Hornady Helps Firearms News Editor-in-Chief Bag Eight-Point Buck!

We had horrible weather for almost the entire week of deer season here in southeastern Ohio. Temperatures were in the twenties at times and wind was hitting over 25 mph many days, not to mention rain and snow. I had hurt my back and felt like I had a sinus infection coming on for almost a week. So, since I live in the hilly and wooded part of Ohio, in the middle of the woods, I decided that it was hunting from the house and the front porch this year. Ohio’s super-short gun deer season means that if you are unavailable for any reason to hunt during that one week, you only have a weekend two weeks later to bag your deer with a gun. Yes, this is ridiculous, and I will stop myself from getting on my soapbox. If you read any of my deer-hunting gun review articles, you know that I am a huge advocate of the 450 Bushmaster cartridge. After many years of suffering with the drawbacks of 12-gauge slugs and shotguns, I welcomed the straight-wall option with open arms. Over the years, my younger son, Matthew, and I learned a lot about the effectiveness and shortcomings of this round. One thing I observed from many of the deer my son shot was that the 250-grain projectiles (of various designs) did not stop deer in their tracks with heart and lung shots. Typically, deer would run 40 to 70 yards plus. You might be thinking, “Why is that a big deal?” Well, if you hunt on flat, open, treeless farmland, where you can see for miles, it’s no big deal. Shoot your deer, watch it run until it drops, and go pick it up. In thick woods with hills and hollows (and thorn bushes), it’s a drastically different story. Deer start to disappear in 20 yards of thick woods, so with a ¼ mile run in a direction you have no idea of, it can be goodbye venison! Plus, having to drag a deer 40 yards uphill out of a hollow is not only no fun, it can also be life-threatening for many.

We wanted a round that would drop deer where they stood or not far from where they were shot, before they darted toward the timbers and low land. The answer was a 300-grain jacketed hollow-point round from Federal in the form of its Non-Typical ^TM ammunition line. Deer hit anywhere near the heart area would run 10 yards max. It works. But, hey, I’m a firearms editor and writer, so companies want me try out what they have. Last year, I hunted with a 350 Legend rifle from Stag Arms (see the September 2024 issue article, or check for it online in 2025). The .350 round worked, but the smaller bullet was a concern, and as predicted, the buck I shot ran about 50 to 60 yards - it would have ran much farther, but fortunately for me, it ran up the other side of a hollow, instead of across the bottom, so it ran out of steam. Had it stayed on the flat bottom, it probably would have run more than 100 yards.

In my experience, Hornady makes the most accurate .450, as I have shot one-inch groups at 100 yards with its Hornady Custom FTX 250-grain loads (7/8” without the “flier”), and that’s out of a 16-inch barrel with a GI-type trigger in an AR-15-type platform. While at the 2024 Outdoor Sportsman Group Roundtable in Grand Junction, Colorado, last August, I spoke to Seth Swerczek, Hornady’s marketing communications manager, about my experience with their .450 ammo as well as my advocacy of a 300-grain projectile. Seth told me that they did not have any plans for a heavier bullet weight, but that they would send me their new hunting loads to try. So, a month later, I received Hornady’s American Whitetail 245-grain soft point (SP) loads. I was concerned, as now I’m down five grains in bullet weight from the 250-grain load I had stopped using because I felt it was too light. However, bullet design can make up for weight – I was willing to give it a try. The American Whitetail series 245-grain SP Interlock® 450 Bushmaster load is designed to deliver flat trajectory, which contributes to more accuracy. The lead core is formulated for a level of hardness for deep penetration without breaking up, and an Interlock® ring holds the bullet core and jacket together when the diameter of the projectile increases upon impact.

For the last few weeks, my trail cameras only showed a buck or two coming around now and then at around 3 a.m., along with a few does mixed in. No day photos, and I usually see a bunch of deer daily from my house, but this year, nothing two weeks prior. On the last day of the full week of deer season, the temperature shot up to 52 degrees, and I was doing some things outside around the house. At around 3:45 p.m., I saw two large does, about 40 yards away. I grabbed my ACR rifle, which was converted to .450 Bushmaster, and when I went for a magazine, I hesitated for a moment, “Should I grab the magazine with the 300-grain ammo, or should I grab one with the Hornady 245-grain?” Since this could be my only shot at a deer, and I was really curious how this new load would work, I grabbed the magazine with the Hornady 245-grain SP, and loaded it. As I looked at a doe through the Burris Fullfield 30 scope (set at 4.5x), my son Matthew said softly, “Dad, there’s a buck out there!” And there was, a big one, about 30 yards behind the does, walking the tree line at about 75 yards away. From a standing position, I turned, placed the crosshairs on him, and took the shot. The buck dropped to his front knees but didn’t travel any further. I was happy and surprised. The deer did try jumping and did a 180-degree turn, but stayed right there. I decided to shoot him as I walked closer as I didn’t want any of the eight-points coming at me. I hit him again in about the same spot, right below the heart. My older son Vincent came running outside with another loaded magazine – Ohio has another ridiculous regulation about no more than a three-round capacity for deer season, which includes the one in the chamber, so all mags must be plugged to two rounds (I won’t get on my soapbox about that right now either). I cautiously got closer after loading another magazine, the buck was bleeding out heavily and was dead in less than a minute. Now, this is just one “test” of the ammo, and there are many other factors that make a clean kill, but I must say that I am pleasantly surprised and impressed.

It was a nice big buck with a great eight-point rack – I was VERY happy. The wound channel didn’t look out of the ordinary, but this round stopped this deer where he stood. Unfortunately, it would be dark soon and I didn’t have time to do a proper “autopsy” and take photos of the bullet’s devastation. After I gutted the deer, Matthew helped me get it into the garage to hang. I dropped it off at my processer the next day and the head eventually went to my taxidermist. I ended up with 55 pounds of meat in the form of ground, tenderloins (for my “deer marsala”), and six roasts. I think the processor may have skimmed a bit of meat as they have been suspected of doing this by hunters I have spoken to; this was a big deer and I should have gotten at least 10 more pounds, but that’s my opinion. In any case, I was very happy with the kill for 2024, and Hornady helped make it happen.

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