Factory 454 Casull loads for Whitetail Deer?

I recently traded in my GP100 357 after failing to recover a deer I shot with multiple hits in the vitals, anyway I have ordered the Super Redhawk in 454 Casull. I am curious too what experienced Casull shooters have had luck with as far as milder recoil, accuracy, with complete penetration.

Federal 250 grain XPB load is a good one. Light bullet doesn't kick all that badly, it's accurate in my guns and it's a lethal load.

Ditto to Whit's comments, and will add the Barnes Vor-TX offering with the same 250 gr projectile, as well as the Federal Fusion 260gr load. All shoot well out of my Casull's with excellent terminal results.

Another choice would be the Winchester 250gr JHP " medium" load. It uses an XTP bullet at approx. 1300 fps. Close to 44 mag load and very easy to manage the recoil. I know some don't like the XTP's but they've worked well on deer sized game.

Dan

If you should handload... I made what I called my whitetail load that uses a 300gr XTP with the double cannalure with 27.4grs of H-4227 for a modest velocity of around 1400fps... The extra weight allowed almost any angle shot which took about 13 deer.... Good luck......

James,
I don't reload but I have a friend that does. Thanks for the information, I know you have been quite successful with the 454 Casull.

Don't know your experience level with big bore handguns but the 454 is a BIG STEP up from the 357, even a heavy loaded 357. There is no magic bullet even in the 454 that will kill any faster than a well placed 357. What is does do is give a bit more room for error in shot placement and better penetration on angled shots. The trade off is more recoil and a lot more practice to master it.The 454 can be loaded down and maybe someone offers a milder recoiling round for it. Lots of practice a few rounds at a time is better than a lot of practice, with a lot of rounds in a short time.

I've used 260 gr. Speer HPs over 32.0 gr. WW296 for 25+ years. Reasonable recoil, good damage on deer, flat trajectory, 2 1'2" at 100 (sometimes better), plus a bonus that it does not tear up a turkey on a wing butt shot. Had 36 one shot kills on them with 1 1/4" of damage to the wing bones that attach to the spine.

I shoo the 300 grain XTP in my 454?s, with both H-110, and IMR 4227, also had good luck shooting the 250 XTP with # 9.

The barnes federal load is mild but clocks in much faster than the box says. Prolly overkill for deer but gives huge latitude for deer. A hunting buddy of mine shot a doe in the guts/ actually low in the stomach withthe barnes vortex load and it bedded down in 30 yards and expired. Seen that happen multiple times on various hunts. Those bullets just do lots of damage.

I've shot semi autos competitively for 23 years mostly 40 S&W, 10mm, 45acp, and 45 Super. My big Bore Handgun experience has been limited to 44 Magnum +P+ loads. I'm not really interested in a magic bullet per se but I need a decent entry and exit wound to facilitate blood loss and bottom that deers blood pressure out. Where I currently hunt it is so thick everyone wonders why I don't hunt with a Shotgun with slugs or a Marlin Lever Gun in 45-70. The deer shot yesterday was hit with all (3) shots fired, obviously hit very hard in the lungs but due to the small amount of blood I feel like there wasn't an exit. Blood trail consisted of blood drops about the size of a quarter with about 100 bubbles in each spot of blood, problem was the quarter size blood drops were about 15 feet apart. The blood trail played out in a jungle of cut-over after about 60 yards. I'm hoping that maybe some 45LC hunting loads or reduced 454 Casull loads will help in preventing this loss of natural resource from happening again. I'm not bad mouthing the 357 Magnum for hunting, it's just not for me after this experience.

Guys,
Thanks for all your insight and experience, it is greatly appreciated!! I will give a update soon. Thanks again!!

True to a degree, but that Barnes 250 does a whole lot more internal damage. When we cracked upon the chest of the mountain lion I killed last January, the level of destruction was unbelievable.

Max,
The Barnes 250 grain is definitely on my short list!

I may have missed it, but what sort of load were you using in your .357? For a blood trail, you need two holes low enough that the blood doesn't pool in the body cavity, along with a good hit, of course. I imagine tons of .454 loads will do that well.

Yeah but ya get more
Blood out of a big ole barnes 454 wound channel than about anything ive used.

JDK-It is discussed in another thread about 10 lines down on forum. The 140gn barnes vor-tx load I think.

It was the Barnes Factory load 140 grain vor-tx at 1250 fps.

I've taken at least 4 deer with the .357. I used a 125 gr. XTP over a stiff dose of 2400. It worked great with shoulder and chest shots, but the deer were not too large and the area was not very thick. That said, they didn't travel more than 50 yards max. It's a good round, but there's also no reason not to try something bigger just because you can!

Pretty modest velocity for a 140.

I recovered one of my XTPs. It was a brisket shot which I recovered in the stomach. Expansion was textbook. But my load was smoking , a little too hot, I later learned. I bet it was easily doing 1500+ (Maybe ++) from the 8 3/8" barreled M27. Hit like a sledge hammer though.

I'm not familiar with the Vortex bullet, but something must've really gone wrong for that deer to absorb 3 of them.

I agree that the Federal 250 Barnes load is the way to go. It has less recoil than the the 300 grain Swift A-frame load. An added bonus is the Barnes is copper not lead. I hunt in a federal refuge with a large eagle population and lead poisoning is a problem.