This discussion has me wondering about something. Since I retired four years ago two of my favorite things to do are walking my dog in the woods on public land, and shooting my .44 revolvers. And the woods around here in NW Wyoming where I live are grizzly habitat, I’ve encountered two of them so far. So you know what I’m carrying on my hikes.
My favorite target load uses 240 grn cast bullets with 12.0 grns Blue Dot. I get muzzle velocities of around 1050 fps. It’s pleasant to shoot, accurate, and very little recoil. The load I use for hiking gets close to 1300 fps and it’s a handful. Shooting double action it takes me probably twice as long to recover and get back on target. Am I just about as well off using that target load for self defense? That extra 250 fps in velocity really increases recoil - is it buying me much in terminal performance if I use cast bullets?
Honestly, I think your plinking load is OK, but if it were me, I'd run a 300gr WFN @1000fps for my hiking load. I just like to err on the side of extra penetration.
Yes, you'll have to go to a taller front sight for distance work, but it won't matter at 10yds.
