I've been seeing ad's for Hornady's "new" steel jacketed copper clad solids lately. Any difference between these and the solids from the good old days? The ones they use to make?

Rich Elliott

Rich,

The flat nose appears to give somewhat more penetration than the old RN steel jacketed solid that Hornady made years ago. Do make sure that they will feed from the magazine if you use them in a magazine rifle.

465H&H

If they(DGS) feed reliably you can't ask for anything more in terms of penetration.I would like to get all this uncertainty over with and make them my forever solid.It's just a question of them feeding.I received 4 boxes last week and have almost finished molly coating them.I know they are very accurate because I've already tested them in that department.

Rich - the steel is half the thickness of their old ones - and half the thickness of Woodleighs who are still able to access the original source. How significant is this? At 2150fps none at all. If you are throwing them at full speed out of a .460 weatherby, no, they are not what they used to be.

Despite the claims of the 'flat nosed is better' school, I have not seen as good (as deep penetration)a performance from the new flat nosed bullets as from the old round nosed ones - this is especially true at the higher velocities 2300-2600fps

The old round nosed Hornady .458 bullets were the best on the market and it is a shame that they had to stop making them.

quote:

The old round nosed Hornady .458 bullets were the best on the market and it is a shame that they had to stop making them.

Yes, and thiose 300 grain .375's drilled a pretty good hole too. There was a time when they made a 220 grain .308 steel FMJ that worked good in a .30-06 on hippo skulls.
Rich Elliott

Still have a bunch of the .308's for use in my FAL. On parks ops the top two rounds were always Hornady rn Solids...mainly for elephant but they sure went through thick trees (and the nasty folk behind them) as well

Any of you gents have any experience with the new DGXs as well? I'm starting to load for my 450NE as that is what my gun is regulated with. Thanks, jorge

quote:

Originally posted by Rich Elliott:
I've been seeing ad's for Hornady's "new" steel jacketed copper clad solids lately....

I'm always amazed how many bullet versions the ammo companies go through to try and get it right.

It's as if they are constantly trying to re-invent the wheel. And it's not as if they don't have examples to draw from to see what works... I mean Hornady has been around for how long??

But this is what happens when you keep trying to do things on the cheap. It's like they are trying to make a wheel that works good enough, even though it's not quite round.

My understanding is that the change was not of Hornady's making. US Government blocked the importation of the guilding metal plated steel they used to use - and woodleigh still does use.

Steve Hornady was forced to start at the begining..first with the 'encapsulated' and now with the DGS. I haven't seen any late (last few months) DGS but the second generation DGX's seem to be pretty darn good.

I once pounded both the DGS and woodleigh solids with a sledgehammer and found the DGS tougher.Hornady is making good stuff.

TwoZero, you are certainly making a lot of assumptions without any basis in fact. How many Hornady DGS rounds have you fired in large bore rifles? and at DG? I, for one, am glad that ammunition companies are constantly searching and developing alternative rounds and propellants. The last 15-20 years have seen gigantic advances in bullet design/materials as well as proprietary propellant powders. Where were you?

100% of the reports I've read indicate that not only are the new DGS very consistently accurate, but that their performance on DG has been exactly what one would hope for.

Hornady should be commended and supported by the big bore community and all hunters for providing the market with outstanding ammunition at one-half the cost of competitors.

No, I have no connections, to Hornady.

I have a bunch of the "old" Hornady solids in 500 gr 458 if anyone would like (to purchase) them.

I used a .458Win 500gn Hornady DGS for a coup de grace through the neck of a Buff at spitting range. I recovered the bullet lying on the sand under its chin after we rolled the beast over. Hardly any deformation after breaking its neck travelling at over 2000fps. Pretty tough.
Matt

The 570 grain DGS solid shot very well in my Blaser S2 in 500NE. No game shot with it (yet).
Peter.

If you will look on page 58 of the Terminal Performance thread you can see where Michael458 and I tested the Hornaday DGS in both 470 and 500 nitro. Both did well with the 500 doing the best. These bullets with their flat nose penetrate deeper and straighter than the Round Nose counterparts. The Barnes Banded solid also did well. We also did some interesting testing with strain gages on a 470 NE to show the differences in various bullets. This is on page 98 I think of Terminals.

Jorge,

I load with Hornady softs. They are my practice bullets.

Mike

Mike: are the DGXs not performing for you with game? As you know the Sabbatis are regulated with same so if there is another bullet of the same weight you recommend? jorge

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:
TwoZero, you are certainly making a lot of assumptions without any basis in fact. How many Hornady DGS rounds have you fired in large bore rifles? and at DG?

Absolutly none! Why would I want to be a guinea pig for what to me is an unproven product? Especially since I have more than a few boxes of Swift and Woodleighs lying around.

Now many on this thread are expressing 100% absolute satisfaction with the "new" Hornady solids. That's great. It's great news for Hornady, and great news for thier customers. I wish them the best.

It still doesn't change the fact that Hornady went through a few versions before they got to the "new" incarnation.

Both bullets shoot to the same POI at fifty yards in my .458 winnie with 72 grs. of 2230 behind them. Very accurate. Was gonna try them on buff, but the trip got canceled. Dammit!

I had a 300 grainer hang up on me while hunting buff in Zimbabwe this summer. After my initial shot I cycled the action and the bullet bound up on something coming up the feed ramp. Stuffed it so hard the bullet was pushed back into the case. Luckily I got teh jam cleared and it was all for nought as the initial shot killed the buff within 10 yards of where he stood. I also had them bind up going from the right side of the mag of the Ruger Hawkeye I was using when I was loading the rifle to go for a walk. Happened on three occasions.

That said, I did have good success using them on game when my supply of softs ran low. My brother and I both took Impala using the 300gr solid and I also took a Civit with the solid which worked just fine as well.

So I'm on the fence about them. Were the misfeeds the fault of the ammo, rifle, 50-50 or...? I don't know, but I do know that I'd want to use them a lot more before I fully trusted them in my rifle.

Not having examined your rifle or the cartridges, from your description my guess would be that the problem has more to do with your rifle than the ammunition. Hornady makes the ammunition for the Ruger, so I'd talk to someone at Ruger, explain exactly what happened and send the rifle back to them for adjustment of the feed rails, ramp or whatever. Yours wouldn't be the first factory rifle to need such adjustments. I've sent back a Remington 700, Winchester 70 and Ruger 77 for similar issues. They were always fixed without further problems.

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:
Not having examined your rifle or the cartridges, from your description my guess would be that the problem has more to do with your rifle than the ammunition.

Rifle was a camp gun I had to use due to Canada banning export, even temporary, of firearms to Zimbabwe. I'd rather have used my 416 Rigby or 470 NE, but we play the cards we're dealt some times.

BUM-

Too right! I've borrowed a camp pump shotgun in Africa and a custom Remington 700 in .300WM in New Zealand. Both failed on me before the hunts were over. This really confirms my suspicion that your issue was with the rifle and not the ammo.