A dangerous thought

[harley45]

I've been playing with my 10mm alot lately and while I can push a 200 grain WFN over 1200 fps I and my gun like the load mu h better at 1000 fps. So I'm wondering if at 25 yards or so if any hog or deer would notice?
Thoughts?

[mpmarty]

I doubt any live target could tell the difference.

[44man]

I've been playing with my 10mm alot lately and while I can push a 200 grain WFN over 1200 fps I and my gun like the load mu h better at 1000 fps. So I'm wondering if at 25 yards or so if any hog or deer would notice?
Thoughts?
Nope! Accuracy first. Slower just kills a few seconds slower then faster, less energy imparted but they bleed out good. You will have penetration and that is important.

[Sonnypie]

Another vote for accuracy.
A bullet going 5000 FPS isn't worth a damn if it misses.
Especially if the target is intent on chewing your butt off.... :shock:

[KCSO]

If you have one get up and complain increase your load. The load you shoot best is the one to use.

[Bullet Caster]

I don't know why all the fuss is about velocity. You should load it up to whatever your pistol likes and not worry too much about velocity. I'll take accuracy over velocity any ole time. BC

[Crawdaddy]

accuracy over speed any day.

[jeepguy242]

i have been reloading for over 15 years, and i dont even have a chrony, just start my load testing at or slightly below min, and work up till i find accuracy staying below max published data. i never needed to know how fast my boolit was going.

for my .308, i do the same thing, and when i get a chance to shoot farther than my 200 yd range, i watch my drop, and if i need to, i work up another load.

[BruceB]

Yeah, BUT....

What if you compete in a game that rates "Power Factor"? Let's just guess, shall we, and pay the price for a "minor" load when our guesstimate is wrong?

What if, as I do, you load several levels of speed in a magnum handgun? My 200-grain/800fps .44 "Magnum" load is extremely accurate....but my BEAR LOAD uses 250 at almost 1500fps. Is accuracy still supreme? Should I just plink my close-range bruin with 200/800 and be happy because "It's more ACCURATE!"?

I don't think so!

There's an old saying about "horses for courses", meaning that different types of track call for different attributes in the race-horses that do best on those different tracks. The same holds true for loads. For decades, my over-riding concern was FUNCTIONAL RELIABILITY, both in the gun and after impact...and the anticipated impacts on bears were mostly measured in feet....SINGLE-DIGIT feet, like five feet, nine feet....accuracy is a very VERY remote concern at such times, believe me! Will the round FIRE? Will the cylinder turn? Will the bullet hold together, and will it penetrate? THOSE are the critical factors.

On top of all this, I find it extremely difficult to envision a handloader SO LACKING in interest that he simply doesn't wonder about what his ammunition is doing. It's good enough, if it goes bang and the holes are more-or-less grouped? Not for this guy....I've been chronographing (and BENEFITTING from it) for over forty years now. "Turning on the lights in a dark room" is a fair analogy. I almost feel sorry for those who refuse to see this....but it's their own wilful choice.

[Love Life]

Couldn't agree more Bruce. I don't see why it is impossible to have BOTH speed and accuracy.

When I load manums they are full tilt and accurate. I have my ammo cans full of 38+P for plinking and my 357 magnums loaded to the gills for woods bumming. Fast and accurate.

To answer the OP-I don't think the hog would notice the difference. Dead is dead.

[x101airborne]

Well.... There are opinions. Here in S. Texas, our game is light, thin skinned, and nowhere NEAR as tough as a bear. I commonly shoot 9 grains unique under a 260 grain SWC and it penetrates the animal just like 11 grains unique under the same boolit. I even shoot the same boolit over 5 grains unique in the 44 special in a 2 inch bulldog. They all do the job. No difference in killing versus the 2400 load that makes my wrists hurt. The animal does not know it.

Now my disclaimer..... NONE of my game is capable of eating me. Even the big pigs, I have been dealing with them too long to be worried. Actually, and it may be because I have killed more with the light loads then the magnums, but I think the lighter loads kill quicker because I can place em in "minute of quarter" areas. Under about 40 yards, of course. A bullet through the heart, even slow, kills quicker than a boolit through the lungs. I just dont buy into the speed is necessary thing anymore. Anyone want to trade a 44 mag for a 44 special?

[Three44s]

Pack the most powerful load you can shoot well!

With work over time you can elevate what that load consists of ........... without sacrificing accuracy!

Three 44s

[44man]

Bruce is also correct in that dangerous game needs more energy. Larger calibers work better too.
But the difference on deer or a pig between 1000 and 1200 fps---naw!

[Gohon]

Will the round FIRE? Will the cylinder turn? Will the bullet hold together, and will it penetrate? THOSE are the critical factors.

Only up to the point the bullet leaves the muzzle........from that point on, accuracy will be the determining factor of success or failure. Speed does not kill, it only aids in extending range and penetration. Bullet design, penetration, and the accuracy to put the bullet where it will destroy living tissue is what kills. Millions of American Buffalo can attest to that...bullet mass at lower speeds worked just fine for penetration and accuracy did the rest.

[BruceB]

Only up to the point the bullet leaves the muzzle........from that point on, accuracy will be the determining factor of success or failure. Speed does not kill, it only aids in extending range and penetration. Bullet design, penetration, and the accuracy to put the bullet where it will destroy living tissue is what kills. Millions of American Buffalo can attest to that...bullet mass at lower speeds worked just fine for penetration and accuracy did the rest.

Up until now, the discussion concerned HANDGUNS. Introducing RIFLES into an accuracy vs. velocity debate changes it completely.

Until the 20th century the handgun was largely an emergency device, used at close range and under mostly dire conditions. It was only the development of more-powerful cartridges and guns with the sights and mechanisms to effectively USE those improvements, that we began to see lengthening of effective handgun range and also the now-common use of handguns in hunting.

In hunting, accuracy is important. SO IS VELOCITY.

For my part, I never hunted with the handgun, although I killed a few incidental animals with holster guns. I used the handguns in their original milieu, as emergency devices to cover my butt when things went badly. Given a choice, my rifles win over handguns....every time. Sometimes, though, rifles just aren't feasible.

Therefore, USED IN THEIR ORIGINAL ROLE, my handguns carry heavy loads and I don't care one thin damn for accuracy in the field. At ten feet, power and bullet weight (and performance) are the critical items.

Now for a different situation, try full-scale steel silhouette, where we need BOTH accuracy and power.....I've been down that road, too. Very interesting!

[Gohon]

You are correct IF the discussion was just about handguns as personal defense but the OP was talking about a hunting situation. In that context I think what I said applies to both handguns and rifles. Especially since his 10mm is NOT BEING USED IN IT'S ORIGINAL ROLE. I seriously doubt the OP wants to wait until a big pig is just 10 feet away so he can just point and shoot.

Personally I'll take a big fat slug from a 45 Colt moving along at 900 plus any day over a 10mm bullet moving at 1200 fps for hog hunting but that's just me. Either way, without accuracy neither one is worth carrying around. I'm sure there are those that would disagree.

[harley45]

The last pig I killed weighed 282 pound and was done in quite nicely with a 200gr XTP at 1150 or so fps, however due to an injury suffered while on duty at the jail that load hurts my shoulder if it shoot more than 50 or s rounds at a time anymore. I have been experimenting with the 200 wfn at 1000 and it is easy on both me and the gun. I want to still hunt pig and this load seemed to be an option, I guess we will see in October!