Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Handgun hunting... penetration or expansion?

One more point, magazines tend to be tougher material than news print probably because they are more difficult to thoroughly soak

If I was hunting these large dog sized central Texas deer, the XTP would be in order. Hogs get cast bullets. If I had to I would use cast all the time, penetration is never a bad thing.

There are 2 big bore XTP's the standard version and the mag version the mag version is an excellent penetrator

Both bullets were loaded with 14.5 grns Blue Dot, close to max but not quite.

I forgot to mention something else I found interesting. The cast bullet turned completely sideways before it stopped.

This is due to the meplat or nose profile not being correct. All bullets are not created equal. I had a terrible experience 435 grain .510 bullet in the 500L turned very quickly and did not penetrate well at all. I almost abandoned the cartridge but a bit of digging revealed the problem an incorrect nose profile. The Cast Performance 525 grain WFN leaves large wound channels and at 1100 FPS out penetrates the 475L 420 at 1383 FPS

Proper meplat and nose profile are a key that is over looked far too often

By the looks of both bullets and the noses, I wouldn't be surprised if both didn't turn sideways.

Whatever the alloy in the cast bullet, its nose shape and impact speed surpassed the expansion threshold, just like the JHP.

McInnis recovered bullets from test posted for all to see




The hard cast doesn't appear to be what I would term to be "Hard Cast" looks more like a 12 to 14 brinel or the media was very abusive IMHO and experience

Once the flat point is this badly degraded straight line penetration is badly compromised in my experience

I'd say the cast bullet was about in that BHN range; coupled with the fact that slick magazine paper, even when wet, is like shooting dry print.

Its a very uncompromising medium as it makes hollow points fail to open (nothing gets into the cavity and the jacket holds up expansion) and can make moderately hard solids deform.

Dry print or slick magazines is a good way to test cast solid alloy hardness, if you don't have a tester. If it deforms on such, it will generally deform on some heavy bone.

I should note (I think I might have before) that a cast bullet can be made to expand with dry print or slick magazine paper just based on nose shape, impact speed and alloy hardness.
The hollow point and even a soft point jacketed bullet often will not, due to the jacket and the need for a predominantly liquid medium and the need to hit at a certain speed.

Think hard fat and hair...

You're speaking for yourself. I don't have a leader and mentor on the internet. The concept is somewhere between sad and disgusting.