405 gr Hog Load

[v-man]

Some may find this interesting while others may not. I like to walk the NE Florida swamps with my .454 Ruger Alaskan and thump hogs in the palmettos. (yes, I do eat every one I kill) Since I had an abundance of 405gr HC that I no longer use in my 45-70 I decided to size some down from .458 to .453 (2 step process) and try them in the Casull. I like it!
Pushing 405gr at 1050 fps from a 2 1/2" barrel is novel enough to give me pleasure. (I know you .500 S&W guys won't be impressed) I'm pleased with the accuracy and not concerned that at 25 yds some are keyholing cause they still group well. I usually can't see that far through the palmettos anyway. I only load them in the first 2 chambers ahead of 4 of my 300 gr XTP/Mag loads because they barely fit in the cylinder and a couple of times the last 2 out of 6 have "jumped the crimp" jamming the cylinder. Is this load enough? You bet! Is it overkill? Who cares?

[shot1]

It should drill a hog nicely. I shoot a 405 gr slug from my Sharps 45-70 rifle at 1400 fps and it will drill a deer from stem to stern and keep on trucking.

[Mikey]

v-man:  my only concern is that while your ruger is out of action and jammed up, one of those hogs decides to come after you.  What do you carry for backup???

[S.B.]

Novel idea, I for one, like your thoughts. Experimenting and searching for something different has spawned many an improvement. Maybe try polishing your expander plug down a few thousands would help with your bullet jump?
Steve

[v-man]

Mikey, If you'll notice my post the SRH doesn't jam in the woods cause it only has 2 of those loads in it followed by the regular stuff that never jumps the crimp. But your question about back-up is sound. If I carry a long gun the Alaskan is my back-up. If no long gun I have a scoped 7.5" SRH also in .454 in a shoulder holster for the times that I find a good place to sit with a view out to 40, 50yds or further. It's good to go off hand at that range and out to over 100yds from a good rest.
I have at times carried an SP-101 with some pretty stout loads as a back up to the Alaskan and even once a 1911 converted to .400 Corbon. The Alaskan has sort of caused my .44 Mag RedHawk to feel left out but I still take it to the range occasionally and show it some love. I'm just a real sensitive guy like that.

[Ken ONeill]

I would have expected those 405 gr. loads to shoot 8-12" higher than the 300's @~ 25 yds.

[v-man]

Ken, Good call. From the bench they seem to be about 4" high at 15 and 6" at 25. With the short sight radius, the occasional tumbler and shooting off hand I wouldn't shoot at anything smaller than a Rhino beyond that distance.

[243dave]

V-man,  If some of those 405 are keyholing on paper they definately will on a hog.  When they do, penetration won't be great.  I imagine your 300 xtp mags will out penetrate them with no trouble.  Set up about 6 or 7 phone books,  water jugs or whatever,  and do a little testing.  They may not do as well as you think.  I'm sure they will kill but not as well as a good stout stabilized bullet.    Dave