Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Bullet test - .44, 240 gr. XTP and the two 40 gr. HP, .22 LR

"E" I see that all of your experience is vicarously through others.... bfrshooter has a ton of experience. Cottonstalk has taken more 300 to 400 pound bears than most, so he has a lot of expeirence and I have taken a lot of game with both jacketed and hard cast and if the proper meplat size is used with hard cast they kill very quickly and leave a good sized wound channel. Of course we didn't gain our experience by reading, we got it the "old fashioned way" by acctually doing it ourselves.

I have found the 240 grain .44 mag XTP bullet to be a quick killer of deer, hogs, and bear.

Yes, they killed fine, never said they didn't. What I seen was poor penetration on chest hits on deer. They just opened too fast and stopped. Not large deer either, 150# at the top end.
What made me think was what would happen with a less then perfect hit. How about a big shoulder joint going in or a quartering shot?
It is not that I killed the deer, it goes beyond that. I am sure the 180 gr will kill too but not my cup of tea.
The 300 gr is there, is accurate, expands just right, penetrates and kills. Why fool around?
Then there are the WLN and WFN boolits.
With a big bear and a heavy fur coat that can suck up blood, give me two holes.

So I'm suppose to believe you and not him, is that it JWP ?
There are a few things the matter with that.
First, you don't seem to understand that there are differences in jacketed bullets of the same weight. You keep saying just jacketed vs. hard cast/wide, etc. with no distinction between makes or other design features.
Second, you "wide, flat point, hard cast addicts" keep trying to tell us that deer practically wear kevlar.
Then you love to show us pictures of animals you've killed with shoulder shots but never any lung shots. Always it's the exit wound, but never the wound channel. We don't get to know about lung shots that run off a ways and die later, etc. We hear only about shoulder shots that fall right there.
As we argue, the experiences of others who are quite satisfied with these jacketed loads are ignored.
I'm not opposed to lead bullets for certain jobs. For instance, I just bought some 200 gr. wide, flat point, hard cast bullets for my 10mm. Their flat points are much wider than the jacket stuff I've been carrying and they can be used to shoot steel. Got a hunch they might be made to shoot close enough to my standard 180 HP loads so I can use both. If so, they will be very useful. Even to the point of being my prefered load. BTW, the softer lead SWC bullets work pretty well too. Elmer Keith had no trouble shooting through the face plates of several steers with the 240 gr. Remington version in the then new .44 Magnum. That's bone so tough that it will stop a .30-30 rifle bullet. Not necessary to use some special hard cast 300 gr. wonder bullet. E

DH if I understand from your previous posts you have taken 1 bear and it was a smaller one so for you to say "they work on bear" is like the saying a blind hog can find a acorn.Keep shooting bears with that load and let them get some more weight on them,when you've dumped more than 25 over 350 we'll talk.

Now E so defensive of others.I apologize for mis reading the original post and I don't think anyone is telling you to accept this persons opinion and not hear anothers.I think what alot of us would like is for you to get your own.JJHack has killed bears with hollow points and that's fine,but is he the only bear hunter in the US?I wouldn't be scared to say that just as many bears have been dropped by hardcast.While his opinion and experience is one way mine is the total opposite.I have seen jhps/jsps work and fail.Never seen a HC fail to leave two holes in any bear,and here the state record is 880lbs and yes that's a blackie.NC harvest larger bears weight wise than just about any state in the US.

For every product thats made there will always be those that like it and dislike it.But it's easier to defend a product when you have your own experiences with it than depending on what others have wrote some of those to sell something.

And pics...that pic of the heart that is no entrance hole or exit hole or shoulder shot,and if that's not impressive damage,you can't be impressed.

And last bfrshooter was politely just offering advice and his experience killing deer equals that of hacks bears why wouldn't he be reguarded with the same respect?Is it because he doesn't have a couple thousand posts or he isn't a famous rag writer promoting something?

Cottonstalk you are correct, I have only killed one 150 lb. bear with the 240 gr., .44 Mag XTP; it worked well. My experience with the 240 gr XTP is mainly with hogs. I have killed "several" large ones with this bullet and they have always worked well for me.

I don't want to deter anyone using what works for them. All of my shooting is based on the accuracy point of each bullet. I am sure if you slow the 240 XTP, it will penetrate but where it is accurate for me is just too fast.
I refuse to give up accuracy so I match bullet performance based on the final velocity where it shoots best. This is where we might vary with bullet performance. I can only relate my experiences.
However, the .44 mag is right at home with a heavier hard cast of at least a WLN. The velocities are exactly right and they kill way out of proportion to what anyone thinks. From my first deer with a hard cast I have been nothing but amazed at results and am not afraid to use my loads from jack rabbits to big bears or buffalo.
Besides that, the boolits are free when you cast from wheel weights. I can shoot for weeks at the cost of one box of factory bullets.
I match and exceed jacketed bullet accuracy with all sorts of cast. I don't understand the stigma about cast boolits!!!
In the .44, they just plain work and you should really try them because once you do, you will stop buying bullets.
I am not about to change minds but you are missing out on what might be a life changing decision that allows more shooting and boolits that work better then what you buy.
Can you look down at 50 yard groups like this? 10 shots on one and the vertical was the sandbags.

I made a mold for the .44 that weighs 330 gr, WLN configuration.
I wanted to see the drop at 200 yards so I just shot three so I could measure. I used a red dot from sandbags with my SBH.
Was I surprised? Better believe it. My friend is shooting these into 1/2" at 50 with his Ruger Hunter.

I am trying to say that you should not look down your nose at a good boolit in the .44. It is about the most perfect caliber out there and some handicap it by just using one bullet.
If a friend says "let's go deer hunting" or pig hunting or let's go shoot a griz, I can say OK, and grab the same box of boolits for anything.
Lose the stigma, you are missing out.

E, you seem to be casting the same blanket statement over cast bullets -- not all cast are created equally. Yes, some of us post pictures of animals we have shot, unlike you. You keep citing JJHack's experiences, and while they are valid, so are the opinions of others like jwp, cottonstalk, and bfrshooter. E, you really need to get out and shoot some game with a handgun and see for yourself what all of the fuss is about.

My .44 Mg is a 4 5/8" SBH and im far from a huge handgun hunter but have shot a few deer, and elk and a bear with it from 25-60yds. I run my 240gr XTP's over 24.5gr of H110 and have yet to have one stay in an animal of any sort.

Of course my home poured (wheel weights) 245gr LSWC's over 20.5gr of 2400 havent stopped in an animal either.

curious to try the 300gr loads but have several hundred of each above bullet to use up first