If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

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If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby SecondChance » Sun Sep 01, 2019 7:04 am

I just finished my build of my Thumper for hunting Whitetails here in Illinois and hogs down south. I have researched what several others have stated as as a go to powder and projectile. I have narrowed it down to H110/296 and Lil Gun, of which l have a large sipply of both for other calibers l load for.
I also am looking at using the Horn Flex tip projectile. I have 200, 225 and the 250s for which l use in my 45 Long Colt, 454 Casull, and 460 Smith. I am just curious what others have found to work for them and what they recommend for what l am doing. Thank you for you insight and replys.
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby plant_one » Sun Sep 01, 2019 10:25 am

for most of us that reload...its not really a one bullet caliber, and for a simple reason - cost.

i think the two most common hornady ftx used in this caliber are #45201 the 250gr ftx (Hunting) and #45218 the 225gr ftx (target shooting)

and this is my choice for the caliber as well. the price of the 225's is almost half that of the 250's, and even better when you catch them as blems. my last accusation was under 20 cents a bullet which lets me reload plinking ammo that costs me about the same as buying federal or lake city brass cased 223 ammo at walmart. even at full retail you should be real close to half the cost of 250 ftx factory ammo.



in both mine and my buddy's 450 (we both have 20" bushy uppers) 38 grains of lil-gun under either projectile produces a point of impact that is similar enough that neither of us adjusts from a hunting zero with the 250gr load when its time to play. the same goes for my friend and his 18" bear creek upper. what's an inch when you're banging steel plates eh? :)


i'm pretty sure the 225 could take down a deer with good shot placement (i'm thinking rib-in/rib-out type heart/lung), but i suspect that if you hit anything seriously solid like a shoulder, the results would be quite messy and at the very least you'd end up ruining a bunch of meat. its a relatively thin skinned bullet engineered to mushroom/expand at less than half of the speed we run them at. probably make one helluva varmint round tho ;)
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby MOOSE EARS » Mon Sep 02, 2019 6:19 am

My choice would be the 275gr Barnes and LilGun. Nothing it can't handle on this continent! And shoots nice and tight.
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby Bmt85 » Mon Sep 02, 2019 10:47 am

I agree with Moose Ears, the 275 TSX and Lilgun. I got the 450B for hunting, so don't really care about cost of the bullet. Right now, I feel the 275 TSX is the best hunting bullet and Lilgun is a great powder for it, but that may change. I have some other bullets and powders to try out, but won't be able to do that in the near future.
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby Thom28 » Mon Sep 02, 2019 5:13 pm

My rifle likes the Barnes 275gr XPB with H110. Shoots that load as accurate as both the Hornady Custom and Black Box factory ammo.
Should mention this is used in a bolt action so loaded hotter than what is recommended for the ARs.
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby SecondChance » Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:06 am

I have the Hornady 250 XTP Mag for the 460 as well, but just didnt seem to find a load that it liked out of my pistol like the FTX. I would think that the 200, 225 and 250 FTX would be jacketed the same for all points and purposes. I shot a 10pt buck 3yrs ago with the 225 FTX from my 460, at a quartering on shot towards me. Flopped him over, 60yds, never so much as an ear flicker. Poured his lungs n heart out like patte!!
But not sure if l wanted to use it till l heard from others n their experiences first. Cost does not matter to me for l will only shoot enough to find what works, load up 100rnds, and be done.
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby plant_one » Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:53 am

do you mean the 240gr XTP mag? there is no 250 xtp mag...



re: the ftx bullets
the cross sections show that all 3 are different. different jacket designs, also noticably different tip seating depth in relation to the core, and jacket tip thickness - most notably the 225 is the thinnest jacket up front.

now of course, that only takes into account jacket thickness and design, and does not correlate to alloy mixture differences of the core. i'm sure if someone were to hardness test the cores there would be difference there as well.

all of these things will effect the terminal performance of the bullet - that being when metal meets meat.

again - different applications. bullets designed for ~2000-ish fps MV vs those designed for ~1100 fps.


ftx cross sections from the web

Image
Image
Image






so not shocking that at 460 velocity's your 225 ftx turned deer innards to puree. as noted i suspect they would likely do the same at 450bm velocity's.

how big was the exit and what did it hit besides the vitals?
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby Bmt85 » Tue Sep 03, 2019 1:47 pm

As far as they FTX's are concerned in the 450B, I have heard a few things, Haven't actually dealt with them first hand. The 225 FTX seems to frag quite a bit, maybe in a light load it'll do good. The 250FTX seems to have jacket-core seperation quite often. Now the 200FTX, I haven't heard too much about in the 450B, but I worked with a guy who did a lot of hunting with them in a single shot 460 S&W with HOT loads. He loved em. I think he even used them on bear in Canada a few times.

I would say keep the 225's for cheaper plinking and Varmint or Predator hunting. Then run something else (275 TSX) for hunting. Maybe even the 200 XPB if all your going after is deer or hog at 100yds or less.
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby SecondChance » Fri Sep 06, 2019 11:22 am

Plant_one, great pics and info on the FTX!! And yes, l did mean the 240 XTP Mag, not 250grn.
And l would like to stay with the FTXs for l have such a pile of them. And yes, deer n hogs are all l am planning to use it on and all under 150yrds. MAYBE the occasional yote if the opportunity arises.
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Re: If you had to choose 1 powder and 1 bullet, which n why?

Postby Hoot » Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:04 pm

SecondChance wrote:Plant_one, great pics and info on the FTX!! ...snip...


If you go to the "Reloading for the 450b" sub-forum, the complete FTX Bullets Comparison article is stickied near the top of the listings. ;)

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