Bullets to deer hunt with

I use the 240 grain Hornady XTP in my .44 Mag Carbine, and the 300 grain XTP in my .44 Mag Super Redhawk. After many years and many deer, I have no complaints.

WWB,
Do these bullets expand or punch thru like some of the cast bullets?

HWD

HWD's--In years past jacketed bullets were in their infancy and at the least unreliable.Jacket separation and surface wounds were not uncommon.Todays bullets are superior to these.Also keep in mind that the .45 will produce a large wound channel by itself IF the bullet is driven deep enough.A decent jhp by any manufacture will drop your whitetail.I would go for the cast bullet when hunting larger animals such as elk when the distance of the shot or the angle may require more penetration.

I use the 240 gr XTPs in the 454 Casull at a light 1300 fps and have found them to work well the little I've used them. I've used the Winchester 250 gr hollow points more and they are sufficient for deer. I would expect the same results in a .45 Colt as long as the velocity was over 1000 fps and under 1300, maybe 1400. I would not feel comfortable using them on a large deer (over 200 pounds) quartering towards or away from me but a mostly broadside shot is meat in the freezer. I find these bullets to open up on deer as long as the impact velocity is over 1000 fps. Down to 900 fps and it gets iffy with under 900 fps being mostly non-expanding unless bone is hit and then the bullet may be stopped or slowed down greatly. For extreme angles and large animals I prefer a hardcast semiwadcutter to ensure adequate pentration. In these situations penetration is needed much more than energy transfer so the bullet construction needs to change to meet the new demand.

The XTP is designed to open up, at least a little, at quite low velocity; earlier hollow points would do this as well, but at higher velocities, they disintegrated. On the XTP, the back end is tough enough to hold most of the bullet together at higher velocities, or even if it hits bone.

I've had the 240 grain break through the shoulder blade on a pretty fair-sized deer, and make a pretty fine mess of the boiler works.

Thanks guys,
Trying to get all this figured out is becoming more fun than coming up with a load for any rifle. I've looked at the cast bullets and they all seem to come in boxes of 500. Jacketed bullets come in boxes of 100,usually. I didn't want to get stuck with a bunch of bullets that I wasn't using. I like to practice with my hunting loads versus plinking loads. I generally leave the plinking to my 22.

Thanks again,

HWD

If you plan on using hard cast in the Ruger, I would advise having the chamber throats miked vs slugging the barrel. Many Ruger .45's have too small chamber throats that will work ok with jacketed but not so good with cast. The chamber throats should be about .002" larger that groove diameter for the best cast performance.
Some of the best hard cast heat treated bullets on the market can be bought from Beartooth Bullets (beartoothbullets.com) and are packed 100 to the box. Marshall will also size your bullets based on chamber throats......James

Shameless plug for an excellent product. I have some these loaded in a .357 mag for the occasional bear call. I would prefer a rifle or slug but sometimes you just get stuck with a little gun.

Many Ruger .45's have too small chamber throats that will work ok with jacketed but not so good with cast. The chamber throats should be about .002" larger that groove diameter for the best cast performance.

Click to expand...

Some folks make a living due to that common manufacturing fault. [/i] See, e.g.,

http://www.cylindersmith.com/

Thanks for the continuing replies on this.
I've just started loading cast bullets this past week. Man this is different from jacketed stuff.

I loaded some 250gr Keith style bullets the other nite but haven't had the chance to try them just yet. I loaded these with some Unique. I've gotta pick p some different powder come payday. I'm considering Win 296. Looks like H110 and the 2 types of 4227 would be candidates also. I've had some guys warn me off of the 110 and 4227. I wish they made sample packs of these.

One other question for ya'll on these cast bullets... Do ya'll recommend gaschecks? I've had some "advice" that went both ways on this subject. I am going to be pushing these a lttle fast but not up to max.

Dixie,
I've had the cylinder holes punched already. They were so small that it was like pushing a slug thru a full choke in a shot gun. I've been told that is still a problem with the Rugers. Wonder why they don't just fix it at the facory and keep it that way?


HWD

i shoot a 255 cast in mt blackhawk with 4227 with exceelent results,also shoot a 230 hollow point. both preform great in my ruger

TexNekkid said:

Many Ruger .45's have too small chamber throats that will work ok with jacketed but not so good with cast. The chamber throats should be about .002" larger that groove diameter for the best cast performance.

Click to expand...

Some folks make a living due to that common manufacturing fault. [/i] See, e.g.,

http://www.cylindersmith.com/

Click to expand...

James is right most of the newer Ruger 45 throats will be tight around .4505-.4510, OK for jacketed bullets not so good for cast. The older Ruger 45 colts say from the 70's through the early 90's tended to have too large of throats. I have a 45BH from the late 70's that had throats running .4545-.455. I ended up shipping it back to Ruger several years ago and had them install a new cylinder with the tighter throats, then I took a wooden dowel and made a simple hone out of it and opened them up too .4525 and man does it shoot! The groove diameter of the Ruger 45BH barrels run consistently at .451 of the ones I've slugged! Better too have the newer ones as it is easier too open throats then vise versa. :wink:

As Pistol World grows, we will have discussions on jacketed bullets vs hard cast, heavy bullets vs light bullets, and the ongoing gas about what caliber works best on handgun hunting.
Other forums have faced this......for better or worse! Like it or not, there is some mental attitudes that just do not hold water!
There is an overlapping in calibers, bullet weight, and velocity that some shooters will not accept! At present, Pistol World, has some experienced handgun hunters, bullet designers, etc moving here to support this new forum. Some of this people have very impressive credentials and years of "Gut-Pile" analysis backing them.
I can only hope we don't get into the peeing contests seen elsewhere! Flaming, name calling, and insults have ruined othe forums.......just some thoughts.....James