Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 44 Magnum or 45 Colt. Which one would you pick?

I'd expect that result in sand but not in ballistic gel or animal tissue. I'd als expect that result if heavy bone is hit.

Verals "test" was to fire into sand, as that has been the test taken at face value over the years.

Ive seen nice round holes through deer lungs that are just like wadcutter holes in paper with the 270 SAA. The Brian Pearce article lists several examples of seeing the same thing, not to mention the bullet's designer describing the same thing.

Ive also seen the original Brenneke slug do the same thing despite having a round button nose for a meplat; in its case, the shoulder is what does the work, since the nose offers nothing.

Most who have used the original Brenneke to any degree know what Im talking about!

Skipped over most of the gibberish but still stand by my original reply. Terry wants to kill Texas whitetail and hogs. Pretty simple task to ask of a sixgun.

Not 100% true at all. "Ruger only" loads in a S&W are a terrible idea.



Patently false, more myth. I tested every heavy cast bullet in Hodgdon's data sheet and most bullets of equal weight yielded equal velocities. Except that the 355gr .44 was a mite faster than the 360gr .45. The .45 showed no advantage whatsoever.



That's fine in theory. That's fine if you're referencing bullets cast from Veral's molds. Either way, one MUST stipulate this. This is never the case. It is always assumed that the .45 is universally bigger. This discussion is always bullet weight and velocity. No one ever bothers to bring up meplat diameter. When the discussion is about commercial cast bullets, it is a very different story. Not picking and choosing at all, genius.



How is the .45 more flexible?

Again, the Keith bullets I recovered from ballistic gel showed no wear whatsoever on the shoulder.

I expect LBT's to do a hell of a lot more than cut a bullet sized hole.

Please explain why they are pigeon-holed in such a way.

This one can. I shoot a 45 Colt because I like it. I has nothing to do with not liking 44 call, it has everything to go with personal preference. A 44 call bullet will kill just as dead as a 45 call bullet of the same design and velocity. You like 44, I like 45, what the hell difrence does it make? The OUNasked what and why. I angered 45 Colt because I liked it. If that offends you then I suggest you make use of the ignore function,

Sorry, I have no recovered Keiths from the fake ballistic gel gutpiles.

LBT's (the WFN's/WLN's) do make bigger holes when wound up. They'll also garner more powder space or (gasp!) a reduction in pressure with standard data.
The LFN's mimic most Keith designs, since most have similar sized meplats and case intrusion, both of which respond with mild to wild loads.
FWIW, the holes in and out with the Keith look like paper punch holes...the LFN's at the same speed don't leave holes any bigger.

Smith 57

Did you miss the part where I said I like and own a bunch of both???



Well, I have real recovered Keiths from real ballistic media. In this case, it was 16" deep in Sim-Test.



In the background, you can see the base of the Dillon 650 I use to load .45Colt, the cartridge I hate so much.

Let us also keep in mind that Elmer Keith used bullets in the 12 BHN range. Not very hard. So any bullet he put through a critter would've expanded more than this one did. A 265gr .45 Keith from Dry Creek. The shoulder doesn't get a chance to do much when the nose expands like this. Something to ponder.

All this said, I love a good SWC and still use a bunch of them. They're good bullets but WFN's are better for big game.

They don't look as pampered when they almost go the entire animal....


...and I missed out on the BHN figures, meplat size and impact speed courses. 12 BHN is plenty hard, especially when kicked out of a 4" 44, 1,200 fps. at a deer 30 yards away.

6 isn't at 900 fps with a flat face.

This one went down hill fast.. My dog is better than your dog, my dog gets gravy train.........

Got me beat. I make my own dog food...

You guys have me beat, my dog died.


I am casting some 45 bullets from softer lead. 260 gr coming out around 1000 to 1100 fps and powdercoated. The hope is they will expand and still penetrate. Time will tell.

Odds are they'll work just fine.

Everything I've ever seen you attempt was top-shelf Scott. You're a good man and a perfectionist. Please post your results after you get those bullets the way you want them.

Spot on and the bullet in Brain's bullet in his article looked a bit soft. I don't see the shoulder doing jack and I've shot a lot of animals over the decades.

I would be really unhappy if my bullet's nose got mangled like that and it wasn't a hollow-point. How hard (or soft) is that bullet? How can you tell the shoulder is engaging when the bullet looks like that, or am I missing something?

If the LFN mimics the "Keith" design, then it probably isn't really a Keith bullet -- that term is misused more than "LBT-style." The 429421 has a rather smallish me plat and it shouldn't be expected to produce as big a wound channel as a real LFN. Also haven't found the LFN to be velocity dependent to produce a good would channel. IMHO.

Why can't we discuss this without the combativeness?