44 cal Hornady XTP for Deer
.44 Mag. rifle has been approved for deer hunting in my area. My Rem. 788 shoots hand loaded 240 Hornady XTP's quite well. My question: That bullet is driven @ 1400 fps +/- from a revolver and I am driving it @ close to 500 fps faster than that. I am concerned about premature expansion. Should I be using a different bullet?
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It might ruin some meat. The 265gr made for the .444 might be a good choice. Have you recovered any bullets from a soft dirt bank. Wet phone books are the poor man's ballistic gelatin.
The ballistic table in my old Hornady book lists data for a 240 HP at 2400 fps. Loading data is up to 1900 fps in a rifle. I think these were pre XTP design.0 -
With a heavy large caliber bullet like this, a little bit of premature expansion won't matter on a deer.
I think the issue to be concerned with is whether or not the bullet will hold together. IE will the thing just "blow up" on impact, leaving just a shallow wound.
Quick answer is don't worry about it.
Plenty of people use this particular bullet from rifles to hunt deer and they swear by it. I doubt you'll have an issue, and in fact, I think you'll probably be quite pleased with the performance.0 -
Can't say about the SSTs in 44 Mag.
However, I shot a deer using a SST in a muzzle loader with a sabot. About a 35 yard shot at the base of the skull. Bullet barely clipped the first vertebrae and entered the brain cavity. Found the bullet just under the nose. It fully mushroomed out and the jacket fell off when I pulled it out.0 -
My Son uses the 44 XTP 240 HP w/sabot in a .50 muzzleloader. He's getting into that 1850-2000 fps range and hasn't seen any failures. I helped field dress the buck he killed last year and bullet performance was perfect. 0 -
I have used XTPs and they do fine on deer.I use a 250 grain GC hard cast now just because its cheaper to make my own. 0 -
Back when Hornady first came out with the XTP, I killed a cow elk from my log truck with a S&W model 29, using a 240 gr XTP over 23.6 grs of H110. One shot anchored her right in her tracks, about a 35 yard shot. I've been a believer in the XTP bullet since then.
W.D.0 -
When I was hunting with my 44mag pistol and using them, I got good results running them 1500.
Wish I could hunt this year with my Marlin 1894 [:(]
Can't run the hills anymore [xx(]0 -
I used them very successfully loaded in sabots shot out of muzzleloaders. They are awesome deer bullets. Ohio got it right allowing these calibers. I am going to use a 45-70 myself.
Good luck!0 -
I use the 240XTP in my TC pistol and with a big whitetail they make a small entrance wound with lots of bruising but a massive exit wound. I tired the 300gr but they did not work as well. 0 -
I pulled a 300 gr XTP from a 340 pound black bear I shot using a Ruger carbine. Bullet just broke through the hide on the opposite side after vaporizing the heart and lungs. It weighed 294 gr after recovery and expanded to just over a half inch. I was impressed. 0
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