Best type of S&W 460 ammo for deer hunting

T

tvanwink

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Ever since the S&W 460 came out when I was back in high school I have wanted one. I grew up watching dirty harry movies and shooting and hunting with one of the most powerful handguns in the world was a dream of mine. Fast forward almost a decade and I have graduated college and with money from my first adult job I have finally purchased my dream revolver. And lordy do I love shooting it. I love plinking with the 45 Colt rounds and nothing is better then sending a massive 460 round down range. So far I have only shot the .460 S&W Hornady LeveRevolution 200 Grain FTX Bullet and I have been extreamly accurate with it. Since I am new to the gun I was wondering if I should get a heavier round for some of the big whitetail deer here in Ohio? Or even what kind of ammo I might need one day when I step up to bigger game? Any input is greatly apprecated I'd love to learn as much as possible from other people's experiences with various .460 ammo.

Thanks,
Thomas
 
My experience with the factory 200 gr FTXs outta the .460 is that they are incredibly accurate, but a tad fragile for deer. I would suggest something heavier with more emphasis on penetration than that offered by the 200 gr FTX. IMHO, the factory 200 gr FTX would make a great varmint round.

That said , I hunt Wisconsin deer with either a Hornady 300 gr XTP-Mag(not the standard 300gr XTP-HP meant for .45 Colt) or Speer's 300 gr Deep Curl loaded to about 1750fps. The .460 is truly a handloaders gun. Factory ammo is limited and expensive and does not bring out the full potential of the cartridge like handloading does.
 
If you think hunting ammo in a .460S&W handgun is "limited, try finding something that is suitable in a rifle barrel. For a while, I toyed with buying an Encore rifle barrel in .460 but when I researched ammo I was very dissappointed. The Hornady LeverEvolution stuff exits an Encore rifle barrel at somewhere north of 2600fps. However, it is so thin clad that it stands little chance of holding together at short to moderate hunting distances.

Buck is right about it being a handloader's round. I've read that some of the hunting handloaders are using pills made for muzzleloaders with pretty good results.
 
Hornady 300gr XTP mag. They have a thicker jacket to withstand the pressure and velocities of the .454 and .460. Back when I had my 10.5" S&W PC .460 I was able to push them to just shy of 2100fps and group about 1.5" at 100yrds. If 2900lbs of muzzle energy wont drop it nothing will.
 
No experence with a 460.But with a 454 Ive took quite a few deer & hogs with 260gr. to 300gr. of all kinds and some of the hogs were close to 400lbs.and alot of the time it makes a pretty bad wound channel making a mess to clean behind.but thats down here in the south.The deer arnt that big but the hogs are.;)
 
tvanwink,

I cannot recommend enough to learn to load your own. The .460 S&W Mag is a very versatile round to load for. You can load absolute magnums that can drop elephants to mild .45 Colt loads. I do NOT shoot 454 Casull or 45 Colt through my 460 XVR. The crud ring is not worth risking a pressure spike.

Factory ammunition absolutely suck for the 460. Learn to handload, it is addicting as well.
 
I use 240 gr Hornady XTP Mags. I have hunted deer with it, but unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to even take a shot at a deer with it yet. :(
 
Thanks for all the input. I have been leaning toward starting to hand load in the near future. And its good to know that for the time being I should not use the 200g Hornady for big game and will be getting some bigger rounds soon to try them out so I'm ready this coming deer season. I'm excited to shoot more and more rounds through my 460 so learning to handload will probably help my shooting budget as well.
 
Since you're dealing with a 460 --The bigger the caliber the less you have to depend on expansion ! Many a 44 or 45 cal hunter uses a hardcast SWC that just punches a full caliber hole completely through the deer !
I like a premium bullet such as Barnes, Swift A-frame , Deep Curl. Velocity is not very important either. A few grains below max, pick an accurate load and one you can handle for recoil. Practice !!!
 
Have deer armored up over the years so that they require a fast big heavy bullet now to penetrate the skinny little white-tails at normal handgun distances? Now hunting the Grizzly or heading to Africa to club a Cape Buffalo .... Different story, but deer? I mean, Brian Pearce's son took a large Black Bear with the lowly .45 Colt in a medium frame flattop Ruger (documented in a Handloader article).... Just saying!
 
Originally posted by rclark:

Have deer armored up over the years so that they require a fast big heavy bullet now to penetrate the skinny little white-tails at normal handgun distances? Now hunting the Grizzly or heading to Africa to club a Cape Buffalo .... Different story, but deer? I mean, Brian Pearce's son took a large Black Bear with the lowly .45 Colt in a medium frame flattop Ruger (documented in a Handloader article).... Just saying!
Click to expand...

You phrase "normal handgun distances" says it all. I hunt deer with .357, .44 and .460 handguns. The difference between them to me is the maximum range that I will shoot with them. The .44 gives me twice the range of the .357 and the .460 4 times the range of the .357 and twice the range of the .44. Simple ballistics and trying to make quick and humane kills. Regardless of what some folks think, a .460 is not a rifle without a stock. It is still a straight wall cartridge shot in a revolver platform. It is still more of a challenge than a modern muzzle-loader. It is an excellent deer platform, and one reason they are as popular as they are. Handloading for them optimizes this.
 
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