celticredneck

Does anyone have any thoughts on this bullet as a defensive load. I have used Hornady 300 gr saboted .44 cal bullets in my Knight .50 disc rifle for deer hunting for several years now and have been very satisfied with its accuracy and terminal performance.

DIRTY HARRY

XTP bulletts from hornady are made of solid copper and they claim to be great for self defense ammo look up on web sites the reports on this ammo

Stephen A. Camp

Hello. Hornady XTP's are conventional lead & jacket hollow points originally designed to expand about 1.5 x original diameter. When they first came out the XTP was advertised as meeting or exceeding the FBI's penetration protocols for service handgun ammunition. DPX is a solid copper alloy hollow point bullet. It, too, offers very good penetration in most loads and expansion is pretty consistent even when intermediate barriers are involved before the bullet penetrates the "soft target".


These are 125-gr. 38-caliber bullets. The one on the left is a Hornady XTP. On the right is the DPX bullet, which is longer for the same weight due to its copper-alloy construction. The copper, being less dense/heavy than lead makes a longer bullet for the same weight.

I have cleanly killed 3 Texas whitetail deer using handloaded XTP's that were traveling in the 840 to 860 ft/sec range. Penetration was completely through and through. The ammunition cycled fine in my particular firearms in in most calibers I've tried it in, XTP's (both factory-loaded and most handloads) group very well.


The expanded XTP's were fired into (left) a javelina and (right) water. Expansion is similar but not exact. These are 124-gr. 9mm bullets fired from a Browning Hi Power.


Here's a 45-caliber XTP fired into supersaturated newsprint from a 5" 1911-type pistol. This seems to be fairly typical of expansion characteristics of this bullet impacting in the mid-800 ft/sec range in animals based on the few I've seen recovered. I think that one of these would usually completely penetrate an "normal" human torso if impacting straight-on w/o intermediate obstacles.

For self-protection purposes, I honestly believe that the XTP factory load would work though I do believe it will make through-and-through wounds resulting in the "over penetration" concerns expressed by many. At the current time, the .45 automatic closest to me is loaded with factory 230-gr. Remington Golden Sabers. That said, I would not be upset in the least if it were factory Hornady XTP ammunition. Others may feel differently. In handgun hunting fields, I think that the ammunition really shines. In the self-defense arena, I think it is still pretty darned good.


These are two 230-gr. 45-caliber XTP's I've handloaded. Note the difference in hollow point depth. The bullet on the left is several years old. On the right is one from a much more recent production lot and appears to have deeper hollow cavity. This seems to be in line with reports that Hornady has "tweaked" some of their XTP's to provide a little more expansion than in year's past. I have not seen any of the "new" Hornady XTP's in tissue.

Best.

__________________
Drop by www.hipowersandhandguns.com and http://hipowers-handguns.blogspot.com/

celticredneck

Thanks for the information, Stephen. I had just gone to my muzzle loading box to check out the 300gr XTPs that I shoot in my Knight to verify that they are indeed copper jacketed lead and was going to post a pic when I saw your reply. My one experience with this bullet was a shot on an 8 point white tail buck, coming directly toward me at 30 yards. The bullet entered the chest and passed almost completely through the 150 pound buck, lengthwise. The recovered bullet was fully expanded and seemed to have not lost much if any of its original mass. This would probably be over penetration for a defensive load, but that shot was from a 26" barrel, and driven by 150 grns of pyrodex. If I remember correctly, this gives a muzzle velocity of around 2000 fps. Since my 457 with a 3.75 inch barrel has an MV closer to 800 fps, I figured the penetration would be much less. Your pictures do verify that this bullet does perform very well at the lower velocities also.

BAC

Interesting timing for the topic. I needed to cycle out my Gold Dots, and this time around chose Hornady 230 gr XTPs. Haven't made it to the range yet, so I'm curious how well +P ammo shoots out of a 1911.


-B

nn

They are very accurate.

BAC

Just got back from the range to test this exact ammo, and nn is correct. These are real accurate, and you can't tell that you're shooting +P rounds out of a 5-inch 1911. Good stuff.


-B

Harlan

Stephen A. Camp.
Thank you for a wonderful report. Great pictures!

Regards,
Harlan

__________________
YOU CAN ONLY HAVE TOO MUCH AMMO IF YOU'RE ON FIRE OR DROWNING!

Benefactor Member NRA -- Life Member GOA -- Life (Christian) Member JPFO -- Card Carrying Minuteman

Stephen A. Camp

Hello, sir, and thanks

Best.

__________________
Drop by www.hipowersandhandguns.com and http://hipowers-handguns.blogspot.com/