Bigger caliber kill better?

[dmad]

Not having the experience handgun hunting as many of you so thought I'd get some advise. Does a bigger caliber work better to drop game? I have a 3-3/4" 45 Colt/ACP/AR SS Bisley and a SS BHK 4-5/8" 500 Special/JRH and have to part with one.
Thanks,
Dennis
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[magnumwheelman]

my own personal thoughts, is at "normal" handgun velocities, ( not counting rifle cartridges shot out of specialized single shot handguns ), that bore size makes a big difference... in rifles, hyper velocity can impart hydraulic shock to the target if the velocity is high enough, also the twist rate can help impart damage, perhaps causing better expansion of the bullets... but I've not typically seen these at handgun velocities

[contender]

Talk about a "loaded" question.
A lot depends upon the game, the bullet design, the bullet weight, velocity, bullet placement & other variables.
A whitetail deer is different than a black bear which is different than a moose,,, which is different than an elk, which is different than a coyote. That's just the game question.
And add in your definition of dropping the game animal. Does instant one shot, drop in the tracks type of drop equate to your wishes,,, or are you willing to accept a little movement as the game expires close to where it was when initially hit?

Lots of variables. here.

But I'd have to say that you need to first decide which one you shoot better & how much you actually shoot it. Practice is paramount in being a handgun hunter.

PERSONALLY,,,, the shorter barreled 45 is a bit short for serious big game hunting for MY uses. But a 45 Colt,,, properly loaded,, in a bit longer bbl,,, can & will do all I PERSONALLY ask of it,,, IF,, IF,, I do my part. But I will take the time to match the gun to the game,,,as well as the load & components. And a big part of handgun hunting,, is the willingness to PASS on a shot that is beyond the gun's capabilities & especially YOUR capabilities.
The 500 spl is a fine caliber,, and very capable of a lot.

[bula]

LOL, am pretty sure that someone owning the revolvers you listed already knows the answer that will be popular here. Am also pretty sure you know who says...bore size and bullet weight are a constant, velo drops from when the bullets leaves the bore. Not a direct quote, but you'll recognise it, and it's logic. 

[sixshot]

I could give you several different answers for both but you have to ask yourself what type of shooting do you do most? What type of game is most common because either will handle just about anything out there until you get into the really big stuff & then the short 45 might get eliminated.
But you can overcome bullet diameter by going with a different alloy (soft nose cast) to equal the bigger caliber if you have to. If everything is equal the bigger gun is going to out do the smaller gun. I've taken almost as much big game with the 41 magnum as I have with any of the other big calibers, 44, 45 & 480 & I haven't seen a single bit of difference. I haven't taken anything bigger than elk, moose, bears & African plains game so other guys are more qualified to answer where the game gets really big, I have no experience there.

Dick

[dmad]

Dick,
What kind of Bullet and load did you use in your 41 load to make it work like the bigger calibers? Could the same thing be done to a 357 Mag to make it work as well?

[seak89]

Don't think you will recover a bullet from game with either unless you shoot it with the ACP or hollow points you want to expand and not go through

[whitworth]

All depends on what you are hunting. When games gets big -- in this case I mean 1,000-lbs + -- the larger bore makes a difference, with that caveat all else being equal (bullet type, material, weight to caliber ratio, placement, etc.). Also, big game animals tend to have have big, tough bones that can wreak havoc on the nose of even the toughest hardcast bullets and when the nose gets wiped off, penetration suffers. Monometal and bullets like the Punch, Barnes Buster, the old CorBon Penetrator offer a distinct advantage over cast. We recovered all manner of hardcast bullets from a number of big animals at last year's JRH Holiday/Bovine Bash. The bigger calibers definitely leave a bigger "impression," for lack of a better descriptive.

If you plan on hunting big game at some point, my own inclination would be to go with the .50 cal. Now, is it a .50 Special or a .500 JRH?

[Ken O'Neill]

C'mon Dennis, you've been around a long time and already know an answer. Both can work, from a power standpoint, depending upon how they're loaded. Keep the one that you shoot most accurately with full charge loads. I suspect it will be the .45 convertible, but you will have to decide ....

[tradmark]

Use a smaller caliber but run it fast with a very effective aframe or barnes or a bigger caliber with a big bullet. Smaller game it
Doesnt matter much unless u have bullet failure.

[sixshot]

The way to make a smaller caliber perform like a big caliber is to use a soft nose cast, it works like a Nosler Partition. The front part of the bullet is as much pure lead as you decide you need & the back part (2 piece bullet) is wheel weights & you water quench the bullet. You can experiment with how much expansion you want/need & the back part will always penetrate.
I've used them with great success but again when you get into the real heavy weights, bigger than the animals that I've described that I've taken then the big guns with big bullets have an edge. I haven't gone there, others have. I would like to see the bone that could stop one of my cast slugs though. We have had to put down a couple of range bulls for ranchers over the years that had broken legs, maybe their bones were softer.

Dick

[shorty500]

While there is still a bit of variation I long ago settled for the most accurate load running 1150-1300fps (most around 1200) for all of my revolvers outside of the .357Max. .454 Casull, .460S&W and the .45-70 BFR. Even the .500 S&W only runs 1300 with a 460g cast. At 1200fps and normal to heavy for the caliber slugs (all cast with large meplats) yes the Mississippi whitetails and wild pigs drop quicker as caliber goes up! Mass and diameter have a definite affect on game.
That said my favorite after 30plus years is still the 320g dual crimp JDJ/SSK that am still running seated deep over a huge pile of WW680 powder. Them ig old .44s drop stuff quick and fast cast from straight COWW and air or water quenched both

[whitworth]

Jun 12, 2017 18:02:25 GMT -5 sixshot said:

The way to make a smaller caliber perform like a big caliber is to use a soft nose cast, it works like a Nosler Partition. The front part of the bullet is as much pure lead as you decide you need & the back part (2 piece bullet) is wheel weights & you water quench the bullet. You can experiment with how much expansion you want/need & the back part will always penetrate.
I've used them with great success but again when you get into the real heavy weights, bigger than the animals that I've described that I've taken then the big guns with big bullets have an edge. I haven't gone there, others have. I would like to see the bone that could stop one of my cast slugs though. We have had to put down a couple of range bulls for ranchers over the years that had broken legs, maybe their bones were softer.

Dick

I never said their bones would stop the cast slug, I said the noses often get distorted and wiped off. We recovered a small truckload of cast bullets from the dozen plus animals we tested on last year, and in every case the noses were severely compromised. This is not a condemnation of cast bullets as evidently the animals died during testing, I simply like the reliability Punch bullets offer on big animals. Let's call it a personal preference.

[tradmark]

Well i guess im not sure what happened to some of the bullets since i watched a friends cape buff run off never to be seen alive again. Video evidence confirmed a good hit with a cast slug over 400 grains. Failed, whether the bullet stopped from the bone or whether the bullet nose distorted enough to render it not able to do much damage, doesnt matter as the trophy fee and a wounded buff ran off. In the single weekend whit describes enough big bovines were shot that eclipse the experience of any hunter short of larry kelly. All were on video and bullets recovered. Nothing with just pure lead was intact. Sometimes it did the job. Somethimes it took over 12 shots in the vitals to bring it down. Funny thing is that the only animal to die quickly with one shot was shot with a 454 with a swift aframe. Figure that out. Personally i tracked my watusi that i shot with a 440gr 50 cal bullet from a very well respected bullet company. About a mile later the coup de gras was.placed albeit with a barnes all copper xbp out of a 454. Had this been a much tougher cape buff i either wouldnt have found it or worse it could have hurt somebody. This is why my very pro-handgun ph is adamantly against cast bullets for large dangerous game. Heck, bowen used to have a blurb about a 475L that failed and they were lucky enough to find and put the animal down the next day. It no longer resides on the site but gary smith wrote an article before clearly referencing this account and why he wasnt gonna use cast on his
First trip to africa. We dont go by he said, she said, just by what happens in front of us at the jrh bovine bash, and yes, i did put a cape buff down with a swift aframe, with one shot, out of a 454. I wouldnt try that with any expandable lead slug. What whitwort is referencing is that there is nothing anyone can do to lead to give it
The structural integrity of copper or brass. Fyi, the most experienced modern dangerous game hunter i know of now, lynn thompson, doesnt use cast either. There is a reason. No way to make a solid lead slug that equals the integrity of copper solids or a brass punch bullet, we prove this every year. No paper punching there, just pure
Live testing! This is not worth arguing but is worth it for those that are picking up this sport to know. Dick, it would be great to see u at the jrh bovine bash and see your bullets at work on large dangerous game over a thousand pounds! No dogma there, just testing and real live results, perhaps you will prove me wrong?

[500fksjr]

In any event it does take practice and shot placement...I have used cast bullets from Cast Preformance that have worked well on 1800 lb bison as well as water buff 1500lbs,watusi 1300 lbs, and yaks 1100 lbs...all in a 45 colt...out of a Ruger Bisley 335/grn/w H110...And the sad thing is no bullets were recovered...all were shot through the shoulders...my 2 cents