I am just curious. I usually shoot the 500gr soft points. I would like to load some similar weight solids, just in case. how well do the hornady 500gr .458 FMJ solids work? any and all experiences welcome.

John,

I was talking to D'Arcy Echols at the SCI show. He was on an elephant hunt where the new Hornady solids were used ( I think in a Lott). He was very impressed with them. Enough to talk me into trying some.

I'll have to see how they do in shooting to the same point as my A-Frame soft load before I have to decide between them and the woodleighs that I currently have worked up.

-Steve

My late and dear friend George Hoffman really was high on the Hornadys in 458 and 416 caliber and he used them a good deal...thats a pretty good recommendation in anyones book, but he never had a chance to try out the new ones.

Ray,

What were the changes made to the design of the new Hornady 500gr Solid compared to the old? How can you tell the difference outwardly (any visible change in appearance)?

I know Hornady just improved their 500gr RN from the Interlock to the bonded core Interbond, but was not sure what if any changes were made to improve the Solid. In the case of the Interbond it's easy to tell the old from the new by the color of the jacket material.

The new ones are brass shells (or some variation of brass) with a lead core. They seemed to work OK when my boy used them on buff and ele.

Of course, there is always the typical "failure" report on every forum on the www. But there is always one of them for everything ever manufactured.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
My late and dear friend George Hoffman really was high on the Hornadys in 458 and 416 caliber and he used them a good deal...thats a pretty good recommendation in anyones book, but he never had a chance to try out the new ones.

Ray,

The bullets George Hoffman used, were they not the steel jacketed bullets that Hornady use to make?

Hog Killer

I used them in Zim on buffalo with great success. I used a softpoint first with dropped him in his tracks, and a solid for insurance. The bullet was retrieved from the spine with only rifle marks.

The old Hornady FMF was 50% steel jacket, 50 % lead core. The same is Woodleigh FMJ.
The new Hornady encapsulated is a brass jacket with a relativ big monometal nose and a smaller lead core. The encapsulation I think is because some countries plan to ban lead containing ammunition.

I shot elephants very successfully with this bullets. And other game too.

Thanks for the input...

Why the change from steel jacket to the brass? Does anyone know of a cutaway to show the designs of the old and/or new?

I'm curious about why the change and would have thought the steel jacket would be better. Conversely I'd think a brass jacket would not be as hard/tough, but then again no-one seems to be complaining about failures with the new one...

PS: Are the steel jacketed solids tough on rifle bores as far as longevity?

I e-mailed Hornady a few weeks ago about that very subject.(no steel fmj) I was told that they could no longer get the jacket material. That is their stated reason for going to the gilding metal fmj. Now they have their latest generation fmj.

Hog Killer