Hornady Light Magnum report

I've been wanting to try out the Light Magnum ammo in 7mm'08 for quite some time. My rifle is a Browning BLR; I think it has a 20' barrel. I was 15 feet from the chrono.

The regular ammo I use is Federal with Partitions in 140 grn. Two shots chrono'ed at 2733 and 2761.

Next was the Remington with 140 Ballistic Tips. Two shot went at 2739 and 2759.

The Hornady then went at 2920 and 2940.

Honestly, I was quite surprised. I had heard(mostly thru the internet) that due to the short barrel the increase on velocity would be negligible; well I got almost 200 fps. Impressive.

Now, if I can get the Hornady to group well......

I got an increase of only about 80 fps with the Hornady Light Magnum. I did shoot a 120 lb. whitetail doe twice in the lungs with a Hornady LM in .270 a couple of years back. The bullets evidently shattered on entry and left a huge blood trail. Unfortunately only one lung collapsed and the animal walked away through the dense brush. The only deer I never found! I've heard other horror stories with Hornady Interlocks, and I won't use them anymore for hunting.

On the other hand, I've killed several deer with my 7-08. They never go more than 50 feet after being hit with a Nosler Partition and the bullet always exits, quickly collapsing both lungs. Twice I've hit the spine and shattered several vertebrae before the bullet exited. Use the Nosler Partition. It's not as fast, but the bullet works!!!

I second the Partition in a 7mm-08 as a deer bullet... I 've killed four blacktail with that combo and it works great.

-jeff

I heard simliar stories. The LM loads I have are stuffed with the SST bullets, which are supposed to be slightly tougher than Ballistic Tips.

I shot two deer last year with the Partitions; both were pass thru's and showed little signs of expansion. I was hoping that the LM SST's are a good compromise between the penetration of the Partition and the explosiviness of the Ballistic Tips.

Two years ago I shot a 1 1/2 year old buck with a Nosler Partition from my Browning 7-08. Hit him a little low in the chest from about 40 yards. Put another shot into his shoulder broadside. He kept running. I gave him time to expire. The blood trail was good but several hundred yards long. I went looking for new ammo because of it.

I really like the Hornady Light Magnum's. I'm not a handloader so all I can compare it to is other over the counter rounds. In my gun (Remington 700) is shoots better then the high dollar Federal, Winchester and Remington rounds. And as far as effectiveness on game, 3 for 3 on elk two dropped on the spot and one went about 40 yards.

Now that I think about it, the bullet exited all three elk A good trait for a bullet in an elk in my opinion. But maybe it is a little tough for deer as Kevin mentioned. BTW - I shoot 180gr. .30-06

Here is what I know about Hornady light magnums, and also Nosler partitions:

First, I have never used a light magnum load. But, a hunting partner of mine popped three primers in a row out of a box of them about two years ago. He had a relatively new remington bolt action 30-06 which digested all the other regular ammo he shot through it quite well. The bolt was sticky opening too. Way too much pressure! He sent them back to Hornady, and I don't know what happened after that.

Second, I have shot at least twenty elk, and around fifteen mule deer, not to mention several blacktails with Nosler Partition bullets. The expansion is absolutely reliable, and the penetration is superb. Accuracy has been good if not excellent. That said, I am backing away from them for elk and deer. I have only recovered two slugs out of twenty years of hunting with the partition. The last deer I killed with a partition had a golf ball sized hole from his right front shoulder, all the way through his left rear ham. I suspect that I could have killed any deer standing behind him with the same round. I have decided that I am getting too much penetration. I have been experimenting with remington core-lokt bullets. They have proven to be cheap, and accurate, and they seem to be perfect on deer out of my .264 Win Mag. I am trying the 180 grain core-lokt in my .300 ICL on elk this winter. I used them before in a friend's '06, and they were great. It will be interesting to see what they do at 3400 FPS.

I can't quite see the problem here. It sounds like you have been getting excellent results from the Noslers. Did any of these animals get away because of 'too much penetration'?

No, I have had excellent results. I certainly didn't mean to say I was against the Nosler partition ammo. I just think I can possibly get better results from a more frangible bullet. I am particularly interested in lighter weight, and more upset on deer size game. Also I am tired of paying 2.00 a round to handload these monster mags I have been shooting at elk and deer. Last deer season was the first time for the core-lokt on blacktails. I thought it was a near perfect load when I shot a 120 grain .264 mag round through the lungs at about 150 yards. Not too much damage, but it dropped it cleanly. Could have done the same out to 400. I have tried the Nosler Ballistic Tip on deer and elk too. Nothing short of spectacular, but way too much meat damage. (It is on the 'other side' of bullet performance from the partition). I nearly decapitated a mule deer the first time I fired a Ballistic Tip into game. I use the ballistic tips on coyotes when I'm not keeping the fur.

I've used Hornady bullets in .224 (53g HP match), .264 (6.5x55 129gr SP) and .284 (7x57 Mauser 139gr SP Interlock). The .224 at no more than 115 yds but the others out to 200. The only piece of bullet I've recovered was a little fleck of jacket of a .224 under the skin of a 5x5 after it broke the neck bone. The deer from several parts of Texas. About the size of a Pacific Blacktail from what I've heard. The 5x5 was about 150 lbs on the hoof. Bill Van Houten (USA Ret)

Thermopylae had it's messenger of defeat, COME AND GET THEM ! The Alamo had none.

I have nothing against Partitions, I handload and have used Barnes X-Bullets for a few years now, and I absolutely love them. Out of my 7mm-08 and 280, they expand great, like a bullet should I guess(never heard of killing anything to dead), and in my 300 mag's, they don't blow up like other bullets I have tried. One thinga bout them though, your guns will either love them or hate them, there is not really an in-between. I know this isn't what the original post was, but if you handload, and want more speed, X-Bullets alllow you to use lighter bullets and increase speed.