Hey men,

Next time I get to go hog hunting, I plan on taking my Redhawk with me. As such, I'm wondering if any of you have tried the Hornady .44 240 gr XTPs on hogs yet, and if so, how did they work out?

My .44 will be primarily used as a back up to my rifle, but it never hurts to ask.

Thanks in advance for any input,

The 44 with 240's may be a little lightly constructed for hogs, depending on quarry size. The 44 with 300gr XTP's should perform better. They've been a consistent performer for me in several instances, but not on hogs...

I would try a Nosler partition or a Barnes all copper bullet.

Might want to check out Buffalo Bore's offerings if you don't handload.......

For factory loads the Nosler is available as Winchester Partition ,250 gr @ 1230 , and the Barnes XPB loaded by Corbon, DPX 225 gr @ 1350. Both have excellent reputaions for penetration !

Thanks for the responses, men. Much appreciated.

In the current "GUNS" magazine, May, 2006, John Taffin relates how he shot through a large piggy, with a Keith style 240 grains hard cast hollowpoint bullet, in a Texas Longhorn Single Action revolver, 7 1/2" barrel, in .44 Special.

Loaded to 1,200 FPS. Piggy weighed 500 pounds. Hunt was in Oregon.

I'd imagine a .44 Mag./240 grains bullet would do for a biggy piggy.

JMHO. L.W.

The 240 XTP is very fast opening and most of the time will not exit a deer. Bones and tough hide are death to it. I would go to the 300 gr or another tougher bullet.

Have shot 3 fairly large Warthog with the 44 240gr XTPs all broadside and all were complete pass through. Range between 30 and 50m. All pigs died to the single shot. I will use them again

I don't know anything about the warthog but the Russian boar has a very tough cover to get through. I have shot several deer broadside through the ribcage with the 240 XTP and neither went all the way through. They died just fine but I wondered about a bone hit or a quartering shot. I got away from them.
If I would have been shooting them a little slower, they might have been better but at full mag velocities, they open too fast. It will all depend on how fast you drive them. They were made to open from .44 special velocities and up.

I've gotten away from expanding bullets in big-bore handguns because you already have a pretty big diameter which guarantees a big hole. You just have to make sure that the slug penetrates enough to get the job done. Have you thought of using a good heavy for caliber hard cast bullet for hunting? Something in the 300 grain range?

All I use are hard cast boolits with large meplats. 330 gr in .44, 335 and 347 gr in .45, 330 and 430 gr in 45-70 and a 430 gr in the .475. I will never go back to jacketed.

Hardcast heavywieghts LBT style is all that I shoot in My big bore revolvers. Much better than any of the commercialy available jacketed bullets.

Much better how?!? Better for shooting through moose, elk, brown bear, buffalo...sure. Thin skinned game like deer, antelope, black bear ...no way.

Yes, they DO kill better then the wrong choice of a jacketed bullet. The idea is to punch a hole in AND out. This gives a good blood trail. I see most of my deer drop, but all of you know it doesn't always happen that way and you will have to track some. Nothing wrong at all with jacketed as long as the right one is chosen, except cost. The 300 gr XTP, the Nosler partition and quite a few others are great.
Just one instance of a loss of penetration will make me dump that bullet.
Since the transfer of energy and tremendous internal destuction of a rifle bullet is not there with a handgun, it is best to shoot all the way through. Some of the new calibers like the .460 can do what a rifle does and can also be too destructive on meat.
All I will always say, is to pick the proper bullet, whether cast or jacketed.

My 300gr XTP's absolutely outperform any hardcast that I've ever used. This pertains to deer only. In larger game animals, I'm sure the hardcast would outperform the XTP by a great margin. Choose the correct bullet...

Mancannon, you are right and I would only use that bullet for deer if I could afford them. I shoot too much and am retired on a fixed income. I even have to make my own moulds from free scrap. Just buying powder and primers can hurt.
There are wonderful bullets out there and I can't say anything bad about them, just have to use the right one for the game AND THE VELOCITY that it is shot at. The 240 XTP would work perfect in the .44 special or a reduced .44 mag. The 300 gr is perfect in a full house mag.

Amen, brother!!

quote:

Originally posted by ManCannon:
Much better how?!? Better for shooting through moose, elk, brown bear, buffalo...sure. Thin skinned game like deer, antelope, black bear ...no way.

The hardcast of LBT design have always killed Deer just fine for me. Since I like to keep things simple the Hardcast works well on small game as well as very large game (Moose,Buffalo, Bears, ect.) I do not know of a commercialy made jacketed that works as well across the board.Once I went to the LBT style hardcast I have found no reason to go back to jacketed.

I like to shoot all kinds of bullets but it just gets too expensive. I can cast for almost nothing except a little added alloys. The LBT style has proven very effective and will not stop in an animal giving two holes to bleed. I only shoot cast because they work, are accurate and are cheap so I can shoot much more.
I will never be against someone that uses jacketed as long as the bullet is right for what they are doing. To each his own, we are all in this game together and I respect everyones opinion.
Other then archery, handguns are the next best exciting way to hunt and my hat is off to all of you that do it. It is just plain fun! I am big into muzzle loaders too but have taken so many deer with my bows and revolvers that I don't need anymore when primitive season opens. Haven't shot a deer with my Hawken or flinters in years. Too darned easy! I would rather hunt then shoot.