Popular Hornady Projectile Types
Hey all, we here at True Shot Academy are going to cover the different types of projectiles offered by Hornady. Projectiles of this type are often found in the premium loadings offered by ammunition companies and in Hornady products. We are going to provide a brief overview of each projectile type while touching on their characteristics, traits, and other considerations. Without further ado, let’s talk about Hornady projectile types.
Who is Hornady?
Hornady is a long-standing American ammo manufacturer that was founded in Grand Island, Nebraska by Joyce Hornady. The company notably produces a wide range of factory loaded ammunition and projectiles for popular calibers and buckshot projectiles. These projectiles are manufactured in-house and held to high quality standards. Hornady offers complete loadings and projectiles suitable for many use cases. These use cases range from general purposed plinking to more specialized uses such as self-defense, hunting, match shooting, and suppressed shooting. Projectiles from Hornady are also utilized by reloaders and other ammunition manufacturers.
Hornady Projectiles
Hornady is well-known for their various projectile offerings. Like their complete ammunition offerings, these bullet offerings cover handgun and rifle calibers. Additionally, the company’s projectile offerings support a wider range of calibers than their complete ammo offerings do. Well-established cartridges and more obscure and newer cartridges alike are supported by Hornady projectile offerings. Notably, the company offers over 160 handgun and rifle projectiles. These projectiles can be utilized to great effect by reloaders to produce loadings for a variety of potential use cases. Bullets offered by Hornady span traditional jacketed hollow point (JHP) projectiles to more exotic and specific offerings such as tipped bullets.
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Hornady FTX
FTX projectiles from Hornady are best known for their use in the company's LeverEvolution ammo offerings. These projectiles feature the company's Flex Tip technology, facilitating rapid expansion and deep penetration. Due to their pointed shape, these projectiles are conducive to high velocities and flat projectiles. The use of polymer tips allows the rounds to be loaded safely into tubular magazines. In short, Hornady FTX projectiles are great for lever action rifles in hunting and range usage.
Hornady XTP
Hornady XTP, or eXtreme Terminal Performance, bullets are optimized for self-defense and law enforcement use cases. In addition to facilitating controlled expansion to 1.5x of the bullet's original diameter, XTP projectiles are also optimized for accuracy. This has led to their use by competitive shooters in various shooting disciplines. XTP projectiles are capable of achieving optimal expansion and performance in the 700 FPS to 1,500 FPS range. These pistol caliber projectiles excel in various uses ranging from recreational to defensive and even hunting use cases.
Hornady HAP
The Hornady HAP, or Hornady Action Pistol, bullet is tailormade for competition and match shooting. These types of projectiles are also optimized for use in autoloading handguns as these types of pistols are often used in competition shooting. Hornady HAP bullets are based on the popular XTP projectile but lack the distinct serrations which aid in expansion as this feature is not necessary for match type shooting.
Hornady Match
These rifle bullets from Hornady are developed utilizing specialized manufacturing processes which allow for consistent and concentric jacketing. This consistent process allows for high levels of accuracy and nearly eliminates the potential for variances in jacket wall thickness. Additionally, these projectiles feature precision swaged cores and are manufactured to exacting standards. The end result are precision-oriented projectiles with high ballistic coefficients and accuracy potentials.
Hornady Varmint
Hornady Varmint bullets represent a classical Joyce Hornady design well-suited for varmint hunting purposes. These projectiles feature spire point profiles and flat bases contained within a match grade copper jacket. Hornady Varmint projectiles are designed to promote flat trajectories and achieve effective and consistent expansion at low and high velocities.
Hornady ELD-Match
These Extremely Low Drag Match, or ELD Match, projectiles from Hornady are designed for optimal precision. ELD Match bullets are tipped with Hornady Heat Shield tips which are resistant to deformation and aerodynamic heating when in flight. As a result, these projectiles are well-suited for precision shooting at extended ranges and feature high ballistic coefficients. Additionally, these projectiles are conducive to flat trajectories, high velocities, and high accuracy potential.
Hornady ELD-X
The Extremely Low Drag – eXpanding, or ELD-X, bullet from Hornady is well-loved by hunters. These projectiles are capable of achieving match grade accuracy in addition to providing consistent and effective expansion. ELD-X loadings can be utilized by hunters to effectively dispatch a wide range of game at practically any reasonable hunting distance, allowing for short and long-range kills. Simply put, these projectiles are capable of match grade accuracy and can ethically dispatch a wide range of game.
Hornady ELD-VT
This Extremely Low Drag Varmint/Target, or ELD-VT projectile from Hornady is capable of serving two purposes. On one hand, this bullet type is well-suited for varmint hunting applications as it is capable of high velocities and rapid fragmentation. On the other hand, the ELD-VT is well-suited for precision-oriented shooting as these projectiles promote high accuracy potentials and can reach out to extended ranges. Simply put, this low drag bullet from Hornady excels at both varmint hunting and match use.
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Hornady A-MAX
These rifle projectiles from
Hornady are available in limited form. Currently, A-MAX projectiles are only offered by Hornady in the form of 168 gr .30 Cal .308” projectiles and in the form of a 750 gr .50 Cal .510” bullet. These bullets are optimized for long range precision and feature boat tail bodies and consistent, concentric jacketing. Additionally, these projectiles feature low drag red tips which promote stability, high velocities, and improve ballistic coefficients.
Hornady V-MAX
V-MAX bullets from
Hornady are specialized varmint hunting projectiles. Like many projectiles produced by Hornady, V-MAX bullets benefit from concentric jacketing. This concentric jacketing aids the V-MAX projectile in achieving high velocities, flat trajectories, and consistent expansion. Generally speaking, velocities as low as 1,600 fps to 4,000 fps are conducive to V-MAX expansion. Simply put, V-MAX bullets provide high accuracy potential, high velocities, and good effect on target.
Hornady CX
CX, or Copper alloy eXpanding, bullets from
Hornady represent a potent lead-free offering for hunters. These projectiles can be utilized in areas which bar the use of lead ammo. As a monolithic bullet design, Hornady CX projectiles are designed with expansion, weight retention, and deep penetration in mind. Additionally, these projectiles are optimized for precision and performance at extended ranges. In short, Hornady CX projectiles are excellent choices for those in pursuit of big game and other types of hunting.
Hornady InterLock
At their core,
Hornady InterLock projectiles are essentially optimized soft point (SP) projectiles. Like traditional SP bullets, InterLock projectiles feature exposed lead tips which facilitate controlled expansion. Hornady InterLock technology aids in keeping the core and jacket locked together during the expansion process. This results in retention of mass and energy and translates to potent terminal performance. These rifle projectiles are optimal for hunting use cases.
Hornady SST
Hornady SST, or Super Shock Tip, projectiles are optimized for expansion and providing staggering shock on impact. SST bullets are optimal for hunting use and are particularly optimal for whitetail and most North American game. These polymer-tipped loadings are designed to have high velocities and create massive wound channels upon entry. This allows loadings with SST projectiles to cleanly and ethically dispatch game.
Who Uses Hornady Projectiles?
In addition to
Hornady themselves, there are many other ammo manufacturers who utilize Hornady made projectiles. These companies range from large, well-established companies to smaller, more niche companies. Companies such as
Armscor,
Vairog,
CCI,
Federal, and
Black Hills utilize Hornady projectiles. These loadings typically encompass hunting, competition, match grade, and defensive loadings. Like most loadings, one can find these offerings in the form of individual box quantities or in
bulk ammo form. All in all, Hornady projectiles are widely used by a number of companies and can easily be encountered by end users and shooters of all types.
Not An Exhaustive List
Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list of every
Hornady projectile. We specifically focused on a wide range of popular and common projectiles found in Hornady loadings and other offerings. The company currently produces a wide range of projectiles in various forms. Some established projectile lines from Hornady have even spawned variants for different use cases. For a complete list of the projectiles and loadings the company offers, one can visit the
official Hornady website. Additionally, the company also provides information such as load data and ballistic information for their loadings and bullets.
Conclusion
All in all,
Hornady projectiles, like the company's loadings, are built to high standards and are very capable. Hornady projectiles in factory loading form and when used by third party manufacturers make for potent loadings viable for many purposes. Shooters with use cases of all types can make effective use of projectiles from Hornady. We here at True Shot Ammo carry many loadings with Hornady projectiles in our inventory of ammo for sale. Our range of ammunition for sale encompasses popular calibers and gauges like 9mm, 5.56, 12 gauge, and .22 LR. Whether you want to
buy Hornady ammo, loadings with Hornady bullets, or buy bulk ammo, we have you covered. As always, happy shooting.
