Simply wicked
Autumn is a great time of year to live in Arizona, clear blue skies with temps in the low to mid 80s during the day, making it great for outdoor activities. It's also a time of year when we see increased mountain lion activity in the high desert valleys. From several years ago is this October lion print over my size 11 boot.
I'd finished grading some roads out back on the property and went on a walk, the next lion track was four feet away from the one in the pic. In less than an hour later this lion with a 5.5" print managed to travel down the same road as me w/o me seeing it. Since there's a lot of dense mesquite on that part of the property, I'll never know how close the two of us were..... and this wasn't the only time this has happened out back.
I've only experienced fleeting glimpses of lions and have heard them a number of times. My main goal is to see one of them long enough to snap a picture, but this goal has alluded my efforts thus far.
I realize lion attacks on humans are extremely rare, but I also realize that predator attacks on dogs is more common, whether from lions or javelina/coyotes, even raccoons.
While other platforms/calibers have been carried in anticipation of a rare lion encounter, seeing very large hog tracks have changed my carry options. One platform that's seen a lot of hip time has been the M29 Mountain, a comfortable carry that weighs approximately the same as a 1911 or loaded G20.
I've been experimenting with 200gr XTPs and N105 powder and I like what I've witnessed thus far. The 44/200gr sectional density is about the same as the 357/140gr, while the 44/210gr sectional density matches up with the 10mm/180gr. The 357mag/140gr JHPs traveling in the low 1500s have tested very well being very destructive. My goal with the 200gr XTP loaded with N105 powder was to attain the 1500fps level while reducing muzzle blast/flash and reduce felt recoil compared to other 44mag offerings.
That goal has been attained and it matches up with Hornady ammunition 1500fps/200gr XTP as measured from a 7.5" barrel. Well under max load the 4" Mountain has a 1471fps MV (ES 12fps, SD 04fps) while a M629/6.5" has a 1606fps MV (ES 25fps, SD 09fps).
Test gun was the M29 Mountain with a ~0.4" cow rib and water to capture the bullet.
The first two one gallon bottles simply exploded drenching me with water and hundreds of pulverized bone specs;
As we've witnessed in a number of other cow rib tests, the bullet simply leaves a large hole in the bone. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was;
Several of those bone splinters were behind me and about 7 yards from the bottle. Bullet exited #3 bottle and was not recovered. That was my last cow rib, future bullet tests will be against larger and thicker cow bones.
FWIW, I now have a copy of the "Quantitative Ammunition Selection" book by Charles Schwartz and future penetration data will be posted using the Schwartz model rather than MacPherson's formulas. I don't have a scientific calculator yet, but forum member 481 has the new book, a good scientific calculator and he's agreed to do future calculations. His input on this thread has been top notch and greatly appreciated.