139gr Hornady Interbond

[Hunter26]

First post but I've been lurking for years. Absolutely love Nosler & Hornady bullets. A particular favorite of my hunting buddy and I is the 139gr Hornady Interbond in the 7mm-08. I loaded up some with Varget that shot well in his 20" barreled A-Bolt. Velocity was around 2715 fps. Shot into 1 gallon water jugs at 50 yards. Caught in the 4th jug IIRC (we did this test about a decade ago), but have shot a pile of deer out to 225+ yards with it. Always get exits & great blood trails. My buddy got a little artsy with the pics! I don't remember exact weight but it was over 90% weight retention.

 

[JD338]

Welcome to the forum.
Nice bullet recovery. Excellent expansion. 4 jugs is excellent performance for deer.

JD338

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

John Barsness wrote a year or so back that Hornady had made some changes to their SST. He and some others went on a Hornady sponsored deer hunt in Texas and shooting a .308 Winchester and 150 gr SSTs he only recovered a single bullet from several deer killed. Not surprisingly it looked like yours above and retained somewhere between 65-75 percent of its weight. Thats great performance!!

Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard!

 

[SJB358]

Man if those Interbonds shot, they were excellent hunting bullets.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Firebird]

I love that bullet in one of my little 7’s-sadly they have been so hard to come by that I moved on and haven’t gone back. A tough bullet for sure

 

[Dr. Vette]

I love that bullet in one of my little 7’s-sadly they have been so hard to come by that I moved on and haven’t gone back. A tough bullet for sure

Hornady discontinued them, thinking that the CX is the replacement for it.

I agree that it's too bad that they stopped making them.

 

[Hunter26]

It sucks they discontinued them, luckily some can still be found occasionally online. I stocked up on the 130gr & 150gr .277 pills that both shoot great out of a custom 270 Win. A local shop had 7 boxes of the 139gr 7mm ones, so my buddy and I grabbed them. Thankfully we have other great bonded bullets to choose from. I shoot a lot of Accubonds too.

 

[salmonchaser]

Welcome aboard, looking forward to additional reports from you.

 

[TackDriver284]

Welcome aboard. The expansion and mushroom is textbook perfect. The expansion diameter is amazing and I would not expect anything less than that. I still have a box of Interbonds in my stash in 30 caliber, never got around to use it. My guns have been shooting Nosler BT and Accubonds real well along with the ELD-X and stuck with what shot well.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

John Barsness wrote a year or so back that Hornady had made some changes to their SST. He and some others went on a Hornady sponsored deer hunt in Texas and shooting a .308 Winchester and 150 gr SSTs he only recovered a single bullet from several deer killed. Not surprisingly it looked like yours above and retained somewhere between 65-75 percent of its weight. Thats great performance!!

Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard!

Never tried the Interbond but have used the SSTs. Used the 140gr SST in my Tikka 6.5x55 last year on a couple average size WV deer at 185-190 yds and had complete pass thru with a lot of damage. I'd use them again. Dan.

 

[Hunter26]

I've practiced with SST's because they match the BC of the Interbonds. Only shot one deer with one. Shot a large doe around 70 yards slightly quartering to with a 130gr SST from a 270 Win handload. No idea the velocity, probably 2850 MV. It wasn't a warm load & it was from a 20" barrel. She dropped on the spot & only recovered the jacket under the skin near the back ribs. I didn't like the separation but it penetrated just fine and put the doe down quick!

 

[Lazy Bushman]

nice. I never got to try the inter bond sadly. The AccuBond was my go to for a tough bullit in my 7-08 before going to the Atomic29. I also have had awesome results with the 139gn Interlock. I can't recall recovering an Interlock (could be wrong) but I was able measure accurately the level of dead they produced and it was consistent with everything else I used. I also love the SST and it is almost the projectile I use exclusively in my 270win except if I think I might want something a little tougher then I will again pull out the Atomic29's. Thanks for the post, they performed well.

 

[Hunter26]

Never heard of the Atomics, I had to look them up. How're you liking them?

 

[Firebird]

A good friend of mine killed two exceptional caribou bulls with a 7mm-08 and the sst. He was in love with the combo until the grizzly popped up! Suddenly he was rethinking all his life choices!
No harm done and all ended well. I would have been shooting a more stout bullet and probably a bigger caliber but he said it worked excellent for him.

 

[Lazy Bushman]

Never heard of the Atomics, I had to look them up. How're you liking them?

They are awesome. There is a Facebook site for them as well with a bunch of testimonies and projectile recoveries. Grouping is excellent. I started by simply using my standard load and simply swapped out the projectile that they grouped really well, so well I have never bothered to try and workup a load for them, they have been a simple swap out on the two rifles I use them for. I haven't tried their 30-30 projectiles yet, but they are next. IMO they perform better than Barnes, but even if that's biased they are at least as good and they are typically some 20%+ cheaper than Barnes as well. When you see that you gotta start to wonder why Barnes are so expensive.

 

[matijasever]

John Barsness wrote a year or so back that Hornady had made some changes to their SST. He and some others went on a Hornady sponsored deer hunt in Texas and shooting a .308 Winchester and 150 gr SSTs he only recovered a single bullet from several deer killed. Not surprisingly it looked like yours above and retained somewhere between 65-75 percent of its weight. Thats great performance!! coltelli nakiri

Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard!

That’s really interesting!

 

[TXbaldhunter]

So that's what they look like after they expand.Those Interbonds are really tough bullets.I think they are tougher and retain more weight than the AccuBond.I killed a bunch of deer,an elk and a nilgai with them and never recovered a single one.I used the 139gr in my 7mag and 7STW.I still have a good supply of the 154gr,but I never shot anything but paper with them.I used the 150gr out of my 308 Win and 165gr out of my 308 Win,300WSM and 300 Win Mag.I still have a good supply of the 165gr.I remember one particular hunt where the rancher wanted the deer to be shot through both front shoulders because the ranch had a lot of brush and waist high grass that would make it difficult to find the deer if they ran very far.I was shooting my 7STW on that hunt with 139gr Interbonds with a mv of 3450fps.When I squeezed the trigger,I remember I could hear a loud crack as the bullet passed through both shoulders while the rifle was recoiling.The wound channel was fairly tight,around a 50 cent size and not too much meat damage outside the wound channel.The 165gr bullets were excellent performer in the 30cal.I used them the most.As for being accurate,they were fine in my rifles.

 

[TackDriver284]

So that's what they look like after they expand.Those Interbonds are really tough bullets.I think they are tougher and retain more weight than the AccuBond.I killed a bunch of deer,an elk and a nilgai with them and never recovered a single one.I used the 139gr in my 7mag and 7STW.I still have a good supply of the 154gr,but I never shot anything but paper with them.I used the 150gr out of my 308 Win and 165gr out of my 308 Win,300WSM and 300 Win Mag.I still have a good supply of the 165gr.I remember one particular hunt where the rancher wanted the deer to be shot through both front shoulders because the ranch had a lot of brush and waist high grass that would make it difficult to find the deer if they ran very far.I was shooting my 7STW on that hunt with 139gr Interbonds with a mv of 3450fps.When I squeezed the trigger,I remember I could hear a loud crack as the bullet passed through both shoulders while the rifle was recoiling.The wound channel was fairly tight,around a 50 cent size and not too much meat damage outside the wound channel.The 165gr bullets were excellent performer in the 30cal.I used them the most.As for being accurate,they were fine in my rifles.

Excellent. Looks like a great performer.

 

[Hunter26]

Nice! I have a bunch of the 154gr 7mm's I want to try in my 7 Rem Mag & PRC. I've only killed deer with the 130gr 270 & 150gr 30 cal. Shot a nice doe with the 150gr out of the 30-06 and it worked great. Buddy got his first deer with the same combo. Great blood trails and always seemed to exit. That's fantastic accuracy you got with your CZ. I don't have a ton of the 150's left and I have one box of the 165's. Both the 130 & 150gr .277 bullets have been very accurate for me in the 270 Win.

 

[SJB358]

If you can get them shooting in your rifle they’re some great hunting bullets.