Why avoid Hornady DG bullets and ammunition?

[Hunt anything]

That’s some good shooting!

 

[CoElkHunter]

I will use Hornady bullets/ammo on pigs. Head/neck shots only. I did use their GMX 7x57 ammo on pigs and whitetail does. I had one shot kills and exits on all the does (40-120yds) and no exits on the pigs. The does had minimal internal damage compared to Barnes bullets that normally explode hearts and lungs.

A friend of mine wrote for several gun magazines and I helped with a lot of his field data. In return, I was given a lot of products to try. Hornady is very generous with writers (or was then) and I was always getting plenty of their bullets. So, in my experience, Hornady bullets are fine for shooting a deer behind the shoulder (no shoulder bones!) off the feeder.

When Mama got her 275 Rigby, I bought a case of Hornady 275 Rigby ammo. We use it for practicing and then we have 275 Rigby stamped brass to reload.

Other's experiences may vary but the only way I will use Hornady bullets in Africa or anything bigger than a whitetail will be if Hornady is picking up the bill for the hunt.

Safe hunting

I want Hornady to sponsor me for a buffalo hunt. I will use whatever they give me to shoot. Can anyone here make that happen? LOL

 

[Rafiki]

Considering what I was planning to do I practiced a lot, hundreds of rounds, fast reloading, various situations. Zoom the attached and look between the horns.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Considering what I was planning to do I practiced a lot, hundreds of rounds, fast reloading, various situations. Zoom the attached and look between the horns.

Dead centre, nice shooting indeed.

 

[Ray B]

I want Hornady to sponsor me for a buffalo hunt. I will use whatever they give me to shoot. Can anyone here make that happen? LOL

Buy controlling interest in Hornady then you could have the company sponsor all sorts of hunts to test your products.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Buy controlling interest in Hornady then you could have the company sponsor all sorts of hunts to test your products.

I would "buy" into a consumer interest in Hornady as a neophyte African hunter and they could sponsor my hunts and thus my write ups as to the effectiveness of their products? If their products suck, I would tell you so, unlike so many "gun writers" we see today. LOL. I might have a short lived "career"? LOL. In reality, I don't see any of Hornady's fine products failing anytime soon. I would use any of their bullets anytime on any game. I just want them to sponsor my hunts as a rookie African hunter and my subsequent evaluations. As for new cartridges, I would have to defer to Townsend's @Bob Nelson 35Whelen array of his prototype wildcats based on the 7.7 Japanese case: .25RSE (Rising Sun Express), 6.5 Samurai and .35BNE (Banzai Nelson Express). I know there is a .30 in there somewhere, but I'll have to think about it. I'm sure Hornady would jump all over these? LOL

 

[steve white]

Actually many of us get tired of repeating the same facts over and over. Some customers want to shoot big game at 700 plus yards so some bullet companies are more than happy to supply magic testosterone bullets for just that including Hornady with their SST. No it's not just about the customer being right no matter the circumstances. Naturally, the SST is mostly used as a high BC bullet for all manner of big game not just the magic performance window of 500-700 yards. And predictably it comes apart like any thin jacketed cup and core cheap bullet. NO- it's about a company's integrity.

Specifically, the bullet that Hornady so heavily marketed for so many years and continues to do so as far as I know is their so called Interlock. Nothing more than a super frangible non bonded core, thin jacketed conventional bullet with a very thin inner ring that is supposed to keep the jacket from shredding and shucking the core... right! That thing comes apart like a cheap suit when meeting the least of resistance in big game. I shot a medium-sized mule deer just behind the shoulder with one (130 gr 270 @ about 150 yards with an impact vel of no more than 2500) way back when and couldn't find a piece of that bullet bigger than flattened pea.... not to mention the horrific surface wound it made with little penetration. I had to track that animal down to finish it. I started researching reports of Hornady bullet failures and that's when I found Hornady's arrogant response as posted earlier. From that time on no more Hornady BS for me. I was able to find and use the true premium, well designed hunting bullets just starting to hit the market. If you shoot a hundred pound whitetail at a feeder in Texas off a the rest in a blind from 75 yards and your 7mm mag shootin' a Hornady Interlock blows it nearly in half... you consider it perfect performance? I guess that is what Hornady's customer feedback means to Hornady.

Fast forward to a few years ago, after all the feedback and internet chatter about the Hornady DG Series failures, curiosity set in. OK time to do a bullet test of one of the two- a 480 gr- 458 DGX. I posted detailed results here and don't feel like doing it again. But basically, what they advertise and picture on each box of that is downright CR7#!P and they know it! That flat meplat statement and diagram on the bullet box is absolute bogus! That bullet, pushed at nominal 45 cal rifle impact vels of maybe 2000 fps, fired into test media, may come apart, fragment, shuck the core and not penetrate... just like any other cheap, basic cup and core bullet. I can take a 30 or 338 cal premium, well designed expanding bullet, shoot it into the same media at reasonable and conservative impact velocities and get anywhere between 14-18 inches of penetration and recover a compete, expanded bullet, still point forward at its penetration terminus. In my test, that 480 gr 458 @ about 2000 fps into the same media penetrated to about 11 inches and shed pieces of jacket and core, including pieces of the steel jacket all along the track. The largest was at the track terminus, a 1/4" piece of lead core that weighed about 50 gr. So is that customer rhetoric?- nope. Now after years of reports about and knowing that staying silent and denying a design problem, Hornady suddenly starts bonding those bullets?? Sorry, Hornady too late, not interested- too many other superior choices. Won't even bother testing or messing with their DGS, not interested- too many superior choices.

An interlock cost me an oryx--bushmen tracked it a day and a half and it was never recovered...arghh

Same bullet taken out of a hartebeest was a teardrop of lead only--don't know what happened to the jacket. I was using them because of the Superformance velocity hype, or maybe whatever they called it before the Superformance.

 

[FrontLines]

I have not had a chance to try the DGS but was disappointed in the DGX's performance. Not saying it to be tacky because I use Hornady Interlocks in just about everything I shoot but I think the jacket is too brittle on the DGX. I tried it on buffalo last year in Zim. Shot at 20-21 yards, the DGX barely started to mushroom when the mushroom sheared off right at the ogive. The only other DGX we recovered, also at 20 yards, sheared off at the cannelure. Killed the Buffalo but the bullet didn't hold together very well. As far as I am concerned, they are really great for practice ammo.

 

[Wheels]

I have had no issues with bonded or non-bonded DGX bullets. Guess it depends on placement.
Non-bonded.
View attachment 516161

Result, dead in 20 yards.

View attachment 516162

Shot placement is definitely most important.

The question in the DGX photo you supplied, where did the lead go?

What percent of weight did the above bullet retain?

Are there better alternatives?

 

[mdwest]

I dont mind slinging interbonds and interlocks at pigs and deer here in the US.. while I've been a dyed in the wool barnes guy for quite some time, barnes bullets have been pretty hard to come by in some calibers for the last few years (my local cabelas and scheels rarely have much in stock even now.. and even midway has been hit or miss quite a bit).. but hornady products have been pretty easy to find... so Ive got a few hundred 30-06, 270, etc.. loaded up with hornady..

that said... I still cant justify in my mind DGX or DGS for dangerous game... whether we're talking the new and improved or the old projectiles.. There are just so many good, proven options out there.. and the cost of a bullet (or even 100 bullets) is immaterial when it comes to considering the total cost of even the most affordable DG hunts (buff cow?).. so, unless you are Ivan Carter (sponsored by Horndady)... why select hornady over an A-Frame, TSX, Woodleigh, etc?

Sure any bullet CAN fail... but overall the probability of a proven bullet like the A-Frame or the TSX failing is substantially lower than the hornady option..

As a rule I like hornady products and I like hornady as a company.. I have several hornady tools on my reloading bench.. I have purchased quite a bit of hornady brass over the years.. Ive shot quite a bit of their pistol ammo, etc.. and like I said above, I've loaded a few hundred rounds of center fire rifle ammo using interbonds and interlocks over the last few years and will put them all to good use over time...

but.. I wont be buying any DGX/DGS..

 

[IvW]

Shot placement is definitely most important.

The question in the DGX photo you supplied, where did the lead go?

What percent of weight did the above bullet retain?

Are there better alternatives?

Many better alternatives.....most use them as they are ok in doubles....
At 500 Jeff velocities they are useless.....

 

[WAB]

33 pages and counting.

 

[Rubberhead]

Hornady has a very good marketing front office. They are very good at marketing. I think of them as a marketing company that makes bullets...

 

[BeeMaa]

This always gets under my skin...

All this money spent on a DG rifle, scope, binos and other kit purchased to hunt Africa. Add in the cost of the safari, flight, tips and little expenses along the way. Not to mention the time at the range, doing dry fire practice, loading and fault drills. Let's not forget to get in proper physical shape with regular workouts and a proper diet.

Now it's time for the bullet, the only piece of gear a hunter will bring that will actually touch the game and arguably the most important...and this is where some choose to try and save money. Simply ridiculous.

When I choose to hunt any animal, I use the absolute best available for the job. The Hornady series of DG bullet isn't close in performance to the Barnes TSX, Swift A-Frame, Norma Oryx or Federal TBBC. Especially when DG is on the menu and peoples lives are at stake. You choose the bullet you want, I'll stay away from Hornady for DG.

 

[Forrest Halley]

I'm going to travel a long way from home and leave this one small critical detail to chance...

OR

Look what I got away with using this bullet...

 

[Rafiki]

The issue is that a hunter can only have one bullet in the chamber for each shot- given the costs in time, money & lifetime opportunity the difference in costs between a bullet of marginal reputation and one of superlative reputation is virtually non-existent. There are dozens of similes that can be used to compare the situation.

I'm going to travel a long way from home and leave this one small critical detail to chance...

OR

Look what I got away with using this bullet...

I offered the comparison of two manufacturers bullets on two buffalo as a matter of interest and education. Am I enamored with the fact that in my particular case the DGX's shed about 70grs? Obviously not. Still, they shot true and retained 500grs of original weight at an impact velocity of over 2000fps while going through some pretty tough material. The math is pretty easy.

Will I use DGX's next time out; probably not, but this arm chair hindsight gets nowhere. My hope and intent of the comparison was some educational value. You can call me foolish if you want but the fact is that I'm very comfortable with my choices.

 

[lockingblock]

Hornady makes some of the best ammunition in the world. their Critical Duty is the handgun ammo of choice for the FBI, USMS, and multiple other agencies that have spent huge money on testing. Their 5.56 short barrel loads are the best of their class and they both designed and built the majority of the rounds winning precision rifle competitions worldwide. Everything with Creedmoor and PRC came from Hornady.

Steve Hornady loves to hunt Africa and designed the DG line to specifically emulate traditional safari bullets that you would have seen back in the day as far as profile, weight, jacket material, and so on. This was done for several reasons, but it helped to keep classic rifles in the field by creating new ammo that matched what they were built to shoot and regulated POA/POI for.

That said, the original bullets did shed weight..,as you would expect based on the classic designs they were based on. Bonding them and a few jacket thickness mods has solved this issue.

The current Hornady DG line is top of its class. It will feed, function, and eject with consistency in older rifles. It’s crimped against recoil setback, sealed at the primers, and the profile the soft sand solids to shoot to the same POI.

All in all, it’s very good ammo and 99% of the criticism has been overcome by the current version.

 

[Rafiki]

Hornady makes some of the best ammunition in the world. their Critical Duty is the handgun ammo of choice for the FBI, USMS, and multiple other agencies that have spent huge money on testing. Their 5.56 short barrel loads are the best of their class and they both designed and built the majority of the rounds winning precision rifle competitions worldwide. Everything with Creedmoor and PRC came from Hornady.

Steve Hornady loves to hunt Africa and designed the DG line to specifically emulate traditional safari bullets that you would have seen back in the day as far as profile, weight, jacket material, and so on. This was done for several reasons, but it helped to keep classic rifles in the field by creating new ammo that matched what they were built to shoot and regulated POA/POI for.

That said, the original bullets did shed weight..,as you would expect based on the classic designs they were based on. Bonding them and a few jacket thickness mods has solved this issue.

The current Hornady DG line is top of its class. It will feed, function, and eject with consistency in older rifles. It’s crimped against recoil setback, sealed at the primers, and the profile the soft sand solids to shoot to the same POI.

All in all, it’s very good ammo and 99% of the criticism has been overcome by the current version.

I probably should have highlighted that I shoot a lot of Hornady bullets and concur with what you said. The reason that I said that I may not use Hornady next time is simply that I enjoy working up loads for my "obsolete" cartridge and will likely come up with something to use "in the field" that interests me. I have nothing against Hornady what so ever.

 

[Puddle]

When the Hornady rep told me the 286 grain Interlock in their Dangerous Game Series product was just dandy and a "proven performer" I knew it was time to move along. A long ways.

 

[Rafiki]

When the Hornady rep told me the 286 grain Interlock in their Dangerous Game Series product was just dandy and a "proven performer" I knew it was time to move along. A long ways.

That's just BS. Who would believe something like that.