Let me open by saying that I am an avid reloader and have tried many brands of bullets and wish to share an experience I’ve had with Hornady InterBond® bullets.

For purposes of this blog, I loaded a .308 caliber, 165-grain Interbond® bullet atop a Winchester 30-06 cartridge, WLR primer and using 55.625 grains of IMR 4007 SSC powder.

This would be my first ever hunt for Oryx on the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. An Oryx is a Gemsbok, from the Kalahari region of Africa, which is not indigenous to New Mexico but was brought here in “1969, when the New Mexico Game and Fish Department released Oryx as part of its exotic animal introduction program on the White Sands Missile Range“. As it stands, the Oryx is at the top of the food chain here in the Tularosa Basin, and with exception to the occasional Mountain Lion, has no natural predators to regulate population growth. As luck would have it, the hunting community has been asked to assist with population growth and this exotic, rather majestic animal, is now available to harvest through the New Mexico hunting lottery system.

What makes this animal unique to other North American Big Game is the method of correct “shot placement” used to cleanly and quickly retire this difficult to knock-down beast of 400 – 500 pounds. To ensure a clean ethical harvest, one must shoot “through” the very thick shoulder bone to access the vitals. What this means for bullet manufacturers is to develop a bullet that can travel at higher velocities, without the jacket separating too drastically from the solid inner, yet still provide expansion and maintain near 100% weight retention. In my humble opinion, Hornady has achieved this with their Interbond® line of bullets.

Come back in a couple days for Part II of “An honest testimony of “Hornady InterBond®” bullets”.