Bullet Performance Remington vs. Hornady

[Mnelson239]

I harvested 2 deer this year with my .450. The first was at 50 yards broadside with the Remington 260gr acutip. I hit her right behind the shoulder, went completely thru, took out the top of the heart and broke the shoulder bones on the way out. I had a hard time finding where she was standing when I shot (no snow on the ground), but after I found that location the blood trail was ok to follow. Many times when they are hit close to the shoulder and run, the moving shoulder stops the blood coming out. She went 15 yards into some briers and piled up. No bullet was recovered.

The picture is from the second deer I shot. The remington 260gr acutip is on the left, she was quartering to me at 25 yards, I hit the shoulder going in (broke the bone into 4 pieces), thru 1 lung out the liver and the bullet was just under the hide(bullet on left in picture). I would expect some deformation when hitting the bone so, no mushrooming wasn't a surprise. She went about 80 yards which was a surprise that she did not just pile up. So i tracked her with snow on the ground, again an ok blood trail. When I got to her she was still alive and had her head up. I moved into position for a broadside double lung as not to ruin any more meat and shot her with the Hornady (bullet on right in picture). The Hornady hit a rib going in, and traveled just under the spine(did not hit the spine) hitting on a rib going out and was just under the hide. This was a major surprise! how could this bullet not get a complete pas thru at that range, and also pitiful mushrooming.

Both bullets grouped very well at 100 yards. I did not have time to test them at farther ranges.

I also contacted Remington about the 450 hog hammers that were suppose to be out in 2016. They said they had overall qc issues at their ammo plant which delayed production, and to look for them in 2nd quarter of 2017. These have the 275gr barnes bullets, I have used barnes in several other calibers and love them.

Just thought I would share.

[commander faschisto]

Good info, and excellent writeup on your shots!

Re: Hog Hammer 450b from Big Green word of advice...don't hold your breath on anything they tell you...

[Hoot]

The Hornady 250gr FTX initial mushroom will look more this:



before it veers and tumbles inside the body. If during tumbling or veering, it strikes bone, the initial mushroom will cave in or get stripped off. That's quite normal. The end result is the energy in the round is totally delivered into the body. A pass through leaves before all the energy is deposited in the body.

Hoot

[Mnelson239]

Good info, and excellent writeup on your shots!

Re: Hog Hammer 450b from Big Green word of advice...don't hold your breath on anything they tell you...

I am optimistic on Big Green, but will believe it when I have a box in my hands.

[buckeye3405]

The Hornady 250gr FTX initial mushroom will look more this:



before it veers and tumbles inside the body. If during tumbling or veering, it strikes bone, the initial mushroom will cave in or get stripped off. That's quite normal. The end result is the energy in the round is totally delivered into the body. A pass through leaves before all the energy is deposited in the body.

Hoot

That looks really impressive.

[Hoot]

The Hornady 250gr FTX initial mushroom will look more this:

http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0B45327gSOCylVHhXVDBhQTFYZ1E

before it veers and tumbles inside the body. If during tumbling or veering, it strikes bone, the initial mushroom will cave in or get stripped off. That's quite normal. The end result is the energy in the round is totally delivered into the body. A pass through leaves before all the energy is deposited in the body.

Hoot

That looks really impressive.

While it may look impressive, it is just a water shot. We have unofficially established a testing convention consisting of empty milk jugs full of water, lined up in enough quantity so as to stop the round when it has run out of energy. Not many milk jug animals running around, but it allows members all over the country to compare apples to apples in evaluating different bullets at our disposal. Early on, about all we had access to were the FTX and XTP bullet lines, so I did an in depth look at the 3 FTX choices that reloaders have to work with, including cross sectionals, jacket thickness, and of course the water shots. Lots of pictures to keep everyone entertained inThis Thread. There's even a brief video of a line of water filled jugs taking the brunt of a shot. Brief because I'm not a cinematographer and it was my first video: Rank Amateur Video

I have a better camera for videos, albeit only a little better. Haven't figured out how to do a delayed start for videos so that I can get in place and take the shot before the thing runs out of memory at super slo-mo rate of consumption. Guess I should read the manual eh?

Hoot

PS, I also have some water shot pics of the 200gr Barnes XPB at different ranges. Its in the Reloading for the 450b sub-forum. That load is my go-to for brush hunting white tails.