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TD,
As mentioned previously by Rocky, 99% of all lead bulk bullets that you order from Winchester, Remington or Hornady, are pure lead and only suitable for light to moderate shooting. About 900fps. is all you can achieve with these bullets without degradation of accuracy, and terrible leading.
Although I've used 140gr JHP's for deer in the past, my suggestion for a good deer load would be any bullet of 158-170grs, preferrably in hollowpoint form in the higher weights.
As far as "bulk bullets", I've had great luck with the Remington bulks. Everyone offers the 158gr nominal weights, and although Remington doesn't offer much in between, I've used their 180gr. JHP's with very good luck.
Sierra's, Hornady XTP's, etc., are all pretty good, really. I don't know of anyone that's making a "bad bullet" nowadays.
For a non-bulk, more premium bullet, I've yet to try the XTP's, but they look promising.
Like I said before though, I've been into the "cast bullet club" exclusively for the past several years, so I gotta break out and load more jacketed stuff I guess.
I also have a lot of bullet swaging equipment (C-H & Corbin), and using jackets & core lead, I've made my own in the past in weights that I thought were optimal. In some cases they flew better than factory, mainly in my .357 Max.
Very few, but some companies make odd weights in the mid-160 range.
Admittedly, I haven't used them, and I kind of like the Sierra's 170gr JHP Power Jacket regarding weight. I haven't seen them advertised lately, and I hope they haven't discontinued them.
Their sharper angled ogive either works very well, or not at all, when it comes to forcing cones, but that is a marriage of bullet to gun. I have had better luck with a more rounded ogive in a pistol bullet (with my guns), and have reshaped the Sierra's at times to make them function better.
To keep things cheap.....buy some 158's & 180's in Remington bulk, a pound of H110, W296 and/or Li'l Gun, and have at it.
I've used H110 & 296 over the years and you get the best magnum performance in the .357 Mag using them. Li'l Gun is very similar in load weight and velocity to H110, but following Hodgdon's data, it seems to show a smoother pressure curve. I've just bought a keg of it, and haven't gotten to testing loads with it yet.
It shows promise (data wise) for my new wildcat interest in the .22 Super Jet.
We'll see..........Take care,
Bob
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"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool.......than to open your mouth and remove all doubt!"
Oh well.....!
Last edited by Handgun'r; 12-24-2005 at 09:33 AM.
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