Bullet Shape Vs Accuracy

[xterrettx]

Hi, I am new to reloading and am in the process of purchasing bullets. I was wondering if any one had any thoughts on how much shape affects accuracy.
I am currently loading for a .44 SBH and would like something sub 250g. I would love to use the same bullets for hunting as I do for IHMSA. Will there be a noticeable difference between a SWC, Round Nose or a SWChollow at 200Meters. All of the options are cast lead. I am thinking the SWChollow in 240g would work fine for whitetail this year.
Any thoughts are appreciated

[19 Turkeys]

You certainly want a hunting bullet that will expand at your intended range & velocity. Here's a true story. An IHMSA shooter in Ohio went hunting with his Dan Wesson in .357 Super Mag. His IHMSA bullet was a 200 grain 35 caliber spire pointed rifle bullet. He used the same bullet for deer hunting with disastrous The first five shots just put pencil holes through the deer. He was lucky and his fifth shot was a heart shot and dropped it.

Steve W.

[YoungBlut]

19 turkeys brings up a good point. You'll want to go for expanding ammo. You couldnt go wrong with a hornaday flex tip I would think. Kinda expensive but good bullets for hunting usually are, and good bullets for IHMSA fill a totally different set of requirements. Speer deep curl would also be good. G&S has a real good price (22 for 100) for them right now though they are out of stock.

[xterrettx]

Price, is unfortunately a big part of my decision. This is less true of hunting, as I use far less of them and they bring me some return -meat. I am still interested in what shapes seem to perform well at long range. Is the SWC a viable option for IHMSA or do I need to find something a lot pointier. This gets pretty hard in cast bullets (theres the price thing)

[7br]

I have yet to take a deer with a handgun, so the following are my opinions. You mentioned cast lead boolits. Now assuming you are casting your own, you have a world of options to play with. You are right in the revolver's wheelhouse. Choose a bullet that fits your gun and has a fairly substantial meplat. Cast it hard for targets and sweeten your allow with lead for hunting. I would also avoid water dropping for hunting. The IHMSA news had a short article about this very subject a few years back. During my own testing, I found I could go pretty soft with a gas checked 230 gr bullet in a .41 and not have leading. You might post this question over at http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/

I do shoot cast in a 7br and a 7tcu, but would not consider using the cast bullets for hunting in those calibers. Hope this helps

[Richard Pickering]

There are volumes in print concerning target bullets and hunting bullets. Cost: your hunting bullet represents a very small part of your hunting trip. You spend much more on permits, gasoline, other gear and accessories and processing. To some extent this carries into IHMSA, realizing that we shoot many more shots per season and usually from multiple firearms.
In 44s ''long range'' would mean not much more than 100yds and usually a lot less------(unless your name is Elmer Keith and you have shot every day for 30 years). Cast bullets will certainly suffice as mentioned, if they are soft enough to allow a little expansion although a 44 should not need much. Bullet placement is still the key to success. rp

[xterrettx]

I just picked up a box of Hornady FTX 225gr today. They seem like any interesting bullet that will meet both needs, although they are not incredible cheap.

BTW no one has really answered my question about shape. Ignoring hunting for a minute, what shapes are best in a 44 for big bore shooting. I am just tying to figure out if I should totally avoid one bullet style or another (at least to start with). I know that experimenting is part of the fun but I would love to have a sold starting place.

[35isit]

I just picked up a box of Hornady FTX 225gr today. They seem like any interesting bullet that will meet both needs, although they are not incredible cheap.

BTW no one has really answered my question about shape. Ignoring hunting for a minute, what shapes are best in a 44 for big bore shooting. I am just tying to figure out if I should totally avoid one bullet style or another (at least to start with). I know that experimenting is part of the fun but I would love to have a sold starting place.

You mentioned cast bullets. I assume you are buying them. You will have to measure your throats and slug your barrel. The link to the cast bullet forum will get you all the info for that job. Because fit is king. A poorly fitted cast bullet will lead to inaccuracy and barrel leading. Use a bullet with a large meplat or a hollowpoint. There are companies that sell cast in custom sizes.

If you want to use jacketed I recommend bulk Remington or Winchester bullets. They will save you money and many shooters use them. These are cheaper than the bigger companies.

[7br]

BTW no one has really answered my question about shape. Ignoring hunting for a minute, what shapes are best in a 44 for big bore shooting. I am just tying to figure out if I should totally avoid one bullet style or another (at least to start with). I know that experimenting is part of the fun but I would love to have a sold starting place.

I am not convinced a particular shape of bullet will be more accurate than another in pistol calibers. I would imagine it will change the Ballistic coeffient and make a difference in flight path. With longer, rifle style bullets, I can see where you might wind up treading on the edges of bullet stablization. Please note, these are my opinions and I do not have any empirical proof.

With cast, how well the bullet fits the gun is a lot more important than bullet shape. With a revolver, you will want the mouths of your cylinder to be about .001" less than bullet diameter and your barrel to measure about .001" less than the cylinder mouth. The big issues happen when your barrel is larger than the cylinder mouth. The bullets are swaged down going through the cylinder and allowing blowby in the barrel. Ruger is semi notorious for getting this wrong. There is also situations where there is a slight constriction where the barrel screws into the frame.

Hope this helps.

[Curious]

Xterrettx,

Best advice I can give is focus on your reloading for accuracy, and in a revolver it is no easy matter. More important than bullet shapes are your reloading technics. You should focus on case length probably first, and foremost. A forester case trimmer probably works the best of all brands for case to case length. Next is your crimping the bullet. I'd use a 4 die set for reloading if I were you. One sizer, one deprimer, one seating die, and then the profile crimp die. (I do this in these stages because it works best!)

Focus on trimming all your cases to within .002 thousands of the shortest case. That is my 1st and most important accuarcy tip, then buy a Redding Profile crimp die, set it to this newly trimmed length. A consistant crimp is as important as the overall length. Those two things will provide you with more accuarcy than a specific bullet shape will. You may find one brand of primer to work better than others as well. I myself settled on Winchester LPM. I switched to Remington for the 1st match one year, and couldn't hit a turkey to save my soul! Ha! Ha! I sold them cheap and went back to Winchester right away!

I see you're shooting a Ruger Super Blackhawk, and they are a trip. Why you ask? The twist rate Ruger uses is wrong for long range accuarcy. They are a 1 in 18" if memory serves me correctly. Bob at Freedom Arms changed the twist rate to 1 in 22" to stabilize the bullets, he figured this out a long time ago.

I remember back when I and my 1st shooting partner both switched from shooting our Ruger SBH's and moved on to D/W's in 357SM, and how much differently the bullets flew (Spotting on a northerly facing range you could watch the 44 caliber bases glint in the sun on the bullets approaching the rams, Rugers spiraled like crazy, while dropping into the target, it was in wide looping circles.) You couldn't predict if the bullet would hit high, low, left or right, as the spiral was so large!

Thanks for the question, makes me think back of my early days of shooting silhouette!

Doug