I was reading a post can't seem to find it. But some one said when packing a pistol load it with hard cast bullets. I asked why ?? I suspecting that this was in case of a bear attack. But why hard cast bullets and not hollow point?
For 1 that carrys a pistol while hunting?
- Thread starter unclefish
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Hand Skills
Well-Known Member
Bears can get big, and sometimes more penetration is important to get through big muscles or bones.
Tough critter? Tough bullet.
Tough critter? Tough bullet.
Peregrine82
Well-Known Member
A hollow point is designed to limit penetration. If you have a dangerous animal charging you, many times you will have to call on your bullet to penetrate the skull and get to the central nervous system and if not to continue penetrating into the boiler room of the heart and lungs. Hollow points are not the best tool for that job.
NEMTHunter
Well-Known Member
I carry a 45 Colt loaded with 360 grain Hard lead Solid bullets by Cast performance. I have never needed thankfully. But Have read of others that used hollow points till they ran into problems trying to stop a bear. After that they switched out to hard lead bullets without a hollow point. Most handgun bullets that are hollow point are designed to go splat when they hit. There are some that do not do that.
Hornady XTP bullets would not be a good choice. They may work but that even go splat on wood.
I neat test is shoot a hollow point bullet of your choice into wood and see how far it goes. Then do the same test with a solid and see the difference.
Another thing to consider is a lot of guys hunting dangers game in Africa will load solids then have one expanding bullet on top. Why? So if the expanding does not do the trick they can shoot solids at the charging critter to get deep penetration.
Here is the bullets I use. http://www.grizzlycartridge.com/ind...=CP45360&sid=3h939olpl5uy7s9zcv85ierfhw259c8h
Hornady XTP bullets would not be a good choice. They may work but that even go splat on wood.
I neat test is shoot a hollow point bullet of your choice into wood and see how far it goes. Then do the same test with a solid and see the difference.
Another thing to consider is a lot of guys hunting dangers game in Africa will load solids then have one expanding bullet on top. Why? So if the expanding does not do the trick they can shoot solids at the charging critter to get deep penetration.
Here is the bullets I use. http://www.grizzlycartridge.com/ind...=CP45360&sid=3h939olpl5uy7s9zcv85ierfhw259c8h
KyCarl
Well-Known Member
I carry Underwood 220 grain hard cast in my Kimber 10MM for this reason here.
They will hit hard and go deep. Nearly 2X's the energy of a .45 acp. Holds 9 and
still a semi-thin profile.
They will hit hard and go deep. Nearly 2X's the energy of a .45 acp. Holds 9 and
still a semi-thin profile.
- Muzzle Velocity: 1200 fps
- Muzzle Energy: 703 ft lbs
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Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
I carry 220 grain hard cast in my Glock 10MM for bear defense. Thank god I have not had to use it...yet.
I carry a ruger redhawk 44 mag in a chest holster loaded with 325 grain hard cast beartooth bullets. We have a hog problem here (ga). Those blame hogs will charge and are aggressive. Nat geo did a show here several years ago and unearthed a large hog killed several weeks back. It was estimated to weigh close to 900 lbs. 300 lb porkers are fairly common. They are dangerous if accidentally walked up on. I bought the gun to deer hunt with but use it on hogs more.
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J E Custom
Well-Known Member
I think it has a lot to do with bullet weight and velocity (Energy)
I prefer the jacketed flat nose bullets for the reason of High velocity and performance. In my 454 the 325 grain cor bonds have plenty of both and the 460 with 300 grain bullets will do the job if you don mind carrying it around.
I gave up on hollow points long ago on hogs and never considered them for dangerous game.
Lead bullets work fine in low velocity cartridges, and for higher velocities hard cast lead is recommended. I realizes that they are cheaper, but feel that what ever you decide for protection against something that wants to make a meal of you, cost should not be a factor.
Lots of the guys rely on hard cast and have first hand experience.
I have only had 3 experiences that that needed taken care of and the jacketed bullets did there job.
J E CUSTOM
I prefer the jacketed flat nose bullets for the reason of High velocity and performance. In my 454 the 325 grain cor bonds have plenty of both and the 460 with 300 grain bullets will do the job if you don mind carrying it around.
I gave up on hollow points long ago on hogs and never considered them for dangerous game.
Lead bullets work fine in low velocity cartridges, and for higher velocities hard cast lead is recommended. I realizes that they are cheaper, but feel that what ever you decide for protection against something that wants to make a meal of you, cost should not be a factor.
Lots of the guys rely on hard cast and have first hand experience.
I have only had 3 experiences that that needed taken care of and the jacketed bullets did there job.
J E CUSTOM
Hollow points may be good for 2 legged critters, but wide flat nose hard cast, heavy for caliber bullets get the nod here.
I can't say I have shot a store bought cast bullet in the last 20-25 years.
On hard cast. There is hard and there is tough and malable. I was told from the get go on cast to use hard alloy. Forward quite a few years, I have went to a tougher alloy rather than a hard alloy.
True hard alloys will fracture or actually shatter. The days of everyone needing to shoot a Linotype bullet are past.
What one really needs to know is brinnel hardness, along with alloy.
On hard cast. There is hard and there is tough and malable. I was told from the get go on cast to use hard alloy. Forward quite a few years, I have went to a tougher alloy rather than a hard alloy.
True hard alloys will fracture or actually shatter. The days of everyone needing to shoot a Linotype bullet are past.
What one really needs to know is brinnel hardness, along with alloy.
For slow moving, large caliber lead slingers, hard-cast deforms less and reaches deep into the the critter where your more likely to get a Central Nervous System hit. Without a CNS hit, your relying on blood loss or just hoping the critter changes it's mind. Dangerous things have been known to cover a lot of ground even with good boiler room hits.
