Hornady interlock 245 grain .452 bullets anyone

[Brayhaven]

Looking for a better load for my knight disc ext. with bare primer setup. Have used xtp, Barnes all copper, and some flex tip types.
Don’t like real heavy bullets due to recoil & the deer & hogs here in FL just don’t need them. Looking at that 245 grain hornady interlock spire point bullet designed for the 450 bushmaster, I like the design. Should fly well & designed for terminal velocity in the 17-2200 FPS range. I always disect any new bullet to see how they should perform expansion/penetration wise. I milled one through and saw it has a hollow portion behind the lead exposed point. That should initiate expansion.
Anyone tried these bullets? Results? I’m sold on BH209 in this rifle.
Thanks for any input.
Greg

 

[Confederate rifleman]

You might find them to be a bit tough at the velocities you listed.
The .452 250 grain XTP does quite well at these speeds and is less expensive. The .451 240 grain ( magnum) might just be perfect for you. I always got better accuracy with the 250's though.
Something to keep in mind is the effect rifling impressions have on bullet expansion. I've long believed that its an integral part of the equation. You'll read about bullets fired from muzzleloaders, using sabots, that hold together well far beyond the velocities recommended by the manufacturers. I believe this is due to the jackets not being compromised by the rifling. The rifling impressions are in effect stress risers and weaken the jackets to some degree.
All this being said, both your rifle, and the critters, will tell you what is best.
But the .452 250 grain XTP is a wonderful bullet.
Good fortune to ya

 

[GM54-120]

Isnt that bullet pretty new for a reloading bullet? I dont think ive seen anyone shoot them in a ML yet.

Here it is compared to the Speer 260gr

 

[Brayhaven]

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Isnt that bullet pretty new for a reloading bullet? I dont think ive seen anyone shoot them in a ML yet.

Here it is compared to the Speer 260gr

Yes, I think so. It was made for the 450 bushmaster, which has similar ballistics to modern mls. But it has a better BC. ( not the fake ones you see in some specs ). The hollow cavity enclosed behind the exposed lead point is fascinating. Never saw a design like that in almost 60 yrs reloading. Will try to post a picture of it. Reports show excellent accuracy out to 200.

 

[Brayhaven]

Isnt that bullet pretty new for a reloading bullet? I dont think ive seen anyone shoot them in a ML yet.

Here it is compared to the Speer 260gr

Yes, I think so. It was made for the 460 bushmaster, which has similar ballistics to modern mls. But it has a better BC. ( not the fake ones you see in some specs ). The hollow cavity enclosed behind the exposed lead point is fascinating. Never saw a design like that in almost 60 yrs reloading. Will try to post a picture of it. Reports show excellent accuracy out to 200.

 

[Brayhaven]

Isnt that bullet pretty new for a reloading bullet? I dont think ive seen anyone shoot them in a ML yet.

Here it is compared to the Speer 260gr

Yes, I think so. It was made for the 460 bushmaster, which has similar ballistics to modern mls. But it has a better BC. ( not the fake ones you see in some specs ). The hollow cavity enclosed behind the exposed lead point is fascinating. Never saw a design like that in almost 60 yrs reloading. Will try to post a picture of it. Reports show excellent accuracy out to 200.

 

[GM54-120]

Shootem if you gottem. Only way to find out. All i can say is jacketed/monolithic bullets with a heavily rounded transition from base to the side are harder to achieve accuracy. They might shoot just fine for you.

 

[Brayhaven]

Shootem if you gottem. Only way to find out. All i can say is jacketed/monolithic bullets with a heavily rounded transition from base to the side are harder to achieve accuracy. They might shoot just fine for you.

That’s interesting. I’d heard some say that bullets with a radiused base didn’t shoot well with sabots. But I haven’t found that to be the case. In fact a lot of bullets designed for ML use have radiused bases. Like hornady sst, (xtp) TC, Barnes, Remington etc.
some even use boat tails. This bullet has a slightly rounded base similar to many ML favorites. I don’t doubt they’ll shoot well. Was trying to find anyone who has used them on game. I’ll test in wet catalogs for expansion.
That hollow cavity is something that might affect it. Some 450 bushmaster shooters have reported good results on deer.
Hornady sells loaded ammo with this bullet in that caliber for hunting, with stated MV of 2200.

 

[GM54-120]

XTPs are flat as a pancake and so are many Barnes that shoot well like Expander MZ. Boattails are the most problematic but ive seen them shoot good on occasion.

 

[Brayhaven]

XTPs are flat as a pancake and so are many Barnes that shoot well like Expander MZ. Boattails are the most problematic but ive seen them shoot good on occasion.

This bullet has about the same radius as:
Barnes spit fire, expander (pictured), hornady sst, a little less radius than xtp magnum (pictured) etc.
Has a substantial jacket that should hold it together. I’ll post an accuracy & expansion report after testing.

 

[GM54-120]

 

[michiganmuzzy]

GM54-120, what is that bullet, bottom right, next to the red tip?
Is that a speer?

 

[GM54-120]

Its one of the 300gr JHP 458s. I shoot the Sierra 458 300gr and it looks just like that. The Hornady looks very similar too. The bottom is as flat as you could make it. Pretty much anything Speer in Uni-Cor will have a small radius but the bottom will be concave a little.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

It's got pretty thin jacket. Im thinking i might give it a go in a couple guns sabotless.

 

[GM54-120]

The Sierra 458 300gr FNHP is a great one for sabotless but you need to resize in multiple steps. Jacket is very thin and lead is nearly dead soft. I can size them using a Lee hand press with ease. Sierra even used to mention its the softest lead they offer in a bullet. That info is no longer on the web page. I sent a few to Ron for testing with some Speer 260s. He will have them in a few more days.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Ive got plenty of the Lee 45 dies. I had to polish a couple dies out to get the diameters i wanted but i can step size no problem. Sierra shows the 458/300 with a band now, on their site. The ProHunter #8900

 

[GM54-120]

I use a Lee 454 die and then another but im under sizing and knurling them up. Using a Swinglock you will want a .454 and then a .452 i would imagine unless the Swinglock or Hankins die can handle a .454 bullet.

 

[Brayhaven]

Yep, some are square & some are radius. I haven’t found those with radius to shoot worse than the flat bottom ones. Might just be the guns & loads I use.

As to sizing jacketed bullets, I’ve found that more than a few thousandths leaves a jacket that’s looser on the core as it springs back (more than the lead)
I’d rather bump them up with a swaging die like Nonte shows in his cartridge conversions book. That actually tightens the jacket to the core.
I load for some oddball obsolete European calibers and have made quite a few swaging dies for people.

 

[Sideshow]

Yep, some are square & some are radius. I haven’t found those with radius to shoot worse than the flat bottom ones. Might just be the guns & loads I use.

As to sizing jacketed bullets, I’ve found that more than a few thousandths leaves a jacket that’s looser on the core as it springs back (more than the lead)
I’d rather bump them up with a swaging die like Nonte shows in his cartridge conversions book. That actually tightens the jacket to the core.
I load for some oddball obsolete European calibers and have made quite a few swaging dies for people.

Could you post a few pics of these swaging dies ???

 

[Brayhaven]

Could you post a few pics of these swaging dies ???

Sure. Here’s one I made to bump 180 gr speer 358 bullets up to .365 for 9.3x72r. I also showed the drill I made to shape the chamber. You can change the ogive to improve BC, or make the bullet shorter as. I did on this one for the slow twist. You could make a sabot bullet longer on the straight sides etc. there’s a bleed hole for lead to escape. I use a hydraulic press, but mechanical ones can be used.
If you can, read the article on it in Nonte’s book,” Cartridge Conversions”.