.452 Hornady 300 gr XTP

I just ask about the .452 250 gr XTP and everyone here rates it highly. [5 star] So, my next question is when would you use the 300 gr XTP and how do you rate this one? I will be shooting these from a 5 1/2" Ruger Bisley and FA83 7 1/2" .454 Casull. I do reload.

I took around 30 deer with the 300 XTP in a FA .454. On broadside shots, the deer ran a ways, exits were only slightly larger than the bullet.
On angled shots , quartering, I recovered the bullets about 95% of the time. They were usually in the hip or shoulder depending on the shot. The bullets showed only small amounts of expansion. I figured if a bullet couldn't penetrate a whitetail then I didn't need it. I switched to 300-320 gr. casts and 300 gr. Swifts. They work. I shoot most of my deer in preparation for big game hunts. I want the most penetration I can get.

I would always use the 300XTP just because I never no for sure what the shot will be at.Up here I just use HC though.

Deer and hogs!

I've shot 300 gr XTPs for whitetails too, but in .44 Rem Mag. A bit heavy for caliber, but great penetration.

I'd suggest you check your velocity at the muzzle and then calculate the impact velocity at the distance you usually shoot say, 50 to 75 yards. You can do the ballistic calculation on the Hornady website.
I think you'll want to be well above the min rated velocity (800 to 1700 fps) for this bullet. You can always contact Hornady and talk with them. They will give you some info on expansion vs.velocity.

your not specifying the standard XTP vs the XTP Mag. The Mag will not expand at all from the colt and on a light skinned animal like deer it will expand very little before exiting from the 454. I've used the 240gr Mag to take elk but it would fly through a deer before it ever thought about opening up. I have shot deer with the 300gr XTP Mag but I've gone to using a 44 mag with standard XTP's and the damage is massive compared to the 454. Your colt I would use the standard 300gr XTP's in with great confidence but the 454 I'd either use the mags for bigger animal, or load down with the standard XTP's. It's an iffy proposition because the Mags were designed for calibers like the 454 but the standard XTP's were not designed to take that kind of velocity. You'll still kill a deer with mags but don't expect a massive exit wound or internal damage, they basicly act like a solid.

I am talking standard 300 XTP [not mag]. I guess I should have explained myself better. This is just my opinion, if I am going to use jacketed bullets I want expansion and visual shock on the animal.I believe if you use jacketed you have to run them fast. When the manufacturer recommends the velocity range for a particular bullet[in this situation 800=1600fps] I want to find an accurate loading at near 1600 fps. I believe that is where the best results will be. That being said I usually use hard cast WFN at a velocity range of 1200-1400 fps and try to shoot the shoulder a little high.

I found that 300grs XTP Mag is perfect match for .454 Casull. Bullet expand perfectly in boar (pls look at my pictures so you can find perfect XTP Mag mushroom extracted from 180-200 pd boar shot at 100yds)
I also shot at the water jugs and it penetrated 5 of them (6"x6" based, 6L) jugs. Stopped in end of 5th, to be precise.
Load reduced to level which .454 300 grs have at 150-170yds (do not have data in front of me in the moment - sorry) expansion was zero.
Compared to 300grs Gold Dot (3 jugs penetration, 1" expansion) and 300grs Sierra (6 jugs but zero expansion) XTP Mag sound just like perfect bullet for 0-100yds big game hunt