40 s&w 200gr nosler hunting load

[Daddy]

I shot bowling pins for awhile and when I started all I had was my 6" STI 40. Have to find my data but was running 200 grain coated Truncated flat noses over BE 86 at 1020 fps.
keep in mind this was a 6" barrel and I was loading to 1.200 basically 10mm length.

Right on!
I couldn't load any longer because of magazine limitations. I would imagine that at 1.2 that would drop the pressure a bit, and still get good velocity out of a 6" barrel. Sounds like a good load.

 

[Joe4d]

yeh was like a split between 40 and 10mm , BE86 was a great powder for full power auto loads, or medium magnum revolver loads, especially short barrels.. Its a bit faster than Power Pistol a bit slower than unique. no big boom or flash like PP or spikes like unique.
Alliant has 1086 FPS data for a 180 at normal OAL and a 4" barrel. Figured I wAS fine with where I was at considering the barrel and OAL..

 

[rug357]

3 or 4 years ago my friend saw a hog rooting behind our shooting shed as we arrived at our farm one night. He approached the hog hiding behind the shed and got within 15 yards. He fired one shot from his Glock 22 loaded with his handload of 205 gr cast SWC bullet @ 900fps and hit the hog just behind the left front leg and the bullet exited just in front of the right front leg. The hog took off towards the pasture so we followed for about 50 yards but didn't see anything. Next morning we went out and found the hog dead about 200 yards from where it was shot. It was a young boar of about 100 lb.

 

[Daddy]

3 or 4 years ago my friend saw a hog rooting behind our shooting shed as we arrived at our farm one night. He approached the hog hiding behind the shed and got within 15 yards. He fired one shot from his Glock 22 loaded with his handload of 205 gr cast SWC bullet @ 900fps and hit the hog just behind the left front leg and the bullet exited just in front of the right front leg. The hog took off towards the pasture so we followed for about 50 yards but didn't see anything. Next morning we went out and found the hog dead about 200 yards from where it was shot. It was a young boar of about 100 lb.

Well i might change my mind at some point. But after all the reading I've done on the subject this year, I'm convinced that either 40sw or 45acp with a few different weights of SWC's will do pretty much anything you'd need a pistol to do. From plinking and target shooting, to self defense and hunting. Are there more specialized modern bullets that would perform certain tasks better? "Certainly"
But once you factor in the cost of those premium bullets...................I think I'm going to be shooting a lot more cast from here on out. I never got too excited about shooting much cast in the past. But i recently started powder coating the bullets that I've been casting. Once i figured out how easy that was, and no more leading, smoke, or messy lube, that was a game changer for me.

 

[rug357]

Well i might change my mind at some point. But after all the reading I've done on the subject this year, I'm convinced that either 40sw or 45acp with a few different weights of SWC's will do pretty much anything you'd need a pistol to do. From plinking and target shooting, to self defense and hunting. Are there more specialized modern bullets that would perform certain tasks better? "Certainly"
But once you factor in the cost of those premium bullets...................I think I'm going to be shooting a lot more cast from here on out. I never got too excited about shooting much cast in the past. But i recently started powder coating the bullets that I've been casting. Once i figured out how easy that was, and no more leading, smoke, or messy lube, that was a game changer for me.

I think I've been loading for past 38+ years and I bet 90% or more of my handloads are with cast bullets. My father and I used to cast bullets and load them for plinking, hunting and competitions. I have loaded jacketed bullets for specific purposes (some indoor range do not allow cast/lead bullets). For self-defense I only use factory JHP ammo.

I have been hunting hogs and deer with handguns for about 20 years. We usually shoot meat hogs so they are about 150 lb or under and deer in Florida are small. I shoot my handloads for almost all my handgun hunting and have settled on couple of loads that has proven to be effective over years. All loads consist of cast bullets with SWC profile and are usually heavy for caliber. I expect all my loads to exit the animal and leave two holes. Back when I was loading factory JHP bullets they usually did not exit the animal when bullet expand. While ballistics plays a role, much more important is bullet placement. I've taken hogs and deer with 9mm and 38 special but only because I was able to take perfect shot from close range.

I hunt with 357 magnum, 45 ACP, 45 ACP Super and 45 Colt using these loads:

For 357 Mag
180 gr SWC-GC (long wide nose design) @ 1,220 fps
This is used in Ruger Blackhawk

For 45 ACP
200 gr HG # 68 @ 900 fps
These are used in various 1911A1 and Glock 21 with 6" rifled barrel

For 45 ACP+P
200 gr HG # 68 @ 970 fps
225 gr FN (flat nose) @ 920 fps
These are used in various 1911A1 and Glock 21 with 6" rifled barrel

For 45 ACP Super
225 gr FN (flat nose) @ 1,100 fps
240 gr FN @ 1,050 fps
These are used in various 1911A1 and Glock 21 with 6" rifled barrel and extra power recoil spring

For 45 Colt
250 gr SWC-GC @ 1,000 fps
This is used in Ruger small frame Vaquero

For 45 Colt+P
280 gr SWC-GC (long wide nose design) @ 1,150 fps
This is used in Ruger Blackhawk

 

[Daddy]

Nice!
The part of Oklahoma that I'm in i rarely see whitetail over 150 lbs. I have two bullets that i want to try this year. I want to take a whitetail with 9mm (just because) and the bullet i intend to use is a 150gr flat nose from my mp mold. The load I've developed for it is running 1050 with pretty respectable accuracy.

The other bullet i want to use this season is a 200gr H&G #68 clone, also from an MP mold. I haven't done any load development on the 45 yet though. What is your experience with the performance of that #68 on whitetail?

What bullet have you used in 9mm, and would you do it again lol

 

[rug357]

I started loading years ago because I needed a lot of IPSC practice loads. My father was casting 200 gr H&G # 68 already so that was the bullet I started with. I used HP-38/Win231 to get them to 900 fps out of my 1911A1. In last 38+ years I bet I've loaded over 100,000 rounds of this one load. That load became my do it all load in 45ACP pistols. That load has harvested more than dozen deer and perhaps 30+ hogs. For deer it worked very well and in every case it exited leaving two holes to bleed out. I would have no reservation about using this load on deer. The +P load with this bullet gives a little more margin in case a little more penetration is needed. Unlike JHP bullet where higher velocity may increase expansion and give less penetration, higher velocity will usually give deeper penetration with cast (solid) bullets.

The deer I shot with 9mm was with my load of Hornady 147gr XTP @ 1,050 fps out of my Glock 34. It completely penetrated right to left just behind the front leg...prefect shot that penetrated both lungs and clip the heart. Bullet was never recovered but the wound trail looked same as non-expanding bullets. I've used this same load to dispatch trapped hogs and it always exited on brain shots. This was over 20 years ago and XTP bullets both 9mm and 45 caliber from that period rarely expanded. I've heard current XTP bullets are much more likely to expand. I don't use 9mm (or the 38 special) to hunt deer or hogs but I still use them to dispatch trapped hogs.