-X Bonded.

Thus, why I load the 300 grain A-Frame ...

 

[ChrisG]

I've 'retired' the 6.5mm 143 grain ELD-X from Elk hunting and replaced it with the 143 grain Norma BondStrike bullet. I just simply prefer a bonded bullet when animal weights reach 400+lbs.

Also, I may have mentioned this before, but for the life of me I can't figure out why Hornady would offer in 9.3mm a 300 grain DGS but not a 300 grain DG-X Bonded.

Thus, why I load the 300 grain A-Frame ...

Plus, the hornady DGX bonded is the same price as the A-Frame for a bullet that I think everyone would agree is inferior. It's not a bad bullet, but you can't compare a DGX bonded to an A-Frame.

 

[93marlin]

What caliber?

450 Bushmaster, Ruger American that's been worked over by myself.

 

[ChrisG]

450 Bushmaster, Ruger American that's been worked over by myself.

Oh, ok. I used to have one of those. I bought it out of curiosity. Ultimately, within the spectrum of cartridges I own, it did not fill a niche anywhere that was not filled better by other guns, so it went down the road. I dont live in a state that outlaws bottleneck cartridges for hunting, so it served no pupose for me. Why it was designed to shoot pistol caliber bullets is also beyond me... I would have made it a 458, not a 452, but I was not consulted. So I handloaded a bunch of 250 grain XTPs, then promply sold it so I had to pull all of those and sling them out of my 45 super...

 

[UpNorthMI]

As an active shooter and reloader across many rifle calibers I have to say that I’m shooting more Hornady bullets than I ever have, the availability and reasonable cost are the 2 prime factors. Historically Sierra and Nosler were my key go to choices in the past but difficult supply issues have driven me to other brands that I would never typically have purchased. Hornady, Speer and Barnes are filling most of my current needs. I’ve found that the lower cost Hornady and Speer soft point bullets in .30, .338, 9.3mm and .375 to name a few sizes are generally shooting great, particularly as I’ve had to adjust to certain powder supply issues and have been forced to develop many alternative loads.

Well done to the manufacturers who have continued to get product onto shelves.