hornady; a-max or interbond

I'm curious as well . . .

My understanding is that the interbond is for penetration and weight retention whereas the A-max is for violent expansion . . .BUT I don't know for sure.

Posting mainly so I get the emails of others responses.

havent used either but go to the hornady website and e-mail a question.

My understanding is that the interbond is for penetration and weight retention whereas the A-max is for violent expansion . . .BUT I don't know for sure.

Click to expand...

I think that's basically right. Cabelas page here has a better description than what Hornady provides.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...&parentType=index&indexId=cat20843&hasJS=true
I would suggest the SST as another alternative. I haven't tested it on game yet but the accuracy has me sold on it.

I also believe the A-max is more of a varmint bullet. I use the .30 cal 165 gr Interbond in a 300 WSM and have outstanding results with accuracy, penetration, and weight retention. It's an excellent hunting bullet.

In 30 cal, the interbond has been an excellent bullet at all ranges, producing good penetration and wonderful game getting ability with low meat loss.

The A-max, although it gives quick kills, destroys a lot of meat at 0 to 200 yards. The bullet really fragments when it hits bone. From 200 to 300 yards, fragmentaion is less, but it still destroys a lot of meat. At 300 to 400 yards, the bullets performance is excellent. It will still fragment when hitting bone, and I have had core separations (badly deformed copper jacket is just under hide, while lead passes thru).

My choice is the interbond, but if the job calls for excellent accuracy at very long range, with the ability to still deliver deadly terminal results, the A-max will work.

I haven't shot any animals with the amax but they are accurate on paper...3 in one hole with the right load.

A-max

The "A" stands for accuracy. It's a match bullet, as such it is not intended to hold together for penetration. Same goes for the Sierra match king, Nosler j-4 match, Berger VLD bullets.

The Hornady SST is Hornadies answer to the nosler ballistic tip. If you like the BT, the SST will behave the same!

The interbond is Hornadies entry into the bonded hunting bullet arena. It expands to a wider mushroom than either the Nosler accu-bond or Swift scirocco. But it will retain more weight than either of the others. Most hunters have found that the interbond will penetrate a bit less that an accu-bond. Some have been recovered from end-to-end shots, either from the front or rear!

A-MAX is officially a match/target bullet and not intended for game/varmint - this comes from Hornady themselves! Here in the UK we have extremely strict firearms laws and to buy expanding ammunition you must have a special dispensation on your licence. I asked Hornady to clarify the difference between A-MAX and V-MAX, as to many the construction is similar, and indeed many use A-MAX on varmints and deer to good effect. The official resposne came back that although they look similar, the internal construction is very different. The V-MAX's polymer point is designed to shove back into the lead core for explosive expansion. The A-MAX's is there for ballistic efficiency and does not shove back in the same way as a V-MAX.

Looking at their literature and bullet construction, the Interbond has (in some cases) a polymer tip for long range ballistic efficiency), but the copper casing constricts just above half way down the bullet to force mushrooming. The A-MAX does not have this feature and its tip seem firmer lodged than any other hunting/varmint bullets.

Have a look at these links:

A-MAX: http://www.hornady.com/media/2006catalog/Hornady_Bullets_Rifle_Match.pdf
Interbond: http://www.hornady.com/media/2006catalog/Hornady_Bullets_Rifle_InterBond.pdf
SST: http://www.hornady.com/media/2006catalog/Hornady_Bullets_Rifle_SST.pdf
V-MAX: http://www.hornady.com/media/2006catalog/Hornady_Bullets_Rifle_Vmax.pdf

The hunting rounds are definitely differently formed in their tips especially than the match bullets.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that . . . I scoured there website and never even though to look in the "media" section.