Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 240 grain jacketed bullet in .44 mag for hunting?

Colorada Game Reg's

From Arkansas Fish and Game:

Modern Gun

All modern guns may be used during modern gun deer season with the following exceptions. You may not use:

buckshot in a .410 shotgun.
shot smaller than No. 4 buckshot in any shotgun.
rimfire cartridges, military or full-metal jacketed ammunition.
any centerfire rifle or pistol smaller than .22 caliber.
handguns with barrels shorter than 4 inches.

While I do not agree with the AGFC rules, there they are. I do realize that FMJ can flatten/expand, and 5.56x45 will fragment. I also realize that a hardcast will tryically not expand. Terminal ballistics do not mean anything when it comes to interpretation of the above law.

I would assume that if the box or ammo or if the projectile manufacture described it as a FMJ, then AGFC would call it a FMJ and it would be illegal.

I blew through both sides of that not so small buck with white box ammo.....cause I grabbed the wrong box that morning.....worked fine.

I usta shoot 240 grain JHP .429 bullets out of a muzzleloader at 1600fps with sabots, they killed deer very very well, a hit to the chest was a dead deer but seldom had an exit.

I would love to stand on the side, and listen to you 'splane that to a Florida game warden while he was writing you a ticket.

I would not because as I said, the meplats are small on jacketed. You still need to transmit energy at the right place inside an animal. I hate velocity and muzzle energy figures because neither kills. It is where the bullet transmits energy first. Some of those bullets just zip through like a sharp stick.
Too many without actual hunting experience will assume making the bullet go 1600 fps will correct it all but it actually makes things worse.
Another false statement is penetration alone, it does not work in and of itself. Energy must be transmitted first at the proper place and then excess penetration means nothing at all. Never worry about a bullet going to the moon as long as it disrupted everything inside the animal first.
Sure, quick expanding bullets stop fast and disrupt tissue but you would be better off extending the disruption and making two holes. Energy dump is a myth. All of a bullets energy dumped at the surface of a little deer could not move the deer an inch.
Boolit/bullet design alone puts energy where needed, not velocity, not M.E., not even caliber.

All that being said, I have always thought that a heavy FMJ-FP should give a level of performance similar to a cast bullet that all the Keith fans like. I know it does not have the sharp driving band of a Keith bullet, but I think the reason a Keith bullet works is the large flat nose. Some FMJ-FP loads have a flat nose that is fairly large. Clearly a conventional FMJ-RN lacks this.

*Insert pic here from a Keith fan showing just how much larger the flat point of their loading is as compared to a FMJH-FP*

I have carried a 200gr FMJ-FP loading in a 10mm for general wilderness defense. Although I have never used it, I felt reasonable confident in the loading.

The Keith is fine but the meplat is what works. The little band does not touch a thing in an animal because the pressure wave moves tissue away from the band and it is only good to punch a round hole in paper.
Punch bullets work on game even though they don't expand because of the wide meplat. Most FMJ bullets have them too small.

The Keith like many other semi wadcutters has a rather small meplat. Compare it to the WFN on the right.

Yes. Very true but much better then a FMJ. But some will expect the shoulder to do something. I have read a million stories about the shoulder cutting a hole in game and it does not happen unless you shoot such a low velocity there is no pressure wave.

yes that round is fine

never shot a fmj .44 round ...that being said i have shot many a bear/moose with old "federal .44 265gr silhouette bullets" (back when they were made,in the 90's) the jacket went over the soft point a bit, to knock down steel.....well some times it did not expand and sailed rite thur ...catching in the hide on the far side.......thing is tho it left the .44 size hole all the way thu....rite ABOUT THE SAME SIZE AS MY EXPANDED 180GR 30-06 PSP ROUNDS....not yelling here just the facts...dead.

That's my unscientific viewpoint on the function of the sharp edged driving band as well.

The CCI 200gr FMJ for the 10mm has a fairly large flat point.

I am having trouble with "hole size" after using the .500 JRH on deer. It is crazy for sure but it seems as if the size of the hole is not enough unless energy is applied. I just have to think the .44 is better and that I need a tad of expansion with the .500, not a lot, but just enough.
How in the world does a .500 leave less blood on the ground?
Screw with the bullet/boolit and it will turn a deer into red mist or no blood trail at all.
But you miss something. The 30-06 left energy work, a LOT of energy, not just a hole.
Long ago I helped a man drag a tiny deer out of the PA forest. The deer dropped at his shot and ran off. Snow for tracking. He shot it again, dropped it and it ran off. It finally was dead after 6 shots. I could cover all 6 with a hand on the chest. The deer was lucky to be 90#. He was using the 180 gr Silvertip bullets. The bullet was for BIG game, not deer. The bullet left no energy, just a hole---SIX holes.