Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns XTPs

I just bought another box of 158gr .357 a week or two ago at Cabelas.

I always enjoy your bullet tests!

I agree on the Sierra.

I've shot two deer with the Sierra 300 SP in 45 caliber and IMO, its the super stout jacket that gives them their rigidity.
I've seen the nose get weird..

These seven bullets were shot in to wet phone books from a 357 at about 10 yards, if I recall correctly. Hornady factory, absolutely perfect.

I've seen only exemplary performance from the various XTP I've shot, in animals and in bullet tests. I haven't shot moose knuckle bones with them though!! Great work.

This kind of information is only self-gained. Companies don't ever mention under which circumstances their bullets fail, and if they do approach the subject, the consumer paranoia tends to skyrocket.

Those moose knuckles, BTW, were used as kind of an ultimate failure-type test. (So I'm not suggesting that any of them are bad under typical - even generally harsh circumstances.) But I do think one can see what really shines (that 300 Speer, just as the 300 .458 rifle bullet are sleepers).

I did have great luck one late winter day, when the snowshoe hares were thick along on alder-choked creek, blasting the little buggers with my 45 Colt M94 Trapper. The bunnies thought they were being cagey by 'hiding' behind 3-4" alder trunks. Those 300 XTPs excelled at finding their way through the lumber screen, multiplying (shredding), and making quick the demise of said bunnies. (Shot placement was neither discriminating nor critical. )

Guys, since this is the handgun forum all of my comments are aim at revolver, semi auto handgun velocities, not the additional speed of rifles or long barreled single shot specialty "so called" handguns. An additional 2 to 3 hundred FPS can changes bullet integrity quick.

What an odd statement. You're the only one making that distinction. Hornady makes none such. It isn't the gun anyway. It is the load that determines velocity. It is the distance to the target that determines impact speed.

If you don't think the gun that the ammo is fired in, then you need to educate yourself. All you have to do is fire the same ammo (44 mag for instance) in a revolver over a chronograph and then in a rifle. The velocity will be about 300 FPS higher when fired in the rifle. High impact velocity can change bullet integrity fast.

Standard XTPs are designed for standard pistol velocity. Mag XTPs are for mag pistol or rifle, and for hot loads from a rifle or larger game, at some point the heavier and/or flat points are the better choice.

Cast WFN covers it all, of course.

Yeah. I'm sure I know exactly what I am talking about. I'm not sure that you know what you are talking about. Nothing I said is inaccurate. It isn't the gun, it's the load. I can load a 44 mag that will get very close to the same velocity from rifle or pistol barrels. If I load a medium load for a "so called" specialty handgun, you could beat it with a faster one in your 'real' handgun. Not the wannabe ones like others shoot. Once again, you make distinctions that bullet companies aren't generally making. Hornady doesn't make handgun or rifle versions of XTP in 44 cal. Or 38 cal. Yet they do use the same bullet in their data for both rifles and handguns. So I want to make it clear: you are making distinctions that others aren't making. It is likely you have your own reasons for this. I don't care what they are, because as I have explained, the firearm is not of primary importance.

There are many that believe only a hard cast SWC or LBT can be effective. Well experienced "sixgunner" Ken O'Neil has proved otherwise many times.

Of course you can down load a for a rifle to match the velocity of a different load fired in a revolver but that is a special situation and I did not address that at all. You jumped to that conclusion all own your on. What I stated is factual. Again I stated to fire the Same load, two different weapons and barrel lengths will produce different velocities with the same load.

Fact a factory loaded 44 mag fired in a Win-94 will produce about 300 FPS more velocity Thant the same load fired in a revolver. Same load considerable velocity difference.

Odd statement to make about the gun not having any effect on speed.

Where did anyone say casts are the only effective choice? Cast bullet certainly are effective is the point.

Even moderate loads with Unique will yield 300-400fps higher velocities from rifle-length barrels. That's a big difference when you're talking about the integrity of a jacketed pistol bullet.