Re: hornady 300gr hp

I'd have to find my notes for the exact info, but last year, I did a penetration test with the 300 gr Hornady XTP mag vs the Speer UCHP on wet paper. The load was hot (well over 2000 fps) and safe in my Microgroove 1895. The Speer held together nicely, with something like 88% retained weight and out penetrated the Hornady by at least a third. IIRC it went in around 17". The Hornady lost a significant amount of weight and had jacket seperation. I shot 4 or 5 rounds of each, with consistent results. I'd stick with the Speer for deer and black bear, if I wanted a "flat shooting" 45-70 round. I don't think you could go wrong with any 405 grainer.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

VT Coyotes don't like those Hornady 300's

Tom

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

Good for deer, knocks the snot out of them, haven't tried on Black bear but I have seen Black bear go down with a 243 Winchester so I am sure it would work just fine. Anything larger and I would go up to the 350 grain Hornady as it is a tougher bullet. 400 Grain Speer's are also a great all around bullet as well. Nice thing about 45-70 is that it doesn't get fast enough to spoil mass quantities of meat and it penetrates well compared to cartridges going over 3000 fps. Just know the limitations of the round and it will do great.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

????I thought I read the 300 or 350 speers couldn't be loaded for lever actions cuz of col

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

350 speers can't they were made for the 458 Win Mag, I figured a way to get it done though, if you trim the brass you can make the 350's work. I had a lot of brass to play with and it takes some work, but it is a good bullet that penetrates well.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

I Gotcha. I been trying to stock up on any 45-70 bullet I can when I find decent prices. I have a couple hundred of the 400 speers to try out

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

I would use the hornady 300 grains for target practice and save the speer 300's for hunting if shooting at the upper end of velocity limits. The spear needs to impact bone at above 1300 fps to get reliable expansion. This is not hard to achieve out to 200 yards with the 45-70 pushing the bullet out of the muzzle at or above 2000 fps. At 2000 fps you can also get a max point blank range close to 180 yards if you don't mind a maximum bullet rise of 3 inches.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

I figured is start up a new thread for thus one. What's everybody's opinion on the 300gr Hornady hp? I have 100 of them and have a chance at another 100 for a good price. I'll be taking on whitetail and black bear with her.

I also have a 405hb lee mold, a 405 fpgc rcbs mold and a 400 fp noe mold on the way. Figured is stock up on jacketed when I can get them cheap. Still need to find a good sub 400gr mold. Wish I could get ranch dogs 350 with Reg grease grooves

I've found them to be somewhat frangible at 2200 fps, but still usable. I much prefer the Speer 300 UniCor.

If you drop the speed to 1900 fps or below, the Hornady holds together much better, but I wanted to run my bullets at around 2200 fps to emulate my .30-30's trajectory.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

I've found them to be somewhat frangible at 2200 fps, but still usable. I much prefer the Speer 300 UniCor.

If you drop the speed to 1900 fps or below, the Hornady holds together much better, but I wanted to run my bullets at around 2200 fps to emulate my .30-30's trajectory.

Where are you in va?

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

Where are you in va?

Right next door to Ft. Lee.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

Hi Mebe,
Ya can't go wrong with the Ranch Dog molds, they cast well and are extremely accurate. If you like 350grs, the cat's lick is the Hornady 350grs they are really good for just about everything in it's weight range. If you want, tougher go for the Aussie made Woodleigh 350grrn and flatten the nose. I did this with a short length of tube (cut to the appropriate length and squeezed it down a fraction to make it flat, this works extremeely well. Also I understand they are bringing out a 300gr, this should work well as the Woodleigh's really do punch above their own weight.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

350 speers can't they were made for the 458 Win Mag, I figured a way to get it done though, if you trim the brass you can make the 350's work. I had a lot of brass to play with and it takes some work, but it is a good bullet that penetrates well.

There's an even better way to load the 350gr speer or any other bullet that either has no crimp groove or in the wrong place. Its called a Lee Factory crimp die. It will crimp a bullet anywhere you you want. Check them out.

As for the 300gr Hornady, its a good bullet if not pushed to the max. At 2000fps or so it would wreak havoc on any deer and similar sized game. If you were shooting elk, moose on a regular basis go with something bigger.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

I use the Lee FC die on all of my reloads and is definately cheaper than a cannalure tool. I have and use both.

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

Let's bring some others into the mix:
Opinions on the Sierra 300gr jfnsp

And the Sierra 350gr JRNSP

 

Re: hornady 300gr hp

I Gotcha. I been trying to stock up on any 45-70 bullet I can when I find decent prices. I have a couple hundred of the 400 speers to try out

At 100 yards the 400 gr Speer, using their W748 data, will punch a thumb sized hole clean though a deer and flop it to the ground like a rag doll. Shooting into a pile of lime, I found the Remington 405 held together better than the Speer at the same speeds.

 

I have had the best accuracy and performance with the 300 sierras, but they have been out of stock everywhere for almost 2 years. My latest loads have speers just to get rid of them. Once the speers are finished I'll buy Hornadys if the Sierras aren't available yet. Both rounds (hrdy & srra) are accurate in the just under 2,500fps loads I am shooting, but the sierras have the slight edge in that department. The terminal performance appears to be the same (they both kill deer good).

 

The remington 300 JHP is about the cheapest I've found and they shoot good in my GG. I haven't perforated a critter with one yet, but my Dad has killed a pile of deer with the Remington factory ammo and it's pretty impressive.

 

I reload Hornady 300gr JHP for target and Nosler 300gr Partition for hunting.
Love that Nosler performance.
Best accuracy in my 22" Micro-Groove is at 1900 fps.

 

The Remington 300 at about 2100 blew up on the spine of a very small mule deer at 60 yards out of my Marlin several years back. I've been leery of this bullet started faster than 1800 ever since.

 

+1 what Oregon Bill stated. My Hornady 300gr HP are going 2050fps. Charts show plenty of ftlbs inside 150yds on mountain bucks. Read too many 1st person accounts bout these 300's blowing up going too fast; 2400+

JMHO,

Matt

 

On Hornady 300gr JHP blowing up at high fps speeds.
My Hornady reloading handbook p.39 states their 300gr JHP .458 dia functional speed
is 1600-2100 fps.

 

Hornady 300 HP at 2000 fps - 8 whitetails so far 20 - 120 yards. 4 "boiler room", 2 shoulder, 2 neck shots,( couldn't help experimenting a bit) ALL DRT!!!!! All including shoulder shots complete pass thru. 1 1/2 MOA accuracy in my GG. This is definitely my go to deer round ( 120 yards is a longer shot where I hunt). I have taken a few with the Rem 300 factory round (1800 fps I believe). Good but not as dramatic results. I have come to believe that the 2000 fps and .458 dia is a "sweet spot" for shock and penetration on Whitetails. Shooting into soil seemed to indicate that 2000 fps was too fast for the Rem 300 (jacket separation). To bad, cause they shoot pretty well, and ARE cheap. Good info on this post!! Thanks everyone.

 

The 300 HP is a devestating round on whitetails. I shot a doe angling away from me at 70 yards. My 2100 fps handload hit her behind the left front shoulder, broke a rib, turned the heart lung area to gel, and totally destroyed the right front shoulder. What was left of the bullet came to rest just inside the hide. Only the copper jacket was recovered. When we dressed her out we found that all the meat around the right front shoulder was ruined. Also... there was a massive bruise that extended from her shoulder all the way up to behind her right ear. After that experience, I began loading them down to 1700 fps. I found they still kill cleanly but without as much meat damage.

 

This may not hold true on newer Sierras as they started using a tapered (thickened at base) jacket a few years back on most bullets, but my 15 year old 300 HP's are quite frangible at 2400 fps. I quite using them on deer as they lacked sufficient penetration for anything other than broadside shots and the meat destruction was truly amazing. But if they haven't changed them or you can find some of the old ones, they are the most impressive varmint bullet I have ever seen - never had an animal under 50 pounds stay in less than several pieces.