.44 Mag 220 gr Extreme Penetrator in a Big Boy?

[John E Davies]

Does anyone know if this bullet will feed and cycle reliably? Any idea what velocity could be expected from a 20 inch barrel?

https://www.underwoodammo.com/products ... 5700380729

I think I will buy a BBS or All Weather for a future trip to Canada, eh! I won’t be able to bring my normal bear handgun. I was wondering how well these would do for campground bear defense...?

The light EP bullets are darned hot but they don’t recoil a lot. I carry the .327 Federal Mag loads in my SP101 and really like the concept.

Thanks for all comments.

John Davies
Spokane WA

[fortyshooter]

I have never tried those but Underwood makes some great ammo which I have used. Order a box and see how they work.
For tearing up a hole it should work well. Maybe line up 10-12 1 gal. water jugs and see what it does!

[JEBar]

I've looked long and hard at Underwood's Extreme Penetrators .... every time I have gotten close to ordering some I end up facing the reality that no bear, boar or deer has ever fought off Nosler 44's & 357's that I've been using since the mid 60's .... should you test some, please post your impressions

[John E Davies]

Thanks for the comments. FYI, I would be most worried about large salmon fed Grizzlies and big Momma Mooses, not the little guys like in the Lower 48....

[PT7]

Have you researched BHA 44 Rem Magnum 240 Gr JHPs? I've read reviews that they feed and recycle reliably in Henry BB .44 rifles. Not knowledgeable about the "campground bear defense" question.

PT7

~~Does anyone know if this bullet will feed and cycle reliably?

~~I think I will buy a BBS or All Weather for a future trip to Canada, eh! I won’t be able to bring my normal bear handgun. I was wondering how well these would do for campground bear defense...?

John Davies
Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1018 ... pid=755039

Interesting comments at the bottom. It appears to be a little hard to reload.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

Have you researched BHA 44 Rem Magnum 240 Gr JHPs? I've read reviews that they feed and recycle reliably in Henry BB .44 rifles. Not knowledgeable about the "campground bear defense" question.

Thanks, but I am looking at either hard cast flat point or these Extreme Penetrator rounds. I don’t want a HP, I want to punch a four foot long hole through a bear and out the other side. Breaking lots of bones along the way....LOL.

John Davies
Spokane Wa

[JEBar]

Thanks, but I am looking at either hard cast flat point or these Extreme Penetrator rounds. I don’t want a HP, I want to punch a four foot long hole through a bear and out the other side. Breaking lots of bones along the way....LOL.

John Davies
Spokane Wa

have you considered the Barnes Buster line .. .. a couple of years back I was researching penetrating bullets and looked at the Penetrators and Busters ... decided to go with the Busters .... I have stocked some of their 300 gr 44 and 400 gr 45-70 .... haven't worked up any loads but most certainly would if/when I may be in need of deep penetrators ... link with some info below

"Deep Penetrating Hunting Bullets Handguns & Lever Rifles

Barnes offers new heavy-for-caliber handgun and lever rifle bullets intended for hunting bear, wild boar, moose, bison, buffalo and other large—even dangerous—game. The bullet features a thick copper jacket and a heavy lead core, resulting in deep penetration and maximum weight retention."

more info at this link http://www.barnesbullets.com/bullets/buster/

[fortyshooter]

I would go with a top level magnum load using a 250 gr. bullet with as much flat point that will cycle for those big bears.

[John E Davies]

have you considered the Barnes Buster line .. .. a couple of years back I was researching penetrating bullets and looked at the Penetrators and Busters ... decided to go with the Busters .... I have stocked some of their 300 gr 44 and 400 gr 45-70 .... haven't worked up any loads but most certainly would if/when I may be in need of deep penetrators ...

Cool, I had not heard of these. I bet a hot bear load will kick some. I am trying to minimize recoil as much as practical. Or I would stick with a .45/70..... The Extreme Penetrators reportedly don’t kick too hard.

Thanks for the link.

John Davies
Spokane WA

[JEBar]

we fire hunting level loads in our Henry 44 mag and its fun to fire .... I doubt there would be much if any difference with the Busters .... ALL dangerous game loads fired out of our 45-70 kick like a mule

[Ojaileveraction]

Those extreme penetraters are great for California leagle hunting (Lead free) ammo.

[fortyshooter]

we fire hunting level loads in our Henry 44 mag and its fun to fire .... I doubt there would be much if any difference with the Busters .... ALL dangerous game loads fired out of our 45-70 kick like a mule

No doubt about that!!

[John E Davies]

Thought I would bring this thread back with another bullet, the XP 250 gr version. It is still under max COL and should feed fine through a Big Boy.

250gr-429-xtreme-penetrator-lehigh-defnese-sku-07429250SP-2048x2048 copy.jpg (121.13 KiB) Viewed 5950 times

https://www.lehighdefense.com/index.php ... 0gr-bullet

Reloading data link is on that page. I emailed LeHigh asking if these could be loaded faster since the chart seems to indicate they are all subsonic. The bullets are long, so I expect that case capacity is limited.... I will post what they reply. They do not offer any loaded ammo in this weight, only the 220 gr version at 1200 fps. Underwood loads the 220 bullet to 1530 fps out of a handgun...

For your entertainment .... video of the .45 caliber 250 gr bullet through gel at 2000 fps. It really messed up the block.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAcXEKlhEg4

John Davies
Spokane WA

[fortyshooter]

Wow! That .45 bullet made a big mess!

[John E Davies]

LOL, I keep finding more videos.This is the .44 Special 220 gr Xtreme Penetrator factory load at just 750 fps, out of a 7.5" Super Blackhawk:

LeHigh Xtreme penetrator .44 Special 750fps copy.jpg (211.95 KiB) Viewed 5900 times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftPchFsBbuI

Ouch. So this bullet does not necessarily have to go very fast.

John Davies
Spokane WA

[fortyshooter]

Might try some of those bullets for some .44 Special loads!

[Ojaileveraction]

Being lead free, those Leihigh Defence bullets would make great California hunting bullets.
I'd think . 357 caliber would preform really well in a 35Remington.

[John E Davies]

I contacted Lehigh Defense about rifle load data for the 250 gr XP and received an immediate reply. That was ten days ago.

“I do have a nice Ruger 77/44 and can check the rifle Velocities from a 16" barrel gun. Now that you point that out to us, I should get Rifle Velocities listed for our customers.
Let me know what powder is your 44 Magnum powder of choice and I will get at least one load done ASAP for you.
We also list our bullet lengths to help our customers understand how long our lead free bullets really are in comparison to other bullets. Our 250-gr. XP is longer than a 300-gr. Horandy XTP, which is why the powder charges and velocities may seem a little on the light side, but the rifle velocities will definitely be higher.”

I checked online yesterday and they have new data for a 16.25” barrel. COL is 1.59”, twist rate is 1:20 (the later Henry rate). Listed are six powders, two of which I have . Max load varies from 1380 to 1475 fps.

https://www.lehighdefense.com/index.ph ... 0gr-bullet

The lighter 220 gr bullet is moving about 1650 fps out of a 5.5” revolver. No rifle data is listed yet. I expect that the lighter bullet will prove to be more effective out of a rifle, maybe 1850 fps? It should have a similar “watermelon effect” as the .45 bullet at 2000 fps in a previous video..... Ouch.

Last night I ordered a box of the 250 gr and also the 220 gr XPs, to have on the shelf and try in my BBX. I am not sure when I would be able to test them. And I did order a new MagnetoSpeed V3 to replace my ancient shot-up sky screen type chrono....

John Davies
Spokane WA

[JEBar]

just when I thought I'd settled on loads for our 44 Mags .. .. now you've got me thinking (my wife would say that isn't necessarily a good thing) .. .. please keep the updates coming as they become available