Bullet Integrity

[Trinder]

Hello ,So , I hope to get some response here on bullet Integrity .I will shoot big bodied Saskatchewan White tail deer this year and some Mulies
I want to use my BBS 357 Carbine I have a 640 acres of some good deer land .I have many other rifles [many] I am going to reload the 180 grain Swift A frame around 13-15 grains of H110 or less or more to find the sweetest accuracy. My friend says why not try the Buffalo Bore cast and its a great choice ,My wife went to the store and came home with the 158 Buffalo Bore XTP [Hornady] bullet .After many articles some say the XTP is great and will not separate or fragment Some say it will again after many articles

My question is if the XTP has integrity issues at normal factory speeds , driving the bullet faster will only make it less favorable as that's all Buffalo bore does is drive the bullets faster. So when I read about Buffalo Bore being the best load for deer ,it maybe ,but in all reality getting to the vitals on non-perfect angled shots is reality in hunting .I have my doubts if it is as good as the Hornady factory 158 xtp as it will retain more integrity fired at a lesser velocity the than the Buffalo Bore

[Please note that deer numbers are low and when you get a shot at a nice buck of the 150-160 class then you take the shot with great respect to the animal and done in the most humane way possible ] or if the shot is not acceptable then you let the deer walk away

If I could find some Buffalo Bore with say a Swift a frame in 180 or accurate strong cast load I think would be the ticket but the XTP or FTX is not on my bucket list of bullets with integrity

Chime in after all you guys shoot a lot of deer with pistol calibers and this year will be my first attempt

thank you

[JEBar]

we plan to load 158 gr Nosler JHP bullets for hunting bullets fired from our Henry 357 .... over the years they have performed well, making clean kills at 25 to 50 yards when fired from Ruger GP100's .... based on that history we figure they should do as good or better coming out of a Henry rifle .... we have taken some large whitetails, no experience with mule deer .... for us the key is keeping the shooting distance in mind .... we don't feel comfortable at over 100 yards and prefer 50 or less

[clovishound]

I haven't done a lot of testing. I was going to make my own hunting loads for my Big Boy steel.

Was the the range with my buddy's chrony and ran the American Eagle 158 grain soft points over the chrony. They came in at 1800 fps. This is higher than any of the 158 grain loads I saw listed that were tested in a rifle length barrel.

For hogs 150lbs and under that I will be looking for around here, I called that good and abandoned trying to make my own.

The soft points have a good reputation as a hunting round with good penetration. The speed should be fast enough to induce hydro shock. JHPs may expand more, but given that feral hogs are my primary target, I was more concerned with penetration.

There may well be better ammo out there, or better ammo to be made for my purpose. For now, I am satisfied it will do the job I want it to do.

[DWD445]

I am new to reloading and not a hunting expert by no means. I do shoot a lot of 357 handguns.
I have reloaded some 357s w/Hornady XTP 158g and CFE pistol powder, and tried them= OK
Also loaded some H110 in Hornady 125g, 158g and 357 Max w/180g XTP, and not tried them yet.
The Hodgdon site where I get my load info.does not show that high of a load [13.5 max w/H110] 1,396 fps w/10" barrel at max load.
Here's a link to loading data from Hodgdon
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol
And FWIW Midway has Hornady 180g XTP on sale, not many choices there for 180g.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/55281 ... box-of-100

[clovishound]

I hadn't looked up the load you mentioned for the 180 grain. Just curious, where did you find that load?

As mentioned, the powder manufacturer lists a significantly lower max load. You may also find that you will run out of room in the case for that much powder with that big a pill on top. I ran out of room with 4227 and 158 grain XTP long before I reached max. The starting point you were looking at is a full 1.5 grains more than Hodgdon's max. I would be very concerned about the safety of that load. I know Hodgdon tends to be somewhat conservative, but that much over would give me pause.

With 158 grain you gain 150 fps between a 10" barrel and an 18.5" barrel. With the 180 grain you get roughly the same MV.

My money would be on the 158 grain bullet. But that's just me.

[DWD445]

I hadn't looked up the load you mentioned for the 180 grain. Just curious, where did you find that load?
The starting point you were looking at is a full 1.5 grains more than Hodgdon's max. I would be very concerned about the safety of that load. I know Hodgdon tends to be somewhat conservative, but that much over would give me pause.

That's what I was getting at. I loaded some 357 Max rounds last night at 19.9g of H110 in a case that's over .300" longer !
I also had Hornady XTP 180g bullets that had 2 crimp rings, I pushed in to 1st ring and was close enough to COL. but for a
magnum case/COL you would have to go to 2nd crimp ring. I loaded some 357 magnum w/125g and 19.4g H110 and the case
was almost full, surely w/2nd crimp on 180g bullet you would be compressing load !! H110 compressed may damage you or your gun
125g XTP w/19.4 H110 were at over 1900 fps. If you want a little more MV than a 158g you could use a 140g also w/max load of 19g w MV at
1762fps

[Trinder]

we plan to load 158 gr Nosler JHP bullets for hunting bullets fired from our Henry 357 .... over the years they have performed well, making clean kills at 25 to 50 yards when fired from Ruger GP100's .... based on that history we figure they should do as good or better coming out of a Henry rifle .... we have taken some large whitetails, no experience with mule deer .... for us the key is keeping the shooting distance in mind .... we don't feel comfortable at over 100 yards and prefer 50 or less

Jebar

I am curious how the JHP stays together ,I totally respect your hunting set-up and I too plan on shooting 60 yards or less

You have the experience because its in the freezer ,but with the increased speed out of a Carbine wont bullet blow up be assured using the JHP?

It seems I need to see how the season turns out lol

thanks

[JEBar]

I am curious how the JHP stays together ,I totally respect your hunting set-up and I too plan on shooting 60 yards or less

You have the experience because its in the freezer ,but with the increased speed out of a Carbine wont bullet blow up be assured using the JHP?

It seems I need to see how the season turns out lol

thanks

in Nosler's current manual they list their 158 JHP for use in a 357 Mag rifle with muzzle speeds of up to 1724 fps .... if their bullet couldn't perform at such speeds, I doubt they would list those load recommendations .... here again, they've given us excellent performance on whitetail deer and boar .... no experience with Mule Deer .... as additional info, they offer their JHP's in 200, 240, and 300 grains .... their load recommendations for the 200 grain with muzzle speeds of up to 1845 fps .... they also offer a 240 grain JSP .... we haven't tried anything but the 240 JHP but in thinking about penetration, I just might buy a box of their JSP's and give them a try

[Travlin]

158 gr.JHP. in a .44 magnum rifle?

[JEBar]

158 gr.JHP. in a .44 magnum rifle?

my ooooops .... 357

[Travlin]

No problem JEBAR. I thought I might learn something new but I guess you have the same keyboard as I do.

[JEBar]

No problem JEBAR. I thought I might learn something new but I guess you have the same keyboard as I do.

if this computer was anywhere near as smart as they are supposed to be, it would have auto corrected my error ... ...

[clovishound]

Sorry, I don't want the computer deciding what I should have written.

FWIW, I always read my posts through at least once before posting.

Still don't always catch issues, but it helps.