What is your honest opinion of the 300 grain hornady RN (Not DG).I plan on using it on wild bore and maybe (someday) brown bear. Anyone have a good loading with RL-15?

its SOFT.. no, REALLY soft .. its blows up at anyting over 2200 or so fps in a 375 antying .. the dgs is a stronger bullet.. the interlock/bond BLOWS UP pigs

Don't know what caliber but I've used the 411 300. At 2600fps+it turns into lead vapor on a hog.

quote:

What is your honest opinion of the 300 grain Hornady RN (Not DG).

USA#1,

Just color me ..... why would I offer less than an honest opinion?

I use this bullet w/79.5 grs. of VV N-160, PMP brass, WLRM primer & the Lee Factory Crimp Die to the upper edge of the cannelure as my Go-To .375H&H load in both a Blaser R93 & Winchester Model 70. I keep at least 50 rounds loaded; well, just-in-case I need to grab a rifle and dash out the door.

In both rifles this load plunks 5 shots into one ragged hole at 100 meters and terminal performance has been sterling on a wide-e-e-e spectrum of game from African Plains game to European Wild Boar & Red Deer Drive Hunting.

I'm disappointed to hear others have less than positive to say about their experience with this bullet but from my perspective they are about as good as it gets with the load I've assembled. Never felt the need to go to the Botique Bullets offerings for this cartridge yet.

The Blaser is a 25.6" tube and the Winchester's been cut back to 20". I get right at 2500+fps outa the Blaser and 2350fps outa the Winchester.

I've recovered 2 bullets from the countless shot at game; a Zebra & Oryx; both mushroomed perfectly.

quote:

I'm disappointed to hear others have less than positive to say about their experience

Gerry,

If he is talking about a 375 300gr I have no experience period. As to the .411 300gr I believe the issue is the bullet was designed for the .405 and velocity down around 2100. It was never intended for the velocity I'm pushing it. However even though it turns to vapor it has taken close to a dozen hogs and each one dropped on the spot.

Now that I've had my second and my mind is working the 411 is probably a FP so my comments propably have no bearing on the question.

quote:

Posted 10 June 2010 05:15
What is your honest opinion

you ask that question here?

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Originally posted by butchloc:

quote:

Posted 10 June 2010 05:15
What is your honest opinion

you ask that question here?

I'm sending this post to Obama....he'll probably ask that your office be paid a visit by Walter Mondale or someone to correct your attitude!



I'm sure that someplace there is a law against having this much fun on a forum!

I have loaded those to approx 2370 in my 375 using IMR 4350 powder (71 grains) with RP brass and CCI 250 primers. No on game experience yet so i cannot report. i imagine it would be fine for deer. plan on hunting hogs at xmas if possible and will likely use that load.

quote:

Originally posted by USAONE:
What is your honest opinion of the 300 grain hornady RN (Not DG).

I have actually used the 270 grain spire point on a 8-point Wisconsin buck.(they actually are not bigger as folks there would have you believe )
I got a very good rib cage hit and a .375 hole in and a .375 hole out.....the deer was found dead about 200 yards away.

Personally it was my feeling at the time that the jackets on those bullets are meant for something a lot larger than deer!

Take it from there.

In fact.....almost anything generating 2,500 FT-LB energy might be a better deer cartridge than a .375 H&H...starting with the .243 Win!

quote:

If he is talking about a 375 300gr I have no experience period. As to the .411 300gr I believe the issue is the bullet was designed for the .405 and velocity down around 2100.

Paul,



Well now that you mention it USA1 didn't mention caliber; so hopefully he'll get back to us on whether or not he's referring to .375" or .411".

Sorry folks, Its for the 375 H&H magnum. I have been loading 69 grains of RL-15 but have'nt checked it on the c hrony yet.

USA1,

No sweat, Pal.

A coupla years ago there was a bullet write-up in one of the color-glossys; IIRC it was Field & Stream.

On the subject of .375 H&H bullets; Craig Boddington attested that in his opinion the Hornady 300 gr. RN's were the best non-Botique bullet made.

Thanks folks! I appreciate your advice. I have several hundred of these and need to put them to use on some big hogs.

I had a box of factory Weatherby 375 H&H Magnum, Ultra High Velocity cartridges. They were 300 gn round nose and were moving right along in the velocity department. Weatherby dropped the loading shortly after that. I called Weatherby and inquired if they dropped them due to be too hot or why? Out of the blue the guy told me they just dropped them because they didn't sell and proceeded to give me the exact recipe to make my own! It was Norma brass with Weatherby headstamp, Fed 215 primer, Norma 202 or 203 powder??? and the specifice charge, which I have lost somewhere along the way, and Hornady 300 gn round nose bullets. I don't think Weatherby would use a too soft bullet in this cartridge.

On my first safari to South Africa (back in 2000) for plains game I handloaded the .375" 300 gr Hornady InterLock round nose bullets to a chrono'd average of 2480 fps out of my Ruger M77 Magnum rifle in .375 H&H with a 23" barrel.

Here are two bullets that were recovered:



The bullet on the left is from a Warthog that I shot at a distance of about 50-60 yards. The bullet on the right is from a Gemsbok that I shot at about 120 yards. After I shot the Gemsbok then the chase was on! We finally chased him down and I put a finishing shot into him.


The Gemsbok

I learned a lesson on my first plains game safari. Use GOOD bullets!! I used Woodleigh round nose bullets on my next two trips to South Africa for plains game. I was VERY pleased with the performance of the Woodleighs.



Just my two cents worth......

Cheers!
-Bob F.

Thanks Bob, just what I was looking for. I think the Hornadys will do fine on our small whitetails and hogs. I appreciate your time and advice. I will use a DG round on anything larger.

I used the 300 gr Hornady RN in my .375 H&H to take a couple of little piggies (feral hogs here in Texas) and for that it worked fine. I've never hunted deer with that bullet but I did take a couple of Impala with it and it worked fine for them also.




The two little piggies taken with my .375 H&H, 300 gr Hornady RN.
Same handload that I posted above that I used in South Africa.

Cheers!
-Bob F.

I imagine it would work well for most everything in North America. Good picture, I know you had a great hunt.

There appears to be some pretty good proof that the 300 gn Hornady RN is a bit soft. I have a box of these loaded up and was really planning on using them on bear.

The ones I have are from before Hornady made or at least advertised Interlocks; also a magnet does not stick to them.

I have two boxes of DGX loaded and thought they might be too tough for bear as a magnet does stick to these.

I may just have to blast the RN empty and refill with 300 gn Nosler Partitions. I have one full box of factory Winchester 300 gn Silvertips, but am saving them for Nostalgia.

I used the 300gr RN last year in Zimbabwe for leopard and plains game with no problems at all. The load was 77gr of W760, 215M primers and the 300gr Hornady RN. I talked with one of the technicians at Hornady explaining that I wanted a frangible bullet for the leopard but also a bullet that I could use on buffalo if I had to. (I carried a 470NE with Woodleighs for buffalo.) The technician said the 300gr RN (not interlock) was soft and would work fine for leopard but would be a little soft for buffalo so watch my angle and shot placement.

http://i594.photobucket.com/al...oker1/IMG_0260-1.jpg

Thanks Ed. Beautiful leopard-thanks for sharing!

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Originally posted by Ed Scarboro:
I used the 300gr RN last year in Zimbabwe for leopard and plains game with no problems at all. The load was 77gr of W760, 215M primers and the 300gr Hornady RN. I talked with one of the technicians at Hornady explaining that I wanted a frangible bullet for the leopard but also a bullet that I could use on buffalo if I had to. (I carried a 470NE with Woodleighs for buffalo.) The technician said the 300gr RN (not interlock) was soft and would work fine for leopard but would be a little soft for buffalo so watch my angle and shot placement.

http://i594.photobucket.com/al...oker1/IMG_0260-1.jpg

I used the same set-up except that I used 78gr of W760. I shot my lion twice and both 300gr Hornaday RN bullets broke-up. I found the heel of the second bullet. It had broken off at the canuler.

Is it safe to assume from this thread that the 270gr Hornady is tougher than the 300gr RN Interlock? How does the 300gr SPBT Interlock fare?

It will be a while till my rifle gets to shoot at anything more substantial than Whitetails but I'd like to use a decent bullet to practice with.

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Originally posted by Rick R:
Is it safe to assume from this thread that the 270gr Hornady is tougher than the 300gr RN Interlock? How does the 300gr SPBT Interlock fare?
It will be a while till my rifle gets to shoot at anything more substantial than Whitetails but I'd like to use a decent bullet to practice with.

No! Well maybe....

I have much more experience with the 270gr SP(half a dozen animals in the 100-700 pound range, 5 of which were one shot kills) than with the 300gr RN(one lion with two shots), but I found them both to be very soft.

The 300gr seemed fragile, but the two shots were at close range, 45 and 15 yards IIRC. Velocity was about 2550fps. Both bullets broke up.

With the 270gr spitzer I found that the bullet stayed inside the ribcage on several animals that were shot broadside through the shoulder. This was too little penetration as far as I am concerned.

I found that the 30 cal. 180gr cor-loct(in my 30-06) gave better penetration at 2700fps than the .375 270gr at 2700fps.

I might be picky, but I like bullets that exit. I am OK with a bullet that ends up under the offside skin, but a bullet that can't punch through the offside ribcage is asking for trouble IMO.

But either bullet would be fine for whitetail. Just don't get cute. Even a bullet from the 375 has to be placed correctly.