hornady xtp or remmington?

[erickrschaefer]

I have a SBHH with 7.5" barrel I just got back from the range and was shooting 240gr Hornady JHP XTP and the Remmington 240gr semi JHP. Both rounds shoot great and I would like to know which one you would choose for deer out to 75yds.

Thanks,
Erick

[Frog123]

XTP's hands down. I had a 240 gr remington fail with a muzzleloader once. Complete jacket separation., it still killed the deer but I wasn't pleased with the end results. I no longer shoot any remington pistol bullets in my pistols or muzzleloaders.

[Graybeard]

Yup I agree. I generally like RP rifle bullets but don't care so much for the handgun bullets. I buy them to shoot for practice sometimes but not for hunting. Just my opinion but I'd go with the XTP.

GB

[Bullseye]

I shot a few deer with a 357 Max using Remongton HP's and never was impressed with the results,  Even though I never lost a deer they never appeared to expand.  I switched to the XTP's and have been much happier with the results I see.

[SPW]

Well, I have shot deer with both 240gr. bullets at about 1450fps. out of my 7 1/2in. Redhawk and although they both kill cleanly I like remingtons better on whitetail because they seem to expand more than the XTPs causing more internal damage. The last deer I shot with an 240gr. XTP passed through both shoulders and barely opened up, their was a bullet size hole in one side and out the other. If I had wanted that preformance I would have used a hardcast bullet. The last deer I shot with a remington 240gr. had an inch across exit hole and the internal organs were destroyed. I have never had a 240gr. bullet stay in a deer anyway so I don't need or want the extra penatration of the XTP bullets on deer size game. Something to keep in mind is that on whitetail size game some bullet fragmentation isn't a bad thing, as long as the bullet doesn't completely fragment into small pieces, it often causes more internal damage and helps kill faster.  :-)

[ingwenya]

I agree w/GB on this one. I tend to prefer xtps for .44 Mag. But Remington really makes some quality rifle loads. 240 gr xtps will do the job fine.

[Larry Gibson]

SPW's experiences mirror my own and those I have observed.  With a 7.5" barreled .44 and the safe 1450 fps velocities with 240 gr bullets I also have found the Remington bullets to provide better terminal performance and expansion on deer at reasonable ranges than the 240 gr XTPs.  Especially with shots over 50 yards.  However a 200 gr XTP at 1600 fps out of the same revolver will give excellent comparable results at the same reasonable ranges.  

BTW; as a matter of explanation my own personal maximum range is about 50 yards simply because my front sights cover about 8 inches at 50 yards.  To me that covers most of the heart/lung area where I intend to put the bullet.  If I have a rock steady supported position and the deer is cooperating with standing broadside shot I might extend the range to an absolute 100 yards max.  That depends also on the the cartridge, bullet and it's remaining terminal velocity which I use to determine my max range.  I prefer to have not less than 1200 fps terminal velocity with any HP/SP.  However, that's just me because I use iron sights most often.  The use of a scope or dot sight can change the max range but the effective terminal velocity keeps it constant, with longer barreled revolvers anyway.  With shorter barreled revolvers max ranges shorten up considerably.  Of course with the longer barreled single shot handguns you can extend max ranges considerably (if you have a steady rest) because of the pronounced increase in muzzle velocity and thus retained terminal velocity for a longer distance.

The 240 XTPs will kill deer but at the distant end of reasonable range from revolvers they act more like solid hardcast bullets as stated.  While effective they are just not as effective as an expanding HP/SP, also as stated.

Larry Gibson

[m-g Willy]

I used Remmington 240 gr. JHP's for years and never recovered one from a deer. They ALL went through! This was on shots rangeing from 20- 75 yards. Switched to 240 gr. XTP's and shot a big 14 point at about 40yards going up a hill.The bullet entered the left side breaking the back rib and going up through the lungs and stopping just under the skin on the right shoulder.The bullet expanded to about 50 cal. (PERFECT) -BTW- The load was 22gr. 2400 cci 350 primer fired from a S&W 29 with 8 3/8" barrel.--Willy

[Larry Gibson]

Willy

Well within expectations.  Nice load, nice revolver, well done!

Larry Gibson

[Tusker]

XTP"s hands down ANy caliber.    I am however, swiching over to all lead where I can. :wink:

[Lawdog]

Hornady XTP is the only way to go.  Lawdog
 

[Lone Star]

The .44 caliber 240 SJHP is/was the most expensive bullet Remington ever designed( in the 1970s ). It had to expand a low velocities yet hold together close up, it had to be acurate, and it had to work in rifles and pistols.  While it met most of the design parameters, it is not and cannot be a "one bullet fits all" miracle.  Larry Kelly once shot a very close range brownie with a cylinder-full of these bullets and they all opened up on the wet hair, not getting into the chest cavity....or so the story goes.

The same design is used on other bullets, but in other calibers they don't seem to perform the same as the .44/240s.  I like the XTPs a lot myself and use them when I don't use lead, but they are not perfect either.

[Dave in WV]

My experience with XTP bullets is I'd just as well used FMJ bullets. I use 210gr Rem. SJHP bullets in my .44 and I'm very happy.

[Glanceblamm]

Have Shot a few hundred XTP 250gr

Recently purchased some 240gr XTP  bullets to duplicate a published accuracy load.
Had to go with the XTP MAG as it was all the dealer had. Jacket Construction Appears To Be Quite a bit Heavyer. Perhaps a good higher speed contender bullet, but with marginal performance (Punch Though) out of my six gun due to the lower velocity??

Dont really know what I will hunt with yet. Either a standard XTP or the cast 265gr LBT wfn type as I really like the Meplate on that LBT.

[MS Hitman]

I have taken several deer with each of the bullets you are asking about.  As far as performance goes, neither I nor the deer were able to tell the difference.  Both bullets will penetrate adequately on broad-side lung shots.  The XTP is going to have a slight advantage with penetration through a hind quarter into the abdomen, but either should do the job where deer are the quarry being sought.  For bear or hogs, I'd go with the XTP.

Just my thoughts based on getting out in the woods and getting blood on my hands.

[Zeus]

Well, I guess my take is this, seems the complaint that you all have with one or the other is that it didn't expand but killed the deer.  These things are already .429 or .451 in diameter.  How much more expansion do you honestly need.  Either one seems to work just fine to me.  Also, at 75 yards, what is so bad about a bullet beginning to work like a hardcast?  Better chance of getting an exit hole in my opinion.  I like exit holes, don't care how much bigger they are .429 or .5.  Hard to tell the difference a lot of the time.  Game is still dead and you at least probably had a decent bloodtrail if needed.  I have killed a couple with my FA 454 using the 300 XTP magnum (seems to be a very hard/heavy jacketed bullet for Casull use).  At 60 yards, it knocked a nice little hole out the other side, deer fell over (violently) never moved.  At 110 yards, the bullet entered the left front chest and exited the right hindquarter of another.  Full body penetration, the exit hole was about the size of my thumb, not much IF ANY larger than the bullet diameter.  Neither deer took a step and had MAJOR internal damage, so whats wrong with hard bullets.  I really like hardcast bullets though so I guess it really doesn't matter to me anyway.  GS