Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Lee
I thought SWC were for paper target shooting. I used to reload them and always love the perfectly round holes they punched in the paper. I would think you'd want JHP for big critters, no? I love the Ruger .44mags, but I might carry a cheapo Glock 10mm out in the bush.
|
Wadcutters were indeed developed for match shooting, cutting clean holes in paper for easier scoring. The (Elmer) Keith style semi-wadcutter, however, is purely a hunting bullet, and generally agreed amongst the handgun hunting fraternity to be the best ever designed for the purpose. I'll vouch for their effectiveness, having shot quite a few big game animals with them from both the .44 mag and the .45 Colt. Their effectiveness is derived form the same action we see on paper - they actually cut a hole, removing tissue along the way. Unlike holes made by bullets without those sharp edges, which tend to close up behind the bullet and stop bleeding.
I will also vouch for the almost utter uselessness of any jacketed hollow point on big game. They simply lack the penetration necessary to get the job done, often mushrooming beautifully on the near side - and pretty much stopping right there. I chased too many wounded animals over far too great of distances when I started out hunting with revolvers, all because of those damn jacketed hollowpoints or soft points.
Even the most powerful revolver cartridges pale in comparison to even somewhat "lower powered" centerfire rifle cartridges. With modern centerfire rifles, we see enough power to both provide for bullet expansion and penetration. With revolvers, we have to chose between the two - there is not enough power for both. Faced with that choice, the only choice is penetration - if the bullet does not get into the vitals, it's useless. I learned that lesson the hard way, as I'm sure many others have as well.
The semi-wadcutter penetrates straight and true, cutting a full diameter hole along the way. This is important, because when hunting with a revolver, we are shooting at something
inside the animal, rather than just shooting for the general heart/lung area. Knowing that your bullet is going to penetrate in a straight line, along with knowledge of the animal's anatomy, allows us to shoot from just about any angle with the confidence that the bullet will get to where we are aiming it, be it the heart, the big arteries above the heart, the spine, or whatever. JHP's simply cannot be relied upon to do that - they neither penetrate deeply enough nor straight enough. That, and they often separate the core from the jacket, with both pieces taking their own very shallow path. A hard cast semi-wadcutter, assuming it stayed in the animal and is recovered, will usually look like you could reload and shoot it again - it will be that undamaged.
So, yeah, the Keith type semi-wadcutter is the superior hunting bullet. Much, much better than anything with a jacket on it.