.41Mag how well would those 200gr SJHP Rem bullets hold up on wild pigs?
They hold up really well. Between my hunting pardner and I we have dropped every one we have hit solidly out to 100yds and then some. To be honest I used to run mine on the top end thinking I needed the added HP, but on a lark was loading up some rounds to take with me to WI for a handgun only hunt, and when I hit this particular load I just kept it. I have been shooting them for going on 20yrs and busting hogs with them for over half that time. Are there other bullets which would work equally as well, probably, but these are or were cheap enough, and easily obtained that I stocked up on them, when I could afford them. I REALLY loved the 170gr version they had out but unfortunately they dropped it from their line for lack of sales. To me it was the ultimate deer or SD bullet for this round. It could be driven fast and accurate with little recoil, and hit like a sledge hammer. I still have a few of them but rarely load any. The 170gr Sierra is close but not quite there. The Remington had the scalloped jacket with a large exposed led HP very similar to the 240gr SJHP in 44. When it rolled back it made a very sizable frontal area and the lead encapsulated the jacket to keep it from separating.
It will shoot well within minute of deer or hog way out past where I can reliably hold steady. We were shooting the load pictured above when my bud was having trouble with his groups. I tried to tell him it was the crimp but I had to show him before he actually admitted it. The normal group with a rest would have put all of the shots on the right into that one little cluster. We were however standing out in front of his barn where the gusting wind was coming around the corner and in between gust I was trying to shoot. The high and low shots are the result. The ones on the lest were simply not going to group even if we did shoot from the rest.
The 20.5gr load, hits the hogs and usually doesn't seem to slow down much but flattens out on the front and blows right on through, more like a cast solid. It isn't a max load by any stretch but just on the bottom end of the data. I believe this is what really heps it out. Even if you crank it up a bit more it is still very pleasant to shoot compared to other magnum rounds. One thing I CAN honestly say, once you start playing with your ranges, don't hold over your target expecting much of a drop, it ain't gonna happen. It will shoot WAY flatter than you would ever think. I have only shot one deer with it and it was a tracking job from a bad shot. The deer was laid up and I slipped up close, and with the way it was laying I tried to put the bullet through the onside ribs and into it's neck on the exit. The result was it raised it's head just at the moment I dropped the hammer, and the bullet passed through just behind the onside shoulder and out through the offside one, and the deer leaped twice spewing a stream close to 4' out each hole before collapsing in a heap. It was one of the wildest things I have ever witnesses up close. The bullet left a hole about the size of a half dollar when it exited clearly showing it had expanded somewhat.
Over the years I have loaded everything I could get my hands on for it but always seemed to come back to the Remington. For the price and performance I have gotten, I feel the added expense of others is unwarranted. If however I were to choose another brand I would have to go with either the Hornady XTP for being tough, or with the Speer Unicore for being accurate, and expanding in a wonderful controlled manner. I found some bullets once by Speer for the 41AE, which were Gold Dots and weighed 180grs. They didn't have the cannalure but when loaded up to about 1250fps they didn't need it. They were some awesome hunting bullets but they quite making them also.
I started out my 41 affair with a 6" Ruger 3 screw flat top, which after about 5 years traded off on a 7.5" Redhawk, and haven't looked back. My friend looked for one for quite a few years but found a SS S&W 657 with the smooth cylinder and I think a 7.5" barrel, he couldn't go with out. Between the two of us the hogs have had a rough time of it. LOL
With the 200 and 210gr JHP's and some of the WFN type cast bullets there is really nothing, (NDG) I would not hunt with mine. It is accurate enough for the practical ranges at which one should be shooting it, and has plenty of power. I fully believe it to be the most balanced firearm in my safe.
