Not Sold on Hollow Points for BIG Game with BIG Bores!!!

Two slugs.Two .510 N.O.E molds almost identical velocity. 840 and 860 fps. Both recovered from neck shots.. Both animals didn't die at impact and required follow up shots... I think hollow points are marketing for big bores... For me not worth it.... If you take chest shots with hollow points I have had zero blood.trail.....real world results... Also I'd like more energy... I've used my 50 enough for hunting I now its limitations...

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i too have hunted with big bore's using hollow points and
seen complete heart/lung pass-thru's without a blood trail.
using a texan, hammer and the piledriver.

thats why i dont shoot for the H/L anymore.
i like to wreck the front shoulders with a heavy solid, or even a neck shot.
i cast my own 405gr sized .457 lyman bullet and its a wrecking ball when put
where it takes out the running gear or the control center (y)
 
And that's exactly why no other kind of lower powered platform uses hollow points for big game.

You don't and will never have the hydraulic shock effect like a high power center-fire offers.

Solid cast projectiles poking big holes with good penetration are all you have. And a hollow point robs you of all of that at these power levels.
 
Good info.
I have a Texan ss in 308.
Solid slugs just seem to hit harder than hollow points to me when I am target practicing and this thread validates my suspicions.
I have yet to actually hunt with it but this is good info.
So now it looks like the HP’s are going to be more of a plinker round and I’ll focus on solid rounds for more lethal endeavors.

Any experiences with prairie dog shooting ? That’s my first hunting to do this spring, then deer and maybe hogs later this year.
 
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I use NSA 290gr hollowpoint, just because they are the most accurate projectile I’ve found for my .457 Texan. They have performed very well for me on deer, I have had great bleed out and full penetration through both lungs with the common - right behind the shoulder aim point. All my shots on deer have been under 100 yds. Actually I think 72 yards is the farthest I’ve had to shoot to get a deer with it.
Knock on wood… I’ve never had a deer go more than maybe three hops away before they lay down and then it’s just a matter of waiting to let them expire before walking out to them. Have not lost a deer with the Texan… again knock on wood I don’t want to jinx myself! Haha
If a person is taking neck shots then the slug is going through ALL muscle. On a big deer that’s a much denser area than behind the shoulder where it’s a thin layer of muscle covering very soft organs.
I had thought about buying a .50 Texan carbine but have not been hearing good reports on here about it at all. Glad I have the .457 and have held off on the .50 purchase.
 
Mr303 hollow points are what you want for small game. The post about NSA 290 ...seems like hollow points don't open up on them.harder lead smaller hole something. Up north air gunners videos had same results...they work..use them.

Thank you all for your replies . I'm trying to put honest info out to help grow and improve are sport. Not make money on gimics. If you have any slugs recovered post them😀. Thanks friends
 
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First pic is the entrance of 290 NSA and second pic is the exit. The exit hole is nearly twice the size of the entrance hole. I’d estimate maybe .750-ish maybe? No slug recovered on that one.
I do have a slug somewhere that I recovered from a deer and it was shot quartering away and that slug had a lot more tissue to travel through and it stopped under the skin on the other side, I’ll look for it and see if I can find it. It didn’t have huge expansion but it did deform.
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.457 290 NSA @50 yds quartering shot on deer. This traveled about 20-25 inches through the deer. The deforming of the tip causes the slug to be unbalanced and tumble through the meat and makes a larger wound path. The exit hole is usually a keyhole as the slug comes out sideways.
A solid slug doesn’t deform very much at all and it can travel all the way through and only poke a little hole on the exit side. It’ll work but it has drawbacks as well.
 
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.457 290 NSA @50 yds quartering shot on deer. This traveled about 20-25 inches through the deer. The deforming of the tip causes the slug to be unbalanced and tumble through the meat and makes a larger wound path. The exit hole is usually a keyhole as the slug comes out sideways.
A solid slug doesn’t deform very much at all and it can travel all the way through and only poke a little hole on the exit side. It’ll work but it has drawbacks as well.
This is the same slug I use in my .45 AEA Challenger. I agree that a solid flat point does make a better pass through and blood trail. But that NSA 290 is by far the most accurate slug in two of my .45s. I shoot a lot of my own cast slugs at targets. And a few of Mr HP along with others. But these are the ones for me for deer. I have shot over a dozen deer with these. Some people carry worry stones, a nut and bolt or other stupid thing in their pocket to fiddle With. I Cary a couple of these 290slugs. Air gunners are a strange brew.
 
Two slugs.Two .510 N.O.E molds almost identical velocity. 840 and 860 fps. Both recovered from neck shots.. Both animals didn't die at impact and required follow up shots... I think hollow points are marketing for big bores... For me not worth it.... If you take chest shots with hollow points I have had zero blood.trail.....real world results... Also I'd like more energy... I've used my 50 enough for hunting I now its limitations...

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I been saying this since I 2019 , I like solid slugs for hunting , I have had same issues with hollowpoints in Airguns now powder burners a different story
 
Hollow points sure are sexy,...but I've always preferred a big meplat bullet or a wadcutter for hunting



this is what I shoot out of my .357

I like matts bullets, but in my 357 pcp I shoot hornady cowboy bullets, they are swaged lead, the lube is dry and covers the entire bearing surface, and same weight compared to cast shoot a little faster and generally a little more accurate out of my pcp. Of course yours may be different. May be worth trying.

grafs has them at 29 and change for 250 148gr wadcutters.

The picture on the web doesn't look exactly like any of the ones I've purchased in the last 4 years, mostly because of the dry lube but even without the lube it's not exactly like hornady pictures. The lube on these works great in a pcp, very clean. I looked for any wadcutters I have left, but I apparently shot the last of them. I shoot the 158gr semi-wadcutters, the knurling looks the same on all of them that I bought, swc, rnwc, and wc.
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We took two deer this year with our NSA 298 grain knurl .457 shooting a 45 cal Texan. One was a pass through and deer ran about 20 yards and dropped with major blood trail.

Second slug which is the ones in the pictures was recovered from our second deer during processing and you can see the mushroom. Very good blood trail and only ran a short distance.

These performed beyond expectation.

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We took two deer this year with our NSA 298 grain knurl .457 shooting a 45 cal Texan. One was a pass through and deer ran about 20 yards and dropped with major blood trail.

Second slug which is the ones in the pictures was recovered from our second deer during processing and you can see the mushroom. Very good blood trail and only ran a short distance.

These performed beyond expectation.

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Good morning Nick! This 298 is very accurate in my Texan. I’ve done some testing into turkeys (thawed store bought) shot from 85 yards, a realistic hunting range. Each of the recovered bullets passed through the first bird and lodged into the second bird. They had a great mushroom but I noticed a reduced weight retention and fragmentation. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m pushing these at 920 fps in my Texan. The recovered slugs weighed between 232 grains and 247 grains.

To keep the expansion controlled and not fragment, do you think this slug would benefit from a slightly higher BHN or maybe a poly ball in the hollowpoint cavity? That cavity is deep and wide and the lips are fairly thin.

Or were these designed for lower velocity rifles? Great job on this design and very accurate!!!
 
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