buck460XVR
New member
The last deer I shot with a 44 mag ran off without a blood trail. Looked for hours and hours. I hit it right in the shoulder with an XTP that clearly I had under powered.
Kind of in line with the above, JHPs are designed to open fast. Probably not the best bullet for deer hunting. I would try a JSP.
240gr JHP .44Mag slugs are not quite the same, and not (usually) made with use against humans in mind. They do open faster than the JSP, for sure, but not to the kind of degree you find in a .38/9mm cal JHP.
My experience has been that for the most part, handgun bullets are made for a specific purpose and made to perform terminally at specific velocities. There are JHPs in .357 intended for high velocity hunting loads that will not expand as much, nor as fast as some JSPs. Same goes for .44 mag. How the bullet is constructed(i.e. jacket thickness and hardness of core lead) makes as much of a difference than type(i.e. JHP vs JSP). For the most part, when it comes to a hunting bullet, you want the best of both worlds....penetration and expansion. For SD, you want something that will expand and not over penetrate and you are using it against an animal that is thin skinned and normally do not have to shoot thru the shoulders to get to the boiler room. More important than what type of bullet, is using the right bullet for the job. Know what the intended purpose is for the bullet you are using and know what velocities it is intended to be shot at. The 240 gr XTP is a great hunting bullet when used on deer sized game and shot from a handgun. Shoot it out of a carbine and it is a tad more fragile. The first comment quoted in this post tells a tale.....using it a a velocity below it's intended use probably turned it into a FMJ projectile without enough velocity to penetrate and/or expand. Projectiles that work so well outta a .45 colt @ 1100 FPS on deer, blow up upon impact when shot from a .460. I have found bullet manufacturers to be very responsive to inquiries about appropriate applications for their bullets. Have had more than one tell me that I should go another direction. If you have questions, ask, don't just make the assumption that just because it's a JHP, that it is not appropriate for deer and you need to use something else.