WHAT SIZE BULLET FOR SOUTH EAST GAME?

[RB-3]

I live in Central Florida and am planing on hunting with a 44 mag. Ruger SBH next season. I will be going after whitetail, and hogs in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. I have decided to go with a hard cast bullet but dont know what size to go with. I have access to 240gr. rnfp and 250gr. Kieth bullets. Either will work I'm sure but is it overkill or would I be better off with a 225gr or smaller bullet? Any help would be Welcome!

[Questor]

I would go with the Hornady XTP in 240 grains myself.  Good bullet.  Any of the 240 grain cast bullets are fine for your application so long as they have a flat or hollow pointed nose.  I don't see any reason to go with the lighter bullet, or a heavier one.  240 to 250 is just about ideal for the 44 mag.

If you go hog hunting, get hard cast bullets like those by Cast Performance.  You'll need the extra penetration. and the flat nose cuts a nice hole that leaves a good blood trail.

[Varmint Hunter]

Whitetails are rather easy to kill with a properly placed shot. My recommendation would be to use a 240gr jacketed hollowpoint on them for the quickest kill. I have shot whitetails with hardcast 44mag bullets and they do not take them down nearly as fast. Not in my experience anyway.

As to the hogs, it really depends on how big they are. Average size hogs seem to get killed by everything, if you read the boards enough. I shot an average boar (estimated at 200lbs) with a 44mag - 265gr soft point bullet and it went  right through. There is much discussion that large boar take a lot of killing. Here is what I observed a few weks ago when my buddies and I shot 3 boar that all weighed over 300lbs.

454 Casull w/ 300gr Swift A-Frame - bullet passed right through
44 mag w/250gr Nosler Partition     - bullet passed right through
44mag w/300gr Hard Cast bullet     - bullet passed right through
50cal muzzleloader w/295gr Powerbelt Slug & 150gr Cleanshot
                                                    - bullet passed right through
All the boar had short lifespans, the 454 Casull put the boar down the fastest and left an unbelievable 2.5' wide blood trail for 40 yards.

Yea, we had a lot of fun on that hunt.       VH

[Questor]

Thanks for sharing those hog statistics with us, Varmint Hunter.  That's excellent information to have.

[ed]

we hunt deer in eastern NC with a 200 grain speer GDHP... bullets perform well and are super accurate.

[bart sims]

I live in Central Florida and am planing on hunting with a 44 mag. Ruger SBH next season. I will be going after whitetail, and hogs in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. I have decided to go with a hard cast bullet but dont know what size to go with. I have access to 240gr. rnfp and 250gr. Kieth bullets. Either will work I'm sure but is it overkill or would I be better off with a 225gr or smaller bullet? Any help would be Welcome!

240 or 300 gr are my preferences. I have used 240 jhp but they did not expand. A .44 hole through both sides is pretty effective however. Heavy hard cast SWC at moderate speeds are good choice for deer and hogs.

Bart in Ga.

[bigbore442001]

I have just read an excellent article by Ross Seyfried on soft nose cast bullets for game in the April issue of Handloader magazine. I'm thinking of making a batch.

In a nutshell, you drop some soft lead in the nose of a bullet mold followed by a harder alloy to resist leading. The article goes into great detail on their construction.

I bet a soft nosed Keith bullet of 250 grains would do just about anything you come across south of the Mason-Dixon line.

[ROB]

Ross had an article in G&A years ago about that bullet. Let me know if you try it. ROB

[MS Hitman]

I have killed over two dozen deer with various bullets of the 240-300 grain persuasions.  Of the hard casts you stated you have access to, I'd go with the Keith bullet.  A jacketed hollowpoint is an excellent choice, but a well placed cast bullet is equally ou can double shoulder a deer because of the extra penetration afforded you by a cast bullet.  I wouldn't go lighter than a 240, but that is my personal decision.

By the way, who knows what the Mason-Dixon line really is?  I'll post the answer in a couple of days if it is not correctly identified.

[Zeus]

Hitman,
That one is easy.  The MD line is anything North of Jackson, MS or maybe I'll sqeeze in Starkville.  Does it have to be straight or can it have one really quick and sharp rise and fall?  Later.   :lol:

[Tom W.]

There ain't much a hard cast bullet won't stop down here, and they're a whole lot cheaper than jacketed anythings..




The Mason- Dixon line is the delination between the yankees and the civilized folks. I do believe it is the state line between Maryland and Pennsylvania.. :lol:

[MS Hitman]

Correct Bama Boy.  

Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were two English astronomers who traveled from England to survey the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland  The survey took place between 1763 to 1767.  Mason and Dixon had to abandon the line due to hostile actions by the indians in the area.  The final 22 miles to the southeast corner of Pennsylvania was completed in 1784.

[Zachary]

All the boar had short lifespans, the 454 Casull put the boar down the fastest and left an unbelievable 2.5' wide blood trail for 40 yards.

WOW! :eek:   That just blows my mind! :eek:   (I think that you meant 2.5 inches, not 2.5 feet, but still, that's a wide blood trail for 40 yards!)

Where did the bullet enter and exit?  Just behind the shoulder in the Lung area?

Zachary

[Varmint Hunter]

The shot was a standing broadside shot. Bullet impact was just behind the shoulder and at about half way up the body. The 300gr Swift A-Frame bullet easily zipped through the boar and exited the opposite side. Blood was ejected 12 feet out of the off side of the boar and could be seen atop the white snow. The blood trail was about 2.5 feet wide from that point and continued to where the boar piled up, about 40 yards away. It was a short, fast run for Mr. Piggy.  
Although the Swift bullets are rather expensive, they were rather inexpensive compared to the overall cost of the hunt, traveling, lodging etc. They also performed perfectly on this trip. Accurate and deadly. I also only needed a few shots to confirm that they shot to the same point of impact as the Hornady 300gr XTP, which the revolver was originally sighted in for. I still have more than half of the Swift bullets left over.
VH

[HHI-7420]

MSHitman, the mason/dixon line was set up to settle the land dispute between the Penns of Pennsylvania and the folks in Maryland. It runs (the state line)between the two states west to somewhere past Morgantown, W. Va.. The original(carried on their backs) stone markers are still in existance.  :wink:   Pat

[MS Hitman]

Yes, the limestone markers were brought inby hand, although by wagon more so than backs.  Mason and Dixon stopped their line short of the western edge of Penssylvania because of Indian actions.  The line was continued on after the original work was done.

There was a surveyors rondevous last year I think to set a copy of one of the original stones.  

My point is that the Mason/Dixon line is the Maryland and Pennsylvania border and not a line delineating the north and the south.