What Grain .40 Caliber You Carry?

[Edg]

I carry 155 gr Hydro Shoks. I want a bullet that will expend all or most of it's energy inside my intended target without passing through. Also a lighter bullet will self destruct easier if I miss and is less likely to ricochet. The last thing I want is to injure or kill a person that is not my intended target. I started out with 135's but after shooting two ground hogs and a raccoon and observing the penetration of them I moved up a notch.

To be fair I gut shot a groundhog at 100 yards with a .270 once and didnt kill it. Had to finish it off with a shovel and he still had a lot of fight to him. Humans and animals differ a bit though due to being self aware.

[1iarrowking]

To be fair I gut shot a groundhog at 100 yards with a .270 once and didnt kill it. Had to finish it off with a shovel and he still had a lot of fight to him. Humans and animals differ a bit though due to being self aware.

I've killed hundreds, maybe over a thousand groundhogs with everything from a .22 handgun, a bow and a heavy barreled, target stocked 7 MM mag. Some were dead instantly, some weren't. Your argument proves nothing. I know people and animals are different but they are both flesh and bone and my point was that I wanted a little more penetration than I got on flesh and bone on three small animals.

[God's Country]

165g ranger T in my G27 & G22
Primarily because it's affordable, reliable, and available (or at least was not sure now).

[zoanemesis]

I carry 180gr golden sabers in my G23.

[Recoil]

180 grain home brew HPs.

Bullet....Rainier 180gr HP

Powder..5.3 grains W231..I have about 3 grains wiggle room before they are +P

Primer...WSP

FPS....950-965 average ( factory Winchester 180gr HPs were 971 average fps)

I`ll load and carry 200 grain HPs when I can find them and then work them up.

Haven`t done any expansion tests due to the fact that, my lovely wife that I would die for has taken the recyclables, (gallon jugs) to be recycled. SOK honey.

[Recoil]

To be fair I gut shot a groundhog at 100 yards with a .270 once and didnt kill it. Had to finish it off with a shovel and he still had a lot of fight to him. Humans and animals differ a bit though due to being self aware.

GUTSHOT!! Very undersireable, but it can happen. Myself, I would have head shot him to finish him off. If you are out of ammo, a shovel works, but a thrusting\slicing blow with the blade of a spade to the neck decapitates and kills cleanly. I doubt "self awareness" has any bearing whatsoever with this.

Pain is pain.

[CHEMICAL]

180gr black talon, 165gr ranger, 155 corbon powerball, 135 corbon.
The ranger went thru 3 complete gallon jugs of water and expanded over .081. The corbon 135 only made it into the second jug but there was absolutly nothing left of the bottle except for the cap. Although it lost its jacket and most of its weight and only expanded to .49 I gotta think all thost copper fragments would make their own wound channels and would be pretty devestating to be shot with.
The black talon was kinda unimpressive The talons measured .79 and were razor sharp, but they would sometimes snag if I put a layer of denim in between the bottles and that would be enough to stop them.
My setup for doing these tests is 3 gallon bottles of water rear two upright, front one on its side and I aim for the cap. I put 2 layers of denim in front and a box of old clothes in the rear to catch any bullet that goes thru the water.

While fun as hell....water is not a fair judge of expansion and fragmentation in comparison to human flesh or ballistic gelatin. At those speeds you might as well be shooting concrete.

[Ricochet]

While fun as hell....water is not a fair judge of expansion and fragmentation in comparison to human flesh or ballistic gelatin. At those speeds you might as well be shooting concrete.

I agree.. Unless you hit someone directly in the stomach, the gelatin tests are not accurate.

Except for the stomach, the human body is very bony and to get to anything vital, your bullet must FIRST penetrate through the ribs, breast plate or skull.

[rikilii]

I agree.. Unless you hit someone directly in the stomach, the gelatin tests are not accurate.

Except for the stomach, the human body is very bony and to get to anything vital, your bullet must FIRST penetrate through the ribs, breast plate or skull.

So put a rack of baby backs in the front end of your gel slab.

[Ricochet]

So put a rack of baby backs in the front end of your gel slab.

Thats actually what I was thinking about doing.

But none of the indoor ranges will let me.

So I have to find a local outdoor range.

That will make it easier to film too.