light bullet hunting

Awhile ago there was a post that mentioned the use of 180 grain jacketed factory ammo in 44 Mag being used to take whitetail... It would be interesting to hear from anyone using
bullets in the 180-200 grain category in 44 or any other caliber where light for caliber weight was used for hunting...
I have not used these bullets with the lightest 44 being 240grs and this would be a learning experience for me so please post any of your light bullet hunting experience...

I plan to load some 200 gr Hornady XTPs to try in my 44 mag contender for whitetail. I have not tried them yet but plan too.

A few years ago I shot a large white tail doe with a 210gr. Speer Gold Dot loaded in a 44 special. It was loaded with a charge of H110 to 1241 fps in a 4 5/8" Ruger Bisley. Shot was 30 yards and behind the shoulder broadside.

The deer turned and ran hard into some heavy cover and only went about 20 yards. Bullet was not recovered and appeared to stay together on the pass through shot. Exit hole half dollar sized and the blood trail was very impressive.

That's as close as I can get to a light for caliber bullet story.

James,

I shot a sow this year with a 200 XTP @ 1300 FPS. The load was 10.5 grains of Unique, Starline brass, and a CCI 300 primer... it was insanely accurate out of my Encore with 13" MGM barrel. At 50 yards it zipped right on through and left a great blood trail for the 25 yards she made it into the plantation pine. I was quite impressed with the performance. There is a pic on the Bragging Board.

I will add that a guest at our camp killed a nasty looking old boar that I'd been hunting, but hadnt gotten a decent shot at. I'd guess he was in the 220-250lbs class. When I was in his domain I carried a 215 grain hardcast load in the Encore or a 240 grain hardcast in my Super BlackHawk.

Since season ended, I've loaded up some 200 XTP at 1450 FPS with 2400 that will probably be my go-to Encore load come fall.

Hey guys.....don`t stop now.......
PS- Hey Kim...if your reading could you please re-post your experience with the 44 cal. 180 grain ammo.....

Years ago For a while I wanted to use a 170 sierra from my .41 on deer-- finally shot a 5pt at 55 steps-- the deer was quartering toward me-- left front chest through the top of the heart stop'd at the last rib on the right side-lots of blood - ran 60 steps- weighed 130 grains mv 1680 fps
206 gr cast gc hp at 1630fps whitetail at 45 yards quartering to me at 47 steps. Top of left lung-- bullet went along the top of the body cavity tearing up any thing in the way -- stopped under hide of the right ham -- weighed 138 gr recovered

My first handgun deer was a spike in 1979 with a S&W model 29 8 3/8" and 240 gr. Sierra JHP handload. I hit him right on the shoulder and had to track him a long way with very little blood. Disappointed in bullet performance, I loaded some 200 gr Speer JHP and shot an 8 pointer about a week later. He dropped in his tracks. Of course that means very little in the overall scheme of bullet performance, but that day I was impressed with 200 gr 44s .

Not a .44, but I hunted and took a number of hill country whitetail with a .357 using 125 grain XTPs. A fast 125 JHP was THE police load of choice at the time and I figured it would work well on deer. It did! Great expansion, damage, and penetration. I only recovered one slug and it was a text book mushroom. No one had told me that caliber and load was barely adequate for jackrabbits and, apparently, the deer hadn't heard either!

In my early days I used 180 gr. Sierra JHCs in my 8" M29 on several deer out to 150 and one turkey around 120. There was good damage in the deer. None ran more than a few yards. The turkey was glued t the ground with only minimal damage to the wing butt area.
Used a "light" 275 gr. X in .475 L on a Cape buff and a lioness. Worked good on both.
All these light bullets are much easier on my old hands recoil wise and have performed very well. It's all matching the bullet to the game for good performance.

I've shot deer and hogs with the .44 Mag. Speer 200 gr. jacketed magnum hollowpoint out of a 10" Contender and 5" 629. Full penetration and all DRT or within 10 yds.
My usual .44 load for over 35 years has been the Sierra 240 JHC, but it never killed anything any faster than those 200 gr. Speers.

JFJ,

It's been awhile, but my pet load for whitetails in my 7.5" Ruger Redhawk was a 200 gr XTP over a 'healthy dose" of 296. I got exits approximately half of the time, but the terminal ballistics were stellar with quick kills and significant internal damage.

My first 2 big game handgun kills back in 1987 were with the 180 gr Sierra 44 mag. I shot 2 antelope does with my Ruger SBH opening morning.

The first shot was at 92 steps (back before I had a range finder) and the doe ran about 60 yards. The second was at 135 steps and that one ran almost 200 yards with a broke shoulder.

Both of these were one shot kills. I had no complaints with that 180 gr bullet

Although I've never used it the Sierra 170 gr 41 caliber bullet has always had a great reputation for holding up well on big game at high velocity.

Dick

Its pretty easy to see from the above experience of guys using lighter bullets that matching the bullet to the game AND bullet placement go hand and hand.... You can almost compare these guys to a sniper using a .243 Win from a rifle....

I have used the Sierra 170 JHP and Barnes 180 XPB in my DW 414 SuperMag and have had excellent results with them as a whitetail bullets. Shots were broadside and were pass throughs, ranges were 70 to 90 yards.

Back in the mid 70s l bought a S&W Model 29 8 3/8'' 44 Magnum.

Twas love at first sight for that 44 and l started off shooting

44specials in it. l had been hunting deer in some pretty thick

stuff. 0ne reason l got the Mod 29. Anyway while in the gun shop

l see this funny little yellow and red box of 44 magnums marked

down to $4.99... Just 20 ctgs in that Super Vel box And only 180s

too. Those likely wont kick any more than the 44 spcls l had been

practicing with. 0h boy, l was in for a big surprise!!! Touching

off that first 180gr Super Vel l was almost blinded by the noise

and muzzle FLASH... WOW.. l liked that too. Anyway, my first 3

deer with a handgun were killed with 180gr Super Vels. All one

shot kills... ln fact, my Father in Law complained that they tore

up way too much meat. About that same time l got started shooting

lHMSA silhouettes... 0ur match director bought an early 0ehler P

chronograph. l knew those Super Vels were HOT.. l just didn't

know how HOT...My last 4rds thru that 0ehler-avg vel-1803FPS!

w282, I remember a past post where you said the match director had chronograph the speed of those 180`s at a IHMSA shoot.... They were smoking.......

Let me say how interesting and eye opening it is to see how many handgun hunters have used the light for caliber bullets to cleanly take their game... Its clear to see they matched the bullet to the animal they hunted and did not shoot anything that would overpower the bullet.... That along with good placement got the job done....
A little pre-hunt thinking never hurts...

Bullet placement is still the number one cause of death in the game we take. Light bullet or heavy bullet.Bullet placement gets it done as long as you have enough bullet to get to the vitals.I do think with light for caliber bullets you have to be pickier about angles and presentation.You have to be willing to pass on a bad angle that you might take with a heavier bullet which takes a disciplined hunter.I tend to stay with 250 + in 45, 240+ in 44 ,355 in my 480,210 in 41, and 158 in 357 [which I personally don't hunt big game with] My choice as I have bigger better guns to hunt big game with.

JB, Your right.......looks like we have some well disciplined
handgun hunters....

James, l tried to duplicate those Super Vels using Sierra load

data and their 180gr JHP bullets.. Using Winchester 296 and the

minimum charge l got brutal recoil and sticky cases.. lts a big

mystery what powder Super Vel used in their 180s... l have some

180 gr Super Vels in my collection... Have even thought about

some of that 40 year old ammo... Too many unanswered questions

about the ammos' condition leave the possibility of it being

unsafe to shoot now

COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES HAVE POWDERS AVAILABLE TO THEM THAT WE CANNOT GET "OFF THE SHELF" SO SOMETIMES WE CANNOT DUPLICATE FACTORY AMMO.

Saw an add for Super Vel ammo in Rifle hand loader Mag. tonight so they are back in business.