Hornady 139 gr. BT

[gamestalker]

Has anyone tried the Hornady #2825 BT's in 7mm RM. I'm focussed primarily on the hunting aspects of this bullet. A sectional cut away reveals they have a thicker jacket from the base to the olgive, and the jacket is tapered the rest of the way up. I also measured the diameter and they are .0005" larger in diameter than Speer, Sierra, or Nosler. I also noticed that the jacket seems to be made of a harder copper than Speer Hot Core, Sierra's and Nosler, which might just be the ticket for high velocity loads.

The past few years I exploded bullet after bullet trying to find one that would hold together on deer and elk. I have printed them at 200 yds. and have no complaints regarding accuracy, I just really need to know if anyone has taken any game with them in the 7mm RM, and how they performed on shoulder shots.

 

[GooseGestapo]

I've shot a lot of these from a 7mm08 @ 2900fps. It's one of my favorite bullets from the 7mm08. I've had a few seperate, but never failed to bring down the game... Seperated jacket will not exit, but the core typically does, but I don't consider that a "failure".. Just an "artifact"... In fact I bought 500 "blems" from midway a couple of years ago, and they are my "go-to" bullet now.

I use the 100gr Interlok from my .257wbymag @ 3,600fps. I took a 180lb 8pt buck in AL on Jan 5 of this year at a lased 187yds. Complete pass through (again) w/3"dia. exit wound. This is typical performance for this bullet. In '07 I took a 105lb doe at 90yds. Bullet impacted on a rib, broke another rib and was balled up imbedded in the hide on the off-side. Recovered bullet has classic mushroom and weighs 63.5gr. This is typical performance for this bullet. This is also my .257Roberts favorite bullet, typically at 3,100fps from H or IMR4831. I've taken over 100 deer with this particular load/gun combo since 1983. It "always works"....And not as destructive of edible meat as the .30cal.

I've also used the 180gr Hornady Interlok as well as 180gr SST (plastic tipped-boat tail Interlok) from my .300RUM. Similar performance, however, never recovered a spent bullet. My .30/06 load w/180gr bullet at 2,800fps is "brutal" on deer. I typically see 5-6" exit wounds from shoulder hits. My .375Ruger does less damage......

Norma has loaded the Hornady bullets in factory Weatherby ammo for over 50yrs. That's how they got their enviable reputation as big-game collectors....
For the money, I prefer the Hornady's to Nosler partitions. Similar performance (ditto Remington CorLokts) at 1/4 the price. (not knocking Noslers, just the price....).

This coming winter, I'll be able to tell you how the .277" 140gr Interlok-boat tail does at a m/v of 2,900fps as it's the "favorite" of a vintage MkX Mauser I picked up recently for $200.00. 3-shot 1/2" groups at 100yds "on demand" from 58.5gr of RL22.......And it's wearing a $40 Simmons scope, too.......

I don't think you'll find a better "hunting" bullet. Though for elk, I'd move up to the 154gr from your 7mag. Better trajectory beyond 300yds and better penetration on game over 400lbs.

 

[LoonWulf]

I used the 139ssts for years on deer, 130-200lbs mostly. Performance was good in all respects unless hits were made at less the 20yds and then penetration droped some but not enough to mater.

Personaly ive gone to the 154-168 weight class for the Big 7. BCs are substantialy higher, launch velocity is usualy 29-3k and youve got more weight to lose so the conventional (cheap) bullets i prefer work great.

 

[gamestalker]

Really appreciate the feed back. I'll be pushing these at around 3200 fps and just wanted to know if they are maintaining their integrity on 300 + yd. shotspretty well. To date, the best bullet I've used was a 130 gr. Hot Core BT for the .270 win. @ 3150 fps. I put one straight up the spine on a bull elk, straight up the spinal colum stopping at the base of the neck. I recovered that bullet, the jacket was in tact, mushroomed, and retained over 90% of it's weight. But Speer doesn't make a BT version of this bullet in .284 and I really didn't like the BC of the 145 gr. Hot Core flat base they offer.