I ran out of .458 bullets yesterday so I went to the store to get see what they had. Only thing on the shelf were Hornady 300gr hollow points, not my first choice but fine, got them. Loaded a bunch up with 94gr of H4831 and a few with 116gr of H4831 just for S&G. Well, turns out that the 94gr loads were great plinking loads. I was curious though as how they would do for penetration. So I picked out a pine tree that was a little less then 2 feet in diameter and shot it from 20yrds, they went right through. I then loaded the 115gr loads and shot the same tree, this time it did not penetrate the tree. I couldn’t believe it! all 4 115gr loads did not penetrate the tree. Best I can figure is that they opened up real fast after entering the tree.

Bullets of weaker construction don't always handle velocity well. When they meat resistance, they come apart. A 22% increase in powder charge could certainly push them over the top of what they can handle.

I see this all the time...

bullets have a certain tolerance or window that they work well in for penetration, and opening up just as one needs them...

remember, when they hit something, it is their construction vs the resistance of what they are encountering..

a good example I heard once that I have been using ever since, was stand in waist deep water and take your fist and hit the water as hard and fast as you can... of course you feel the resistance and see the resulting splash...

then take your fist and hit the water slowly... no resistance and no splash at all...

same was with a bullet encountering resistance of what it is shot into..


in a lot of bullet testing I have noticed that when varmint bullets are throttled down, they act like regular game bullet for penetration and regular game bullets are rocketed too fast out of the barrel will explode on hitting game or resistance of another object...

223 loads at 2400 fps MV will penetrate 3/8 steel plate all day long, but when one ratchets up the velocity to the standard 3100-3200 fps, the same bullet will hit the steel plate and disintegrate...

so your results are another example of what I have been talking about tailoring ones loads to the task at hand..this means with both bullet and powder charge...

now it would be interesting to see that bad boy on a prairie dog or two....