Thought I would add my experience with some of these bullets mentioned in 10mm.
Not all FMJ bullets are created equal. I tested some boutique commercial 180 gr fmj's a couple of years ago against some 200 fn hardcast that I had loaded myself. The 180's are advertised as "woods defense rounds" including for black bear.
The test medium I used was freshly killed cow elk skulls lined up. The 180 gr "woods defense" load was determined to have a thin brittle jacket, and brittle lead core, with the bullet breaking up on the first skull and shallow penetration. The 200 grain hard cast was vastly superior in penetration through the hard bone of the skulls. Absolutely no contest. Mackay's 10mm loads are similar in appearance and fps as mine and should work about the same.
The 10mm 200 grain xtp has a lower velocity range listed by Hornady than its 10mm 180 grain. This indicates to me the 200 gr is built softer than the 180, perhaps to compensate for the difference in velocity? I dunno. I do have some 200 xtp's loaded up but no 180 xtp's to test.
I hope this helps a bit.
Manny
Not specifically 10mm, however this is relevant to the topic on hand.
This was written by John Linebaugh a number of years back and is an example of the typical performance one can expect of a properly cast, hard cast flat point or semi wadcutter type bullet.
I have seen my wife shoot two or three mule deer and about eight antelope now with a .45 Colt. The load she has used almost exclusively for seven years now is a 260 Keith slug at 900 fps out of a 4 3/4" Seville revolver. This will consistently shoot length ways and exit on mule deer and antelope at 100 yards.
It kills in my estimation better than a .270 or .30-06 class rifle as it acts a lot like an arrow and doesn't excite the animal. No whistles or bells, just honest consistent performance.
I have used this load on two antelope with exacting results. In my early hunting years I used the same 260 gr Keith at 1,400 fps. out of a dozen antelope and one mule deer I have personally taken I can't see that it stops them one bit better than the 900 fps load. Why, well history will tell us, as Elmer said. Once you shoot completely through your intended target you've done all you can doIt is the perfect example of why the vast majority of experienced handgun hunters use a hard cast bullet for large game hunting and/or large animal defense. I am not talking about medium game like a 100 pound Whitetail, but bigger animals like large Mule Deer. Moose, Bears, etc.
FMJ is not a good choice. The round nose tends to slip through flesh causing very little permanent damage, unless something structural is hit. I have shot jackrabbits with 9mm, 10mm and .45 FMJ and had them hump up for a second, then run off with no immediate effect. Switching to a semi wadcutter, or any other profile with a large flat face/large meplat produces substantially better results with immediate visible effects on the animal when shot. The only thing I would hope to use FMJ for on a large animal is for a CNS shot, trying to shut down the brain. But in emergencies, you don't get to pick your shots, you get what you get and you may never actually have that opportunity, or you may never actually connect with your shots for various reasons. The realities of shooting in the field/combat/defense are not at all like being on a range.
