We just returned from CO elk hunting. One of the members of our group shoots Horn. 180gr BTSP HE in his 3006. The accuracy is great and he used this load to take a cow a couple of years ago. This year, it was a med-lg bull angling toward him at about 130yds. First shot in the chest was lethal, penetrating back to the liver, but with no immediate effect. Another between the ribs did minimal damage. A third, struck the scapula at about 75yds and penetrated less than 1". A final shot broke the neck. I recovered three bullets and in every case the jacket separated and the lead fragmented severely. On the shoulder hit, only the flat of the scapula, no joint or heavy bone was hit. There was a 3.5"diameter radius of schrapnel damage and the jacket was right in the skin. Virtually no penetration whatsoever.On the frontal hit, there was severe superficial damage and only the jacket was found in the liver. I had heard of this type of poor performance but had never witnessed it. Thankfully, the bull was at a location to offer follow up shots. Has anyone else had any problems with the Horn HE loads? I'm not sure that I can now consider them as an option for elk. Had this been a longer range or larger animal, I would suspect we would have had a long, unsuccessful day of tracking.
MFH
MFH