Hornady sst's and standard interlocks in the .300wsm?

[thelaw]

i'm fixing to start working up some loads for my .300wsm for mule deer and antelop. while i've used the standard interlocks on whitetail up to about 175 yards, i'm interested to know what your recommended style and weight for the .300wsm is. i would like to stay in the 165 to 180grain range. how do they compare to the nosler ballistic tip in terminal performance. my previous experiments with nosler ballistic tips in smaller calibers (.243, .25/06) have not been very good. they seem to explode a lot. do you think with the weight and sectional density of heavier bullets such as the .30cal hornady's, that the bullets will hold together and penetrate better?

[buckblaster]

I shot a 200 lb mule deer this year with 150 gr Hornady Interlock (chronos 3180 fps) at 75 yds out of my Tikka .300WSM. It exploded leaving a 6" wound channel of busted bone thru the shoulder into the chest cavity.  I never found any trace of the bullet but it probably didn't matter since that was a dead deer. I will either switch to the 150 gr Hornady Interbonds or use the 165 gr interlocks next time for deer due to the high velocity of the 150 gr bullet. Last year I shot a 7 point bull elk at 120 yds with 165 gr Interlocks (chronos 2900 fps) with that same rifle and it worked just fine. Dropped it with one shot thru the back edge of the shoulder blade then into the spine. The bullet came apart in that heavy bone but there again, it was a dead elk. I will probably continue to use that bullet for elk on my next hunt.