I am wondering about the performance of these bullets and would like to try them in an inminent water buffalo hunt ...

Has anyone had the opportunity to try them and form an opinion as to performance compared to say, the Woodleigh 400gr or 410gr?

WOuld their controlled expansion be sufficient enough to have proper needed penetration on water buffalo ?

Surely there are much better options, but they are the only choice I have to use wth my own reloaded .416 RM cartridges ... perhaps I might need a charge stopper and I was wondering if they could be consider so ...

My bet is that you won't find anyone with extensive experience recommend a Hornady interlock for standing , let alone charging buffalo . Woodleighs have earned their reputation as a dangerous game bullet . Hornady Interlocks have earned their reputation on the likes of deer .
Most experienced Aussie buffalo hunters will load 1 or 2 rounds with solid projectiles in the bottom of the magazine to ensure adequate penetration on charging or fleeing buffalo .Their first 1 or 2 rounds will usually be a premium (eg. Woodleigh) soft point .
Have a look at NitroExpress.com - an Aussie site with lots of buffalo hunters on the forums .

quote:

Originally posted by Afrikaander:
I am wondering about the performance of these bullets and would like to try them in an inminent water buffalo hunt ...

Has anyone had the opportunity to try them and form an opinion as to performance compared to say, the Woodleigh 400gr or 410gr?

WOuld their controlled expansion be sufficient enough to have proper needed penetration on water buffalo ?

Surely there are much better options, but they are the only choice I have to use wth my own reloaded .416 RM cartridges ... perhaps I might need a charge stopper and I was wondering if they could be consider so ...

IMHO, go Barnes and never look back

quote:

Originally posted by Bushchook:
My bet is that you won't find anyone with extensive experience recommend a Hornady interlock for standing , let alone charging buffalo . Woodleighs have earned their reputation as a dangerous game bullet . Hornady Interlocks have earned their reputation on the likes of deer. ...<snip>....

I just wanted to point out that Afrikaander is asking about the new Hornady InterBond bullets and not the regular InterLock bullets. The InterBonds are a bonded core bullet.

Hornady InterBond Round Nose

From Hornady's web site:

"Hornady's InterBond bullet line continues to grow. We managed to improve our tried and true line of large caliber soft point round nose bullets. By combining a rugged new jacket material with the same bonded core technology we perfected in our line of polymer tipped InterBondâ„¢ bullets, we were able to make the world's best dangerous game bullets even better.

These new soft points perform like an expanding solid. Their specially alloyed jacket and bonded core allow them to drive deep and expand in a very controlled fashion, retaining over 95% of their weight. These new InterBond bullets let the hunter transfer the most energy possible to the beast that's hell bent on delivering its own shocking energy."

458 Cal., 500 gr. InterBond RN
416 Cal., 400 gr. InterBond RN
375 Cal., 300 gr. InterBond RN

-Bob F.

Just my discussion point, BFaucett thank you for your post ... as far as all theorical explainations might enlighten me through my web search, those mentioned bullets should work just fine for intended purposes (as can be understood from your own post ... )

But I am trying to find someone with emphirical experience, better if this experience was gained in hunting terrain ...

In fact I am going to use them ... and from what I learnt upto now about these bullets I think I can use them with relatively confidence ...

Regards

I don't know about "Interbonds" in dangerous game calibers, but a few years ago I shot a very very large (42" heart girth) whitetail doe form slightly above, through the top of the scapula quartering on with a 139gr 7mm Interbond with a 3150fps Mv.

She was about 30yds, so impact velocity was probably slill in the 3000fps range.

The bullet went through the scapula, lungs, liver, paunch, intestines and finally the hind leg coming to rest under the skin next to the femur.The bullet had mushroomed to .625" and still weighed 119grs. I beleive that is about 86% weight retention.

The "petals" were peeled back beyond the base and the base was concaved. The petals still had lead adhering to them almost to the very edges.

Some say that weight retention impedes penetration. This somewhat "light for caliber" bullet penetrated over 30" after stricking bone @ 3000fps.

With this performance in a 139gr 7mm Interbond bullet is any indication of the level of performance these bullets are capable of, an Interbond bullet in dangerous game calibers, in the heavier weights and slower Mv associated with this type of caliber, should have ample penetration and stopping power when used as intended.

BTW This is the only Interbond bullet I have ever recovered. The rest were complete pass throughs.

Sorry , should have read your question more closely . Guess a bonded core bullet should be better than the interlock . May be comparable with a Woodleigh soft point but doubt that they're going to penetrate like a steel cored solid .
As pointed out previously , solids are preferred for charging or retreating buffalo .

Hey Afrikaander, I also don't have any experience with the bullets you are asking about and no African hunting.

But, I'd sure appreciate it if you would let us know how well they do for you.

There is just a staggering amount of excellent Bullets available for any kind of hunting today. I've ALWAYS had excellent on-game performance with every Hornady Bullet I've ever shot and would expect(speculating) no difference with the ones you are talking about. But nothing beats first hand experience.

Best of luck to you.

Never used them but I have shot a lot of Buffalo and its just too easy to use a proven bullet like the Woodleigh, Northfork, Nosler IMO...those big boys can take a licking and keep on ticking and they can do you harm, never doubt that for one minute, don't lose respect for them or you will be sorry...

I have had perfect results with the .416 Rem and the 400 gr. Noslers, the 450 gr. Woodleighs and the Northfork 380 gr. soft and especially the cup points...

Always back any soft with a magazine full of solids, preferably flatnose solids from Bridger or Northfork or the cup points from Northfork are the best one bullet load...

Use a good proven bullet thats tough enough for the job..Let someone else prove that bullet first is my advise...I don't mind using a new bullet but I pretty well know to start with that it was designed for the game I am hunting.

If you opt for the cup points or the flatnose solids be sure they will feed 100% in your gun or use the RN Woodleigh solid.

quote:

Originally posted by Bushchook:
My bet is that you won't find anyone with extensive experience recommend a Hornady interlock for standing , let alone charging buffalo . Woodleighs have earned their reputation as a dangerous game bullet . Hornady Interlocks have earned their reputation on the likes of deer .
Most experienced Aussie buffalo hunters will load 1 or 2 rounds with solid projectiles in the bottom of the magazine to ensure adequate penetration on charging or fleeing buffalo .Their first 1 or 2 rounds will usually be a premium (eg. Woodleigh) soft point .
Have a look at NitroExpress.com - an Aussie site with lots of buffalo hunters on the forums .

This from an article in Nov/Dec 2005 Rifleshooter:
"Craig Boddington said I would be surprised at how well the Hornady performed, and he was right. The bullet turned in a credible performance in the box, retaining 90 percent of it's weight. In Tanzania the test bullet went right through a Cape buffalo, and we were unable to find it in the hillside behind. This suggests to me that the bullet shed it's petals, but it went through the ribs on both sides and the chest cavity in between-good performance regardless. I would not hesitate to hunt dangerous game with the Hornady."

That being said, a call to Bob @Hornady tells me that you probably couldn't tell the difference between the soft point and the Interbond, though the IB might retain a bit more weight.

Now the rest of the story.

Conclusion from the article.

"In my opinion, the Woodleigh is the best, but the Trophy Bonded, Speer Grand Slam, Hornady, and even the X-bullet are not far behind. Any of them is miles ahead of what hunters were using as recently as the 1980s"

Jay

We have used them with great success, they were the common Hornady's round nose.
Very good performance on waterbuffs.
L