Hornady 300 grain .45 Lacks Penetration!

[grendelbane]

I am utterly amazed!

Finally got around to loading up some of those 300 grain XTP's in my Contender.

I used 2400, went all the way to Hornady manual maximum. The highest velocity I recorded was 919 FPS. This is quite a bit below what my Hornady manual says I should get from a Contender.

Of course, my barrel is one of the .45/.410 barrels, and this may have been the reason my velocities were so low.

What amazed me, however, was the lack of penetration. I used some old magazines to catch the bullets, (paper mags, not steel), and I don't think that a single one went 3". Bullets fragmented.

Anybody else ever experience anything like this with the 300 grain XTPs?

 

[Berek]

We shot 300gr XTP's from a Sharps .45-70 at 100 yards and it was stopped by a 2x4. I should post the pics as I have the board. It was part of a low profile hanging target setup I made.

In case anyone is curious, a .22LR went through the same board with full penetration.

Berek

 

[Deavis]

You used a stack of paper to measure the penetration of a HP XTP bullet? Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong but that seems like an awful way to see how a HP, which is designed to expand in soft tissue, will penetrate. You are basically going to clog the point with paper and destroy the round. Having seen what an XTP does to a phonebook firsthand, clogs and stops quickly, I'm not suprised at all that you got poor results.

 

[steveno]

since the barrel is chambered for a 3 inch for 410 shell that is one hell of a lot of freebore. I have a vent rib barrel I have have never even considered shooting a 45 colt in it. the real reason for the barrel in the first place was to be able to shoot a 410 shell in a handgun. adding the 45 colt and rifling was just to keep the batf happy

 

[dmftoy1]

Is ballistic gelatin something that's expensive to mess with or can you build a block of it reasonably for testing like this? I see them making stuff out of it all the time on that "mythbusters" show on Discovery and would love to shoot some bullets into a block but I have no clue how expensive it would be?

Regards,
Dave

 

[redneck2]

I know a lot of guys here love XTP's. The XTP is "extreme terminal performance". All that expansion comes at a cost, which is loss of penetration.

Have a friend that took the only record book deer in Indiana with a 45 Colt clone and XTP. At super low velocity (less than 800 fps IIRC) with bullet blew into 3 or 4 pieces.

If you catch the deer in the shoulder bone rather than a clean side hit, I suspect you'll just have a badly wounded animal.

When you've got expanding bullets, I'm convinced a good portion of the foot-pounds of energy is converted into dismantling the bullet. Try the same thing with a good LSWC hardcase and see the difference.

 

[bakert]

redneck2 is right. If you want penetration use hard cast bullets. In the .45 at normal velocities they penetraste well. In Ruger and TC listed loads they really get the job done.

 

[Oldnamvet]

That .452 diameter bullet has to jump about 2 inches of .480 diameter freebore before it hits the forcing cone and rifling. A lot of pressure can escape around the bullet and reduce the velocity.

 

[Steve Smith]

Try hard cast lead instead.

 

[The Bushmaster]

XTP softpoints

Gentleman...How would you rate the Hornady XTP softpoints?? And yup...They make them. I have a box of 158 grain XTP Softpoints. Well, half a box....

 

[grendelbane]

You used a stack of paper to measure the penetration of a HP XTP bullet? Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong but that seems like an awful way to see how a HP, which is designed to expand in soft tissue, will penetrate.

Yes, you are thinking about it wrong. I wasn't using a stack of paper to measure the penetration, I was using the paper behind the chronograph to catch the bullets. It was then that I noticed the lack of penetration. Those must be very fragile bullets, because most JHPs out of a Gov't model going about the same velocity & weighing 70 to 85 grains less would easily out penetrate it.

Gelatin would be best to measure penetration, but in the interest of economy I usually use water filled OJ cartons.

I load Winchester 230 grain JHP in .45 Winmag at >1300FPS. Even though it is exceeding its intended velocity by over 50% it is penetrating better than the 300 grain XTP.

Back to the drawing board.

 

[halvey]

Of course, my barrel is one of the .45/.410 barrels, and this may have been the reason my velocities were so low.

This and the freebore are the cause of your problems. Shoot those bullets in a normal .45 and I know you will get different results.

 

[griz]

More velocity probably will not help if the bullet came apart at slower speeds. It may make a hole larger in diameter, but not really deeper.