45 Colt 255gr SWC for Deer

[sixshot]

More & more as I have gotten older I carry a softer HP in chamber #1 & then back in up with solids in case I have to take raking shots to finish a job I just started. These harder solids will almost always punch through from any angle with an exit & finish the job in a hurry. That first job is almost always a double lung shot, at least thats what I try for, just like this last elk a few weeks ago. Those HP's really make them leak, it only took one & the job was finished, I like that.
But having said that, at least on elk I've taken many with Keith SWC's with very little problem, also big deer & bears. It kind of boils down to the game you are shooting. I also carry 2 guns just in case, a belt gun for fast action work & a longer, scoped gun sticking out of my pack, it's saved more than one hunt.
Our general deer hunt starts this Thursday, I'll spend a few days trying to fill a tag before venturing up to Montana to try & working on one of those bouncy, bounce whitetails, love hunting them, much like jumping Jackrabbits.
The stories about shooting deer & elk with cast solids & doing a lot of tracking is more a story of incorrect bullet placement than it is of bullet structure. Always shoot your bullets as soft as possible & still maintain accuracy, the one exception being bears. I've killed them with 41's, 44's & 45's & I like them where I can see them. All have been spot & stalk. I usually try to break both shoulders, especially if they are above me. I never hunt from blinds.

Dick,

[sharps4590]

You certainly don't need anything more and I eschewed HP's 40+ years ago. More destruction for no increase in effectiveness.

[bigbore5]

The only hp's I trust on deer weigh 487grs and start out at .512".

[boolitdesigner]

I am always amazed at these threads and replies on them. Cast and loaded properly, hollow points kill extremely well (and I’ve had several witnesses). There is a BIG difference on how the animal reacts and what it does when you see it yourself between solids and hollow points with the same load.

[marlin35]

Oct 9, 2024 12:48:16 GMT -5 boolitdesigner said:

I am always amazed at these threads and replies on them. Cast and loaded properly, hollow points kill extremely well (and I’ve had several witnesses). There is a BIG difference on how the animal reacts and what it does when you see it yourself between solids and hollow points with the same load.

I think my reluctance with the HP’s is that a living animal will be on the other end of whether I cast and loaded properly. The thought of injuring an animal due to my own ignorance or inadequacy makes me nervous. However, with heavier bullets that retain the shank, I think the shank will retain enough weight and momentum to exit. IIRC you designed the Ruger only bullet, if so, is that your experience with the design?

[bradshaw]

The ballistic objective of self-defense is to Shoot to Stop.
The ballistic objective of hunting is to Shoot to Kill.

A wounded deer takes flight. It does not normally attack its predator. Deer in nature are athletes of high muscle tone, immediately adrenalized. Endowed with stamina shared by very few humans. A wound less than rapidly fatal supercharges the flight reflex. A deer that knows you’re there, such as a deer you’ve tracked for hours, may demonstrate immunity to normal shock. A bullet which center-punches both lungs----without----exiting kills as fast as a centerpunch with exit.

The deal when deer hunting with a handgun: there are no gimmies. For the handgun hunter, overconfidence is a blueprint to wound and lose a deer. To make an ethical kill, the handgun hunter must first discern when to not shoot so he or she discerns when to shoot. The deadliest bullet doesn't cover an absence of marksmanship. Dick Thompson (sixshot) and James Swidryk (James from Jersey), to name two dedicated handgun hunters on Singleactions, know the advantage of a bullet that wrecks tissue in its path.

My success with revolver hollow points makes it impossible to condemn them for deer.

As Dick has expressed, a SWC soft enough (anneal of Powder Coat) for plastic deformation in soft skin game packs more punch than the same bullet cast hard. To directly answer the question----“45 Colt 255 SWC for deer”----my answer is Yes, with Powder Coat.
David Bradshaw

[boolitdesigner]

I’ve tested most all the earlier designs and designed the later ones to confirm to those results. The Ruger Only bullet has been shot from below standard 45 Colt loads to way above it (about 2,200 fps rifle loads). I’ve never got to recover one of those yet because the killed the animal and went thru. Ask 2 dogs what his results! He has written about that on this site. The most horrific was a groundhog I shot with a rifle 2,200 fps load that left a golf ball size hole all the way thru it. I did drop a golf ball thru it to.

[boolitdesigner]

Again, I am amazed at some of the replies. You do it enough and you know the answer. Pull the trigger when it’s dead (there are several people here that know what I mean by that).

[pete]

The stories about shooting deer & elk with cast solids & doing a lot of tracking is more a story of incorrect bullet placement than it is of bullet structure.

I've had this same feeling. When someone tells me that cast bullets cause long tracking jobs, they've never admitted EXACTLY WHERE their bullet hit, only that it was a good, killing hit. I've never gotten a straight answer.
When hit in the right spot, WITH THE RIGHT PATH THROUGH THE CHEST, the track isn't long.
We have a computer program for hunter's ed with pictures of big game animals, after you place a shot on the animal it will give you a picture of the vitals and/or bone structure. It's surprising how many people don't have a concept that the animals are 3 dimensional and shoot them in the same place, no matter the angle

[bigbore5]

The results of boolitdesigner lg hp.

[boolitdesigner]

Thanks Pete and bigbore5. There are more of you watching that do understand. Come on, add to the conversation!
Killing animals quickly has to do with shot placement AND exactly what your bullet does when it passes thru those areas. I wish you could see the permanent wound cavity and size from real testing. Then this would make a lot more sense to everyone.

[bigbore5]

That buck was a cull. It's hip had been broken, probably from a car, and heeled poorly. Shot entered behind the shoulder, quartering towards. You can see the exit. Instant lights out.

I was actually hunting bear that day. 500 Linebaugh, MP 512-525 with lg hp pin (487grs), 57yds. Bowled over at the shot and kicked one leg a single time. DRT. Lungs were completely shredded and pulped. I've seen the same results on black bear between 400 and over 500 pounds everytime. Never had one stop inside of anything yet, including 16 milk jugs of water.