Hornady Light Mags??? Any users?

[schoolcraft]

While I've pretty much narrowed down my decision on which caliber my next hunting rifle will be (either .30-06 or 7mm. Rem. Mag)
I thought I would see how many folks have used the Hornady Light Mag rounds for hunting.
Just looking at the .30-06, the Light Mag ballistics look like their getting pretty close to the .300 Win. Mag.
All of them are pretty impressive. The .270 Win gets pretty close to the .270 Win. Short Mag, ect.
How does Hornady get so much of a gain in velocity with these loads and do it SAFELY? It almost looks like you could turn the all around .30-06 into an even more versitle round.
Also, is there a way to handload rounds up to the specs of the Light Mags in a SAFE way without blowing yourself to pieces?
Any feedback would be appreciated

Schoolcraft

I have tested them in the past. Don't expect that performance. In fact my chrony reported 100fps less than expected. And performance was horrible. This was out of three guns, one a FN SPR that can shoot moa with rocks.

[younggun308]

If I were you, I would rather shoot Federal Vital-ShokAmmuniton, Nosler Partition, 150 grain 30-06, or140-150 grain 7mm Rem Mag.

Or, you could shoot Winchester SupremeBallistic Silvertip, my uncle likes those in his '06, a Remington Model 742, an auto-loader.

[James B]

I like the Federal Premium ammo with Ballistic tips or Partitions if I use factory ammo. In my 270 the Federal Fusionsn really worked well. I have only used the Hornady in my 44 Mags because I like the XTP's.

[MichaelT.]

I have used the light mag ammo in a model 7 , 7mm-08 , and the performance was great. I have had no issues with accuracy either. I have not chronyed any , but I have read reports on them and the reports said they were as advertised.... But I cannot say for sure.... I they worked great for me and I like them.

[nchawkeye]

My .243 wouldn't group them well, neither did it like the regular Hornady loading as well...I went back to plain old CoreLokts...

[Wayspr]

I have fired them in 7mm-08 with good luck. I have not used them on game yet but expect good performance when I do.

[Folically Challenged]

Schoolcraft,

Given your indecision in cartridge selection, & magnum-ish questions, you might find this an interesting read:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/caliber_worship.htm

[Aught Six]

Bought a box in .30-06 to try them out and didn't see any noticeable improvement in accuracy. And when you consider that a standard 150 gr. Core-Lokt easily shreds lungs and hearts, I don't see the point in spending extra money on the Light Mags for shooting 100, 150, or 200 lb. deer.

[eldeguello]

ORIGINAL: schoolcraft

While I've pretty much narrowed down my decision on which caliber my next hunting rifle will be (either .30-06 or 7mm. Rem. Mag)
I thought I would see how many folks have used the Hornady Light Mag rounds for hunting.
Just looking at the .30-06, the Light Mag ballistics look like their getting pretty close to the .300 Win. Mag.
All of them are pretty impressive. The .270 Win gets pretty close to the .270 Win. Short Mag, ect.
How does Hornady get so much of a gain in velocity with these loads and do it SAFELY? It almost looks like you could turn the all around .30-06 into an even more versitle round.
Also, is there a way to handload rounds up to the specs of the Light Mags in a SAFE way without blowing yourself to pieces?
Any feedback would be appreciated

Schoolcraft

I have tried them in .30/'06 caliber. This includes the Federal HIgh-Energy loads. The Federals (165-grain) chronographed at advertised velocity. But none of these loads shot well for me.

The way they get this performance is by loading a very dense charge of some slow-burning powder WHICH IS NOT AVALIBABLE TO HANDLOADERS!In addition, they use some proprietary methodof getting the charge all into the case. I don't think this loading method can be used at home, either......