how many of you test your handgun handloads , for accuracy and penetration before you go hunting?
how many guys stick to reliable load data"
one of the guys I occasionally hunt with had recently gotten into handloading,
he had purchased a 6" Ruger 357 mag revolver and wanted to go hog hunting with it,
he had purchased a 170-grain mold and cast up a couple of pounds of projectiles
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010242033
he had hand loaded a couple of dozen cartridges with those bullets in some 357 mag brass he found at a local range,
while he waited for his ordered components like powder and primers and brass to arrive
I have no idea where he looked up the load data ,
but he said it should be safe enough as it was for,
200 grain bullets in a 38 spc
and it was being used in his ruger 357 mag
and remembered he had used
green dot powder
I pulled one cartridge apart, it looked like it had 4.5 grains of powder
I could not find a single similar reference.
I suggested we pull the ammo and re load with known powder in a listed charge weight.
he insisted we try his handloads, knowing it was a 357 mag and only 4.5 grains of powder,
I was reluctant to let him,
but he insisted and placed a 2x4 on the ground outside my shop and fired a couple cartridges into it,
the bullets barely exited the 2x4 and were found on the dirt under the board.
obviously this was not a load Id suggest he hunt with.
and I handed him an old lyman manual and told him to keep it.Lyman 45th Reloading
and suggested he read it and only use info he verified in at least three different printed manuals as his sources
we all make mistakes, we were all young and invincible,
and luckily this was minor but it could have gone very wrong.
it could have been a huge over load rather than an underload that would most likely not be effective,
you can,t just guess or randomly pick powder types and bullet weights