Part II

Now that the newsprint was more water-logged, penetration was starting to increase considerably.

We retested my buddy's bullet at 1,350 fps and it went 36-inches, exiting the back of the penetration box, lodging itself its near full length into a seasoned piece of firewood behind our penetration box!



We did it again, and it again exited the box, punched through the one-inch pine board holding the nexspring in place, and bounced off of a piece of firewood, denting it at about half the length of the bullet! Now we're cooking!



We took this opportunity to retest the penetration champ from before, the Buffalo Bore 440 grain WFN, and it was able to penetrate 33-inches.



We next tested a couple of .44 magnum loads out of my 6.5-inch -3 Model 29. First up was a Remington factory 240 grain semi-jacketed hollow-point. It mushroomed very nicely and went 11-inches.



We tried the 277 grain Ranch Dog flat-point at 1,300 fps and it penetrated 33-inces of newsprint. The bullet retained it's nose shape. This is a very good load that I hope to try on deer this season.



Again, we performed this test several years ago, but I think the results are rather interesting. Hope you enjoy.

Excellent.....if I`am not mistaken I believe the JFP in Test #1 is a 400gr Speer Gold Dot Soft Point. James

I think you may be right, James.

I have some of the Remington 44 bullets loaded and that looks good to me for what I need.

If I need to shoot a Hippo I will follow up on the bigger stuff.


But thanks for the info on the 44 --- cool tests

Thanks! That Remington will work like gangbusters on deer. That is what my truck gun is loaded with......

OK, I realize that I made a premature post regarding the first test. As I noted, however, I made a 31" long hole in fully soaked telephone directories with a handloaded 270gr .44mag (.429) Belt Mountain Punch bullet. I wonder what the .475 variety would be like. On the other hand, when you're over 30" with any big-bore bullet, few animals would feel a difference anyway...

A few of the other .44 loads I tried did make almost 30", such as the Cor-Bon 305gr Penetrator and handloaded Oregon Trail 310gr LFP. What I don't know is the difference between the LFP style bullets and the hard, jacketed but flat meplat of the Belt Mtn and the Penetrator in terms of terminal performance. It's hard to judge that from wet paper "wound channels".

What distance are you guys shooting at for these tests?

Maybe 10-feet or so -- if my memory serves me (very questionable!).

Your memory or the distance...

Most definitely my memory.......

Interesting...a testament to the toughness of the cast bullets at nearly full velocity. Wondering if a 25 yd test would be more telling about the expanding bullets though, since they would have shed some of their velocity by that time.

Hmmmm...if I could tolerate newsprint, I might try that one myself. I'd be sneezing the whole time...does NOTHING for your aim.

This is the bullet that I keep in my 44 mag for a self defense load




That ought to leave a mark

That would stop the "Entitlement" Debate!!

nomo,

Are you implying that "some" are not "entitled" to 240 grains at 1200 fps?

Doc

Well that depends. I'd like to think some of those people earned it! Thus they'd be entitled.