Which Hunting pistol bullets?

[Nevada Ed]

With the heaviest FACTORY bullet in your caliber for
deer or larger..............
What type of bullet do you think works out the best?

I have used the jacketed hollow point design and also the lead swc design on deer here in Nevada and on a few smaller California black tails, over the years. Sorry to say no Hogs as yet.
Lots of good, Bad and the Ugly and was wondering if you had some good and bad loads over the years and what turned out to be your best load, over all.
I have yet to try the "Green" all copper bullets but some in Calif. that have to use them, say they are not too bad.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Hollow points or soft points, work well on deer. For the hogs you might want the hard cast lead for better penetration. In my caliber (10mm), Underwood has a 220 gr hard cast at 1200fps that will do the trick on hogs. For deer, I would use the Underwood 180 gr JHP at 1300fps.

For my 45 Colt, Georgia arms has some really potent 200gr hollow points at 1100fps that wood work well on white tail. And I wouldn't be afraid to use their 260gr hollow point at 1200fps for hogs or deer, but those 260's kick like a mule in my Blackhawk.

 

[colt_saa]

Why are you asking about only Factory loads? I have never hunted with factory handgun ammunition.

 

[kwselke]

The heaviest factory load handgun round I have on hand is 240 grain Hornady XTP in .44 Mag. In my area there are no bears, but we do have feral hogs. I figure I'm good against hogs up to 325 lbs. or so, and I've never run into one that big and my 629 holds six rounds. I hand load bigger stuff, but most of what I load is a 240 grain JHP .44 from the major manufacturers at 1,350 fps.

 

[raymo2u]

buffalo bore and depending on the caliber they can be quite heavy up to 180grn for 9mm and so on..but they aint cheap
they offer a 45acp in a 255grn

 

[Nevada Ed]

Reason for the factory ammo, is that is has been tested, safe and usually a lot easier on the guns than the hotter hand loads, even though "Rolled" ammo is also good.

For example 357 158 fac Rem./Win. at 1240 +/- but buffalo and dbl tap have them at 1457 and 1500fps!! I don't know if I could control those loads? A standard 41 mag. might be better, or a heavy model 44 ?

 

[alwslate]

I'll take my own handloads over factory ammo any day. I think my full
power hunting load with cast SWCs is easier on my guns than factory
ammo, especially jacketed bullet ammo. I own several 44 magnums
and I have never bought a single round of 44 mag factory ammo. I
doubt any game animal likely to be hunted with a revolver requires
a bullet heavier than a 250 gr cast SWC.

 

[raymo2u]

buffalo bore and double tap have slightly more pop than factory, but when your adrenilines going your not going to notice as its a subtle bump up from factory recoil. the pressures are negligible in difference for your guns capabilities...youll be just fine

 

[Zjnovak]

I use handloads in all my hunting firearms.
For 30-06 I use a 150gr Core-Lokt on top of 49.5gr IMR 4895
For 357 I am now transitioning to Buffalo Bore 158gr LSWC's.
My dad uses handloads for deer in his 44 magnum and 30-06.

I have found handloads to be more accurate than factory ammo.

 

[raymo2u]

Handloads will always be better than factory(depending on reloaders abilities) becuase you can fine tune the load to your needs. ranging from bullet wieghts and types, powder amounts and types, and and so on.
Factory ammo is made to be cost effective but quality assured but not always as effective as needed.

 

[Redhawk500]

In factory bullets, my heaviest to date has been a 45 Colt using 300 grain Hornady XTP, not the Mag variety, which is tougher. One mountain lion from left shoulder to right hip, three rounds fired, only one recovered. The muzzle velocity was around 1100 fps from a 5.5 inch Ruger Redhawk using a max load of WW296. The bullet type that works best is the one most suitable for the animal hunted and the presentation you will be using. I like 200 grain Speer JHPs for .45 ACP +P, 175 grain Winchester Silvertip JHP in .41 Mag, 210 grain Winchester Silvertip in .44 Mag. For my handloads I've use the old .41 Mag half-jacket Speer 200 grain and .44 Mag using Remington 210 grain SJHP. As to the idea that "Reason for the factory ammo, is that is has been tested, safe and usually a lot easier on the guns than the hotter hand loads, even though "Rolled" ammo is also good." I have to disagree. My hunting ammo is 100% inspected for each primer, powder, case and bullet used in each round, tested on live animals not just ballistic gelatin. As to easier on guns, I suspect cost per round is more critical for factory ballistic engineers than any other factor, within SAMMI specs. Modern reloading data is developed using standard pressure testing techniques used for factory ammo, so "easier on guns" might be hard to substantiate. If ammo is developed by case expansion outside published data, although this was done for many years, I'd have to agree. I do hunt with ammo that is at the maximum recommended velocity suitable for my firearms. I would use cast bullets for all my handgun hunting with good satisfaction but jacketed rifle and pistol bullets do well, if they perform as advertised. I like SWC half jacket bullets in revolvers if available as failure to expand doesn't mean the bullet don't do its job well.

 

[ruggyh]

460 S&W
200 Barnes XPB, 250 Barnes XPB, 275 Barnes XPB, 325 Barnes Buster, 240 Hornady XTP MAG, 300 Hornady XTP MAG all hand loaded
all used on Hogs, Black Bear, Sheep, Bison

plan on using Cutting Edge Bullets 240 grain Raptor in future

other bullets that should give good results are Swift 300 and 325 A-frames and 300 Speer

 

[Biggfoot44]

Ah , the cast vs jacketed is the Ford vs Chevy , and Taste Great vs Less Filling of handgun hunting. Highly experienced and knowledegable people will argue both sides , and every variation inbetween.

For whitetails of the size I encounter , I wouldn't lump them in with " & larger " , if your local deer are more like 300lb instead of 150lb , your milage may vary. For deer I can go either way , for hogs I prefer cast Keith or LBT .YMMV.

With handloads , you can tailor to whatever pressure/ recoil / velocity you care to use , within game dept reg minimums. It's a safe bet that you would wish .357 Mag to full throttle , with bigger bores there is a variety of prefered levels for particular bullet and game.

 

[brucev]

With the heaviest FACTORY bullet in your caliber for
deer or larger..............
What type of bullet do you think works out the best?

I have used the jacketed hollow point design and also the lead swc design on deer here in Nevada and on a few smaller California black tails, over the years. Sorry to say no Hogs as yet.
Lots of good, Bad and the Ugly and was wondering if you had some good and bad loads over the years and what turned out to be your best load, over all.
I have yet to try the "Green" all copper bullets but some in Calif. that have to use them, say they are not too bad.

The deer in my area run up to maybe 180 lbs. Once in a blue moon someone will take a deer that is 200 lbs., or so they say. Mostly these larger deer reported are weighed by the eye and comparison to other deer, seldom do they actually get to a scale. I've shot my share of the 180 lb. deer. They've all dropped like a sack of potatoes when hit by any common 150 gr. .30-06 factory or hand load. I've never had one ever get up much less get away. Classic side on presentations, raking shots taken from various angles, and one running straight away that took a round right between the hams at short range, they all dropped. Using various bolt action rifles, especially surplus 1903-A3's and several M-1 Garands, results have been 100% successful. Maybe the .30-06 is more powerful than needed in routine deer hunting, but if offers a nice extra bit of power that serves as insurance to cover the vagaries of hunting.

If you want to use the heaviest bullet for a particular caliber, then in .30-06 that would be a 220 gr. bullet. Such a load would be useful if one were hunting very heavy game such as bear, moose, etc. It would be useful if one were going to hunt the Big Five of Africa. However, a 180 gr. Nosler partition would almost certainly be more useful on moose and common black bear. For the stuff that can possibly bite, claw or stomp you, a 220 gr. FMJ loaded heavy would be my personal choice. I know there are folks who dote on the larger bores for dangerous type game. I'm just thinking out loud about the rifles I normally shoot and the loads I have found effective.

When it comes to handguns, I think in terms of the .357 Magnum, .44 Special and .45 ACP as these are the calibers I own. I've not to date used these calibers to kill a deer or hog. I have almost always had a M-1 Garand in my hands when out in the woods hunting either alone or with church members. Some of them have used handguns for hog hunting and to provide a finishing shot on wounded deer. Surprisingly, one of the most successful hog hunters I've ever seen in operation uses a little WWII era S&W Victory in .38 Special. Yep! That's right! He hunts using dogs. He gets in close and kills usually with one or two shots. He thinks my M-1 Garand is way more gun than needed. One of my other church members uses a revolver when we are trailing wounded deer. He shoots .38 Special 158 gr. LRN ammo. In my opinion, there are better loads, but that's what he uses. It works for him.

This year I will be using a 03-A3 converted into a 03-A4orgery, i.e., facsimile of the 03-A4 sniper rifle used by the U.S. in WWII. It will be loaded with 150 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips running maybe 2,700 FPS. The distances in this area seldom run more than 200 yds. I have no doubt that this rifle/load will give very good results on deer, even if I chance to get a shot at one of the 200 lb. monsters that everyone talks about. There are no hogs in this area that will have any kind of chance if hit by this load.

I will be carrying a revolver while hunting. If I encounter a deer or hog up close, say withing 25 yds., then I will most certainly use the revolver to take that deer or hog. At this time my plan is to use a 158 gr. JSP fired from a six inch 686. I've used this load at the range firing both SA and DA. Hits out to and beyond 25 yds. are not hard to make. I will forgo raking shots from the rear. If a shot presents itself, classic side presentation or even head on, then I plan to fire for the heart/lungs and then follow up with a second shot. If at that point I judge that the animal is down, I will stand by ready to fire again and wait to see if it is dead. As in times past, I will approach the downed animal from the rear as I check to see if it is dead. If it is not yet dead, I will finish it with a round to the neck.

I hope the above is not to boring a response to your question. I could not help myself! I found you post while under the influence of hot biscuits, honey and a steaming mug of outstanding coffee. Sincerely. brucev.

 

[Marine24]

I'm partial to Cast Performance 335gr LFNGC bullets when hunting with my 45 Colt and 454 Casull.

I've used Buffalo Bore's 360gr and Doubletap's massive 400gr lammo in my 454 Casull, but those are a little much unless T-rex returns.

 

[LimaCharlie]

My hunting handgun is a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum with a 10 1/2" barrel. I prefer the Hornady 44 Mag 225 gr FTX LEVERevolution ammo for accuracy and flatter ballistics.