Ethical Bullet Size

[pluckit]

I was wondering what anyone's thoughts were on an what an ethical bullet size was for harvesting a white tail deer. The reason bieng is that I have acquired a number of 200 grain .40 cal. and 180 grain .44 cal. XTP's and wanted to know peoples opinion on using them to hunt deer with.

[Semisane]

Considering that a "fair number" of whitetails have been ethically taken with the lowly 128 grain .440 ball, I would consider a modern 180 grain jacketed bullet a major step up.

I've killed two deer with one of those bullets, the .40/200 grain XTP over 85 grains of GOEX as reported here;

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/blac...kes-again.html

and here;

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/blac...grain-xtp.html

with no complaints.

[cayugad]

A lead roundball weighs 177 grains. Of course the diameter is larger, but still I feel that the modern bullet at high speeds is more then able to take a white tail deer.

[Muley Hunter]

More than enough for whitetails.

[pluckit]

The .40 caliber 200 grain XTP is a long sleek looking bullet. It looks like it should fly really well. Where the 180 grain .44 caliber XTP is short and stubby. I'm not sure how that one will fly.

[Semisane]

Those stubby little .40/180 grain Gold Dots fly pretty well from my .45 GM/LRH Renegade.

50 yards.


100 yards.


DANG THAT FLIER!!! Something like that may cause me to miss a deer.

[flounder33]

Lowering your powder charge 10 grains sure didn't affect your velocity much Semi.

[bronko22000]

i would agree. Either one will cleanly kill a whitetail if you do your part and put it in the right spot. try them both and see which one shoots the best for you.

[Semisane]

Lowering your powder charge 10 grains sure didn't affect your velocity much Semi.

I was so surprised at that Flounder that I repeated the loads and got pretty much the same results. I ended up jumping the charge to 125 grains (GOEX FFFg) and got it up to a tad over 2000 fps. But the groups opened up to over an inch and a half at 50 yards. I also shot one group with 95 grains and MMP tan sabots and got a 50 fps jump over the Harvester sabots, but again the 50 yard groups were over two inches.

Here's the projected trajectory & energy with the 85 grain load.



Now the energy figures out past 100 yards might not impress you. But consider this. The remaining velocity/energy at 200 yards is right at the level of a 7" barrel .357 Magnum revolver with a 180 grain hunting bullet at the muzzle. Would you shoot a whitetail at point blank range with a .357 and expect it to do the job?


.

[oldsmellhound]

I've taken at least 5 deer with the 200 .40 cal XTP. All were 1 shot, 1 kills. A couple were boom flops, a couple ran a short distance afterwards. Powder charges varied from 80 - 100 grain T7 fffg. Ranges varied from 25 yards to 110 yards. I wouldn't worry about it. For deer sized game, the 200 XTP does a great job. Now if I was going after something tougher like hogs or big game like elk, that would be a different story....

Shot placement is always key. Doesn't matter what you are shooting if you don't put it in the right place. Like Semi said, any of these loads are going to be significantly more powerful at 100 yards than a hot-loaded .357 mag is at the muzzle, and many people hunt deer with a .357 mag. The 200 XTP holds together well, expands and penetrates. It's not the best bullet I've ever used, but it is pretty solid and I would recommend it. I would expect a well-constructed 180 grain bullet would also do well, but I have no personal experience to back this up. You may get less penetration, but should still get the job done.

As a side note, I've always gotten good penetration with the 200 XTP, although they haven't always exited the deer- a couple times they were found under the off-side hide.