125 gr cast for deer
- Thread starter savagelover
- Start date
OP
OP
savagelover
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 592
That's amazing. Did you use bait ?. Not legal to use here..
OP
OP
savagelover
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 592
I love reading all these stories. Some I believe some not so much. I hunt with a handicap permit,so I'm not as mobile as some.. that's why my goal is with a handgun..
Bait is a big no no in MO.
No bait. Illegal in Mi. We've been hunting this land for 35 years. We have blinds set up off all the dear runs. Lots of dear in the area. Mi DNR wants us to harvest all the does we can.
doubleh
Member
No. It will still just bore a hole. Hornady has a 140 grain HP that should expand and dump all it's energy into the deer. I have found it to be accurate with a very slight reduction of the max load of 296 but have never shot a deer with it so it is just a guess. Good luck with your hunt though.
OP
OP
savagelover
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 592
Interesting. Is that a true fact..
In general, yes. But iv seen threw and threw wounds that had very little blood. Expanding projectiles will cause larger exit hole causing more blood. Sometimes origen tissue and bone fragments threw the exit wound. Ideally you want all the kenic energy dumped in the game animal with no exit. If you can achieve this, 99 out of 100 times the animal will drop right there. If they don't drop there, they aren't going far. As hunters we owe it to the game for a clean quick kill.
Gun-Reck
Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2023
- Messages
- 563
Flat Point 158 gr. XTP have a pretty high impact velocity expansion envelope: 1175-1800 fps.
Basically a carbine round, and a factory 1240 fps. loading will drop you out of it at ~25 yards.
They will work at 1300 fps., but would suggest the HP variety, unless you can get your MV up to > 1350 fps.
Last edited:
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
Somewhat true. Entrance holes tend to not bleed a lot. Whether or not the exit bleeds a lot is going to depend on what was hit going through, how high on the body the exit wound was (higher wounds may tend to bleed less out of the wound or bleed later as the blood first tries to fill the internal cavities), and what is under the skin to potentially help seal up the wound like a thick layer of fat. Not all exit wounds bleed a lot, though I would agree that they definitely tend to bleed more than entrance wounds. For example... https://www.michigan-sportsman.com/threads/first-buck-with-350-legend.709821/page-2
When it comes to terminal ballistics and damage to biological organisms, absolutes are often tough to justify, whereas tends, oftens, and usuallies would make such claims more correct.
Probably the bloodiest deer I ever saw was from an entrance wound, no exit, from a shot that passed just to the side and under the spine (elevated shot) that did not exit, but the bullet hit the artery not too far under the skin along the skin and the deer made it about 50 yards with a huge blood trail and painting the side of the deer in blood. My neighbor who shot the deer on my place said it was "geysering" out of the deer.
savagelover,
I've been handgun hunting for over 40 years, 10 of which were using a .357mag, an 8" scoped Colt Python to be exact. One thing you have to remember is that a handgun load will never have the terminal impact that you get from a rifle load. That being said, you will never gain that impact from a light handgun bullet no matter how fast you push it. The most ethical thing you can do is push the largest bullet you can, at the fastest speed you can safely in your firearm. I, like you, had (was given) three boxes of the 125gr Speer bullets and seems that everything I shot with them ran much further than anything I shot with a larger bullet pushed with its maximum powder charge, at least in deer sized game. I eventually went to the 180gr. JHP's and it made all the difference in the world in how quickly the animal expired. All of this is of course dependent on you doing your part with bullet placement and range to the target.
I've been handgun hunting for over 40 years, 10 of which were using a .357mag, an 8" scoped Colt Python to be exact. One thing you have to remember is that a handgun load will never have the terminal impact that you get from a rifle load. That being said, you will never gain that impact from a light handgun bullet no matter how fast you push it. The most ethical thing you can do is push the largest bullet you can, at the fastest speed you can safely in your firearm. I, like you, had (was given) three boxes of the 125gr Speer bullets and seems that everything I shot with them ran much further than anything I shot with a larger bullet pushed with its maximum powder charge, at least in deer sized game. I eventually went to the 180gr. JHP's and it made all the difference in the world in how quickly the animal expired. All of this is of course dependent on you doing your part with bullet placement and range to the target.
OP
OP
savagelover
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 592
Fwiw.. I changed over to the 170 gr 358429 powder coated. I've got a few days left to develop a good load for 50 yards. These are approximately 12 bhn.
OP
OP
savagelover
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 592
Thanks!!
derek45
Member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2007
- Messages
- 714
N555
Member
If it's a proper shot it will go straight through.
tactikel
Member
IMHO 125 gr, even hard cast, is a bit light for White tails. 158 gr SWC is what I would consider minimum. If you hand load 158 gr @1200 fps is easy to achieve. My go to load is a Keith 168 gr hard cast SWC over enough 2400 to exceed 1200 fps by quite a bit. Extremely accurate, easily shoots 3 MOA from my SW 28-2 4” off sandbags.
Agree....but I'd go with a good JHP at max velocity, limit my shots to under 50 yds, and plan on tracking. Trailing a wounded deer, badly hit is a soul wrenching experience....what we all should be looking for is a dead right there...we owe them no less. Rant finished, Rod
sugarmaker
Member
Unless one is a Truly excellent shot (unlike 99% of handgun owners I see at the range), head shots with handguns are not really a great idea, quite likley to blow off a jaw, nose, ear, etc as the head is a small quick moving target. 125 cast here in the North I would choose a different gun if I had the choice.
OP
OP
savagelover
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 592
Terrible. Worst year ever..
Howland937
Member
I had aspirations of hunting with a 5" 1911 in 38 Super. Bow range only, 124gr XTP in the 1450fps range. Decided against it. Started working up loads with 147gr XTP and thought if I could get it to 1250-1275 I'd revisit the idea of hunting with it. Then I decided since I really don't have time to hunt, if I made time to hunt, I'd hunt with something shoulder fired and proven.
Palladan44
Member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2020
- Messages
- 1,903
OP. My personal take- to save those 125s for target loads, and hunt with heavier (158 or 180) bullets.
Similar threads
- Locked
- Locked
