.357 Magnum Hunting Load
- Thread starter jwrowland77
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jwrowland77,
After looking at the profile of the Hornady FTX bullet, I would not use it. With handgun rounds for hunting, you want a bullet with a large meplat. Loading a handgun round for hunting with a bullet with the profile of a rifle round, yet without the velocity of a rifle round makes zero sense. Assuming everything goes well with that bullet and you get expansion and penetration, you will have a small entrance hole and a large exit hole. With a bullet with a large meplat, you will get a large entry AND exit hole which is what you want. Just MHO.
Don
After looking at the profile of the Hornady FTX bullet, I would not use it. With handgun rounds for hunting, you want a bullet with a large meplat. Loading a handgun round for hunting with a bullet with the profile of a rifle round, yet without the velocity of a rifle round makes zero sense. Assuming everything goes well with that bullet and you get expansion and penetration, you will have a small entrance hole and a large exit hole. With a bullet with a large meplat, you will get a large entry AND exit hole which is what you want. Just MHO.
Don
I come down on the side of those who favor the half-jacket FP bullet and a charge of H110/W296. I used to shoot a Sierra 160 gr FP that was great with a full charge of W630 (unfortunately, long gone). I would get flattened primers, but great accuracy and very consistent. I should note that these were shot with a 6" Ruger GP-100, a very strong pistol. Like the 110/296, don't forget the magnum primer.
ArchAngelCD
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The only reason the FTX bullet looks like a rifle bullet is the polymer tip. That tip is supposed to aid in higher velocities, maintaining velocities at further distances and aid in expansion. They will do a good job on Deer especially if fired from a Carbine. I pushed a 140gr Sierra bullet to just under 2000 fps from a 18.5" Carbine using W296.
BTW, I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it or not but Hodgdon has load data specifically for the FTX bullet in the .357 Magnum. For some reason Hodgdon is loading to only 31,100 PSI with claimed velocities of 1,607 fps. It's possible that's the speed limit of the bullet construction but I have my doubts since the XTP bullet is pushed to much higher velocities so who knows? Hodgdon lists the XTP bullet pressures @40,900 CUP. I know both were tested using different methods but Hodgdon stopped at a charge of 14.5gr H110 with the FTX bullet while they upped the charge to 19.0gr H110 with the same weight XTP bullet.
BTW, I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it or not but Hodgdon has load data specifically for the FTX bullet in the .357 Magnum. For some reason Hodgdon is loading to only 31,100 PSI with claimed velocities of 1,607 fps. It's possible that's the speed limit of the bullet construction but I have my doubts since the XTP bullet is pushed to much higher velocities so who knows? Hodgdon lists the XTP bullet pressures @40,900 CUP. I know both were tested using different methods but Hodgdon stopped at a charge of 14.5gr H110 with the FTX bullet while they upped the charge to 19.0gr H110 with the same weight XTP bullet.
Arch, I saw that too. My belief is that the FTX bullet takes up more of the case than the XTP. I'm going strictly off what it looks like in the manual from where the cannelure is for crimping. I had tried to find W296 for the FTX but H110 popped up only. I did email Hornady to verify load data on it though.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Having only H110 data is not a problem at all since W296 and H110 are identical. I understand you are saying the bullet seats deeper in the case but what I'm saying is, I wish both loads were either in PSI or CUP so I can directly compare the pressures of both. A charge of 14.5gr and 19.0gr is a huge difference when both loads use a 140gr jacketed bullet from Hornady. That is more than a 30% difference in powder charges...
That is a little scary since load data for bullets of the same weight and construction "usually" can be used safely. That much of a difference changes everything and I'm just glad this thread happened...
Yeah, that would be nice to have apples to apples comparison. That was another reason I emailed someone just to verify. I probably should have emailed Hodgdon about it. I had emailed Hornady, mainly because they didn't have data for H110/W296 under the FTX spot, and with the huge difference at Hodgdon, I needed some verification. Lol.
If it is new powder, 296/110 are the same. This is THE magnum pistol powder, you might get some muzzle flash but it shoots good. Fast and accurate. that is what I look for in a hunting round.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Do we have to do this again?
Hodgdon took over distribution of Winchester powders in 2003 and admitted HP-38 is the same as W231 and it always was! So, if it's powder from before 2003 it's still the same powder just like W296 = H110, W540 = HS-6, W571 = HS-7 (both discontinued), W760 = H414 and WAP = Silhouette...
There is no advantage to using the FTX bullet in a revolver. The polymer tip was designed primarily to prevent a chain fire in lever-action magazines but it does have the added benefit of letting the bullet retain velocity longer. This is a moot point at a 75 yard maximum handgun range. Besides, the 140gr XTP has almost the same ballistic coefficient. If you are set on using the FTX, don't trim your cases until you load a dummy round and check your cylinder length. You may not have to trim at all.
The 158gr Hornady XTP will do nicely. If penetration is a concern, I suggest the Sierra 158gr JSP. The Sierra seats less deeply than the Hornady so adjust your powder charge accordingly. Accurate/Scots 4100 (Ramshot Enforcer is the same powder) is another powder you might look at. It's much cleaner burning than H110/W296 and you can use the original AA#9 data for some pretty stout loads.
The 158gr Hornady XTP will do nicely. If penetration is a concern, I suggest the Sierra 158gr JSP. The Sierra seats less deeply than the Hornady so adjust your powder charge accordingly. Accurate/Scots 4100 (Ramshot Enforcer is the same powder) is another powder you might look at. It's much cleaner burning than H110/W296 and you can use the original AA#9 data for some pretty stout loads.
When compared side by side the 140gn FTX has a much longer bearing surface than a 140 gn XTP, leaving less case capacity.
With 296/H110 often being a compressed charge, there is probably no case capacity left.
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