44 Mag XTP velocity

[rimfire]

To all copied,

I was cranking these out at well over 1500 fps in my FA83 44, but I have decided to give my hands and wrists a break.  I want to be able to take a 100 yard shot with a good rest and still have enough velocity to perform on a deer.  I know black hills ammo is loaded at closer to 1300 fps.

Anyone with any experience with this or any other 240 hp 44 bullet that implies a minimum velocity for good performance?  If I am getting 1100 fps at 100 yards is that enough?  1200 fps?  1250fps?  I realize this is not an easy question and requres a lot of assumptions as to shot location, deer size, etc., but I would appreciate anything you can offer.

My thinking was to back off until I just cleared 1300 fps and work with that load on Whitetails.  Note we do have deer up around 200 pounds sometimes here in Western NY.

Thanks.

rimfire

[Catfish]

I long ago lost count of the number of deer that I and my friends have taken with the .44 mag. ammo that I loaded. What I loaded was abt. 1,250 fps with a 240 gr. bullet. I tried alot of diffeerent bullets and found that I got the best in accuracy and terminal performance with the Serria bullet. At 1,250 the Hornadys do not expand, but they are very accurate. With the Serria bullets the only 1 I ever recovered was from a 10 point buck shot at 135 yrds. while 1/4 away from me. I shot him in the left rear and recovered the bullet just under the skin of the frount shoulder. It had mushroomed perfectly and still had over 95% of it weight. I tried some 180 gr. Serrias once, I got a deer, but the first shot at abt. 10 yrds. left an entrence hole like a 16 oz. water glass but did not get to the heart. A second through the ribs did the job, but I would not recomand the liter Serria bullets. Hornady puts heaver jacket on their bullets and you might be able to use their lite bullets on deer. For the last 25 yrs. or so my .44 mag. deer load is a max. charge of Win. 296 powder and a 240 gr. Serria bullet.

[sawfish]

Catfish has the right idea about picking a good load and sticking with it.  I have been using the same amount of H-110 and the R-P 240 gr. JHP Bullet for about the same period of time.  The R-P bullet looks like it would be too soft for good penetration, but I have only recovered a couple of them.  Both had over 80% weight retention, and that includes the 2 Whitetails I killed last week.  Shoot for duplicating the R-P factory load with this bullet.  Darn cheap in bulk too.

[mikedb]

I long ago lost count of the number of deer that I and my friends have taken with the .44 mag. ammo that I loaded. What I loaded was abt. 1,250 fps with a 240 gr. bullet. I tried alot of diffeerent bullets and found that I got the best in accuracy and terminal performance with the Serria bullet. At 1,250 the Hornadys do not expand, but they are very accurate. With the Serria bullets the only 1 I ever recovered was from a 10 point buck shot at 135 yrds. while 1/4 away from me. I shot him in the left rear and recovered the bullet just under the skin of the frount shoulder. It had mushroomed perfectly and still had over 95% of it weight. I tried some 180 gr. Serrias once, I got a deer, but the first shot at abt. 10 yrds. left an entrence hole like a 16 oz. water glass but did not get to the heart. A second through the ribs did the job, but I would not recomand the liter Serria bullets. Hornady puts heaver jacket on their bullets and you might be able to use their lite bullets on deer. For the last 25 yrs. or so my .44 mag. deer load is a max. charge of Win. 296 powder and a 240 gr. Serria bullet.

On what are you basing that 240 XTPs do not expand at 1250fps.  The factory load is at about1325 fps.  I like them because I have grouped three into a cloverleaf at 25 yds.  The lack of expansion bothers me.

[STJ]

I have expaned 44 cal 240gr XTP bullets from my 44 special at 950fps....

BTW take a look at this >> http://www.hornady.com/media/2006catalog/Hornady_Bullets_Handgun.pdf

[mikedb]

Thanks for the info regarding your experience and link.  I am glad what was stated earlier is not true.  Like I said the factory loads go in one hole out of my SRH at 25 yds.  No reason to try to improve on that.