Hornady Interlocks or Sierra Game Kings?

CWeeks

CWeeks

New member
I tried the accubonds in 140 grains with my new 7mm and am not happy with the results. It is time to try a new bullet. I am using IMR 4350 and would like to know if any of you fellas have used both or even one of these and with what results you were able to obtain
 
I will not bad mouth the Interlocks because I have no experience with them. I will however sing the praises of the Sierra GameKings. In my opinion they are one of the best killing bullets out there and they do not break the bank.

The GameKing bullet as I see them are a wonderful combination of great penetration, very good expansion and exceptional accuracy. I have recovered some bullets that penetrated almost the entire Big Game animal (front to back or back to front) and expanded very nicely but still held together well.

Other times they have obviously expanded well because of the damage but completely penetrated Deer and Pigs. The damage is not overly destructive as far as meat damage but the effect of the animals were immediate and decisive.

I give a huge thumbs up to the Sierra GameKing bullets.
 
I have used both & could be happy with either, predators & up to deer & such. Many seem to think the Hornady is a firmer bullet, could be. I get a lot of pass-thrus with most everything, going with that soft tissue shot at back edge of the leg. I'm still shooting 165 grn interlocks I loaded up for the 308 years ago.

No, for bear I loaded up a 180grn partition, though the others would of done the job fine. I shot an average bear, not the 500lb'er.
 
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i run both sierra gamekings and hornady interlock depending what the individual rifle shoots better. i've flipped back and forth in my 7mm's and have run the gamut of 7mm offerings from 120 grains up.

on mule deer size animals and smaller i haven't been able to pinpoint a real performance difference as long as you stick w/ the 160-ish class of bullets, so i just load whichever shoots better. if they both shoot about the same, i load the one that gets better velocity. if they both run about the same velocity i just run w/ whichever is easiest for me to get locally, and that would be hornady.

as far as elk goes, i use hornady 225 interlocks in a 338 win mag, and my back up rifle is a 300 win mag w/ 165 hornady interlocks. seems to kill them fine.
 
I shoot primarily 154gr Hornadys in my 7mm Mag. Killed a deer or two with em. No complaints. Killed a couple coyotes with em as well. I've never used the Sierras on big game, but they are quite accurate in my gun.
 
In a 7 Mag, the 150g Sierra GK with 63.0g of IMR 4350 with a 9 1/2 is very accurate...great deer bullet.

On the other hand the 154g Hornady SP is rated at an elk bullet and family has killed many elk and deer with the bullet. The 154g Hornady Sp saws up large hogs with the same load above.

The Sierra 160g SPBT with 60-61g of 4350 is a hammer on deer. I know my dad brothers have killed 200 deer with that bullet.

I do believe that the Sierra 140g is a bit light for deer at 3200 fps+. ON the otherhand, the hornady 139g SP is much tougher.

With the 63g load and the 154g Hornady SST, I shot 3 bucks(on different days) under a fruit tree at 300-325 yards. Two dropped on the spot, the third jumped straight up and fell over backwards with his horns stuck in the ground. His back legs peddling like he was riding an imaginary bicycle...till he ran out of gas.
 
From my experience the Sierra bullets are easier to find an accurate load for and the Hornady seem to perform better on game. For hunting I would prefer the Hornady, but either would work for you.
 
Although not in the caliber and weight that you mention:

I shot my first elk with a Sierra Gameking. My second bear, a truck load of antelope, and two deer fell to Hornady Interlocks. I feel you can't go wrong either way.

I would choose whichever shoots the best in my rifle and not look back.


My wife's 7mm Mag loves the Accubonds, but I now have four instances of tips breaking off in the magazine while feeding.

Edit: Don't overlook RE22, it seems to work wonders in the 7mm Mag.
 
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I like both and have used both a lot over the years. As someone above stated I think "maybe" the Hornady Interlock is a slightly tougher bullet if that is a real consideration. And "maybe" the Sierra tends to be easier to get fine accuracy with. Hard to go wrong with either unless you really badly mismatch the velocity, weight, and game size.
 
have not tried 140 GK out of my 7mm. i shot 139 horn inter lock(3/4") , 140 accubond(1/2") and 140 baltip( 3/4"). 69.4 of h-4831. i have shot several elk with the 139 horn. excellent. the others i have only shot paper. ( i root for boise state too)
 
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Originally Posted By: RONINFLAG the others i have only shot paper. ( i root for boise state too)

Boise State Broncos are the shizzle BABY.

Thanks to all of you on the info it is very much appreciated. I really want to find one load that nails the mule deer, elk and bear. I am second guessing the the 140's and may try the 160 interlocks on this next go round if they are known to be a little more rugged and tough as the bear and the elk may need a bit more to sock the system. But comparing the numbers the 160's only carry 9 lbs of hammer more at 600 yards than the 140 according to the balistics chart and the nosler reloading manual. Hard to say but the 140 have not shot real well so the 160's deserve a try I suppose.
Thanks yall!
 
Yeah it is projected to have them at the top given they are 19 straight wins that will span 3 seasons including 2 wins against a ranked oregon ball club, ranked Nevada team fell to us as did oregon state, oklahoma and TCU in the last 2 years. We have not lost a bowl game we got an opputunity to play in in the last 4 tries and if we finish the season out undefeated it will have been 2 straight undefeated years and an over all current record of 54-4 in the last 5 years. We deserve a shot to prove everyone wrong.

BACK ON TOPIC NOW
I decided to go with the 154 Grain SST Interlocks from Hornady as they are almost half the price of the accubonds and they are cheaper than the Sierra's by $3 a box. If they do not work for me then the Sierra's will get my business the next time I buy a lead for the 7 mag.
 
I'd like to hear about your failure with the accubond. Personally, I use the 160 Partition and have had good luck on mule deer and have no doubts it will work great on elk. Surprisingly, the Partition is much more accurate in my rifle than the Accubond.
 
204 Gunner,
I just could not get anything consistently close to a 1" moa with 50 rounds of load development. I tried both IMR 4350 and H4350 and could not get a load that was great with either one of them. In my experience within about 30 rounds down the tube for load developement I have been able to find a load that meets my 1" or so MOA. This one was no where close to that. 1.5-1.75" is the average grouping.
 
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