need help picking a woods round. my only "woodsy" sidearm would be my g30. w/o going to the 10mm platform, would a 230 grain going at 970 be suitable for a quick defensive weapon in the g30 against animals found in the s.e.? could i hunt anything with that round? would a 200 grain going at 1045 be better? lastly, jhp or fmj?
45 acp revisited
- Thread starter boogeyman
- Start date
By far, the single most dangerous animal you'll find in the southeast United States walks on two legs.
I'm partial to 230g JHP loadings, especially in the controlled expansion forms, like the Hornady XTP.
At VERY close range, it's an adequate deer killer (just try not to set the hide afire while triggering it off). It's a pretty poor hog round, in my experience and opinion. It's great for javelina. I would guess it's better to have a G30 than a sharp stick in gator country.
azredhawk44
Moderator
I'd stay away from both FMJ and JHP.
Try to find 200gr SWC with a partial jacket. That "should" be able to hit 1100fps if loaded properly. The wide meplat (bullet nose) will try to crunch skull or shoulder bone rather than bounce off it, and penetration will be more effective than a hollowpoint.
Of course, that's assuming you reload.
Shoot off a hundred or so of these to make sure they feed properly in a G30. I've shot hard-cast lead SWC bullets out of my G21 and had no feed problems in it.
Try to find 200gr SWC with a partial jacket. That "should" be able to hit 1100fps if loaded properly. The wide meplat (bullet nose) will try to crunch skull or shoulder bone rather than bounce off it, and penetration will be more effective than a hollowpoint.
Of course, that's assuming you reload.
Shoot off a hundred or so of these to make sure they feed properly in a G30. I've shot hard-cast lead SWC bullets out of my G21 and had no feed problems in it.
azredhawk44
Moderator
Sierra's 200gr FPJ (flat point jacketed) would be a good starting point.