Hornady Handgun Hunter

[Danjojo]

I'd be interested to know what the alloy is. I got pretty detailed on the "armor piercing ammunition" language back during Obama's M855/SS109 ban attempt. If the bullet is or has a core that is mostly, among other metals, brass, then it is legally prohibited for handgun use. Barnes avoids this, as far as I have been able to figure out, by making its bullets from pure copper. Hornady's GMX bullets have typically been gilding metal, which is on the order of 5 percent (plus or minus) zinc, making it technically a brass. Yellow "cartridge brass" is around 10 percent zinc. The GMX zinc percentage appears to vary by bullet SKU, based on bullets ranging in appearance from more yellow to more red. I haven't found any guidelines or conventions for a threshold of zinc percentage a copper alloy can contain and not be considered a brass. Obviously, that is of interest when we're talking about handgun bullets. (I wouldn't, for example, load the .224 GMX bullets in an AR pistol, but since it needs a lot of velocity to expand, that may not be a technically useful application in any case.) These Handgun Hunter bullets appear more red; maybe the alloying elements are not zinc or tin. I don't know a ton about copper alloys; something that increases the percent elongation to avoid shedding pedals might be very useful for the Casull and S&W loads. Just curious.

I like the product; a marketplace with more environmentally- and health-friendly bullets for use on game is a good thing.

One thing I think I understand about terminal ballistics is that the work done to expand a bullet has to come from the kinetic energy of the bullet. More work done in expansion means less energy remaining to penetrate. It's why .380 is so marginal: There just isn't quite a big enough pot of energy in the beginning to reliably get all the jobs done. So I would use these for soft and medium-bodied game, but for something really big, or for @GJM's mission of penetrating a bear skull, I would probably go with something like the Cutting Edge solids instead if I used a revolver. Even a really big handgun still isn't a rifle and doesn't get to the ~2300 fps muzzle velocity where Federal says rifle things start to happen. All the energy goes to penetration, and you rely on the flat nose with crisp leading edge for tissue damage. Although I'd still go with the Lehigh in a semi as a better option.

Interesting about the brass info. I don't think our fish and game people would have a clue either way and just think it's another new all copper environmental protection bullet.

I've been checking out a lot on the Lehigh designs for the past couple years and talking to people who have used them for hunting.

Personal use I don't have a need for XP's since heavy JHP's in service calibers will aptly penetrate everything breathing east of the Mississippi. XD's penetrate like heavy JHP's but do less wounding. For me the sweet spot would be more wounding than the heavy JHP's with similar penetration...bonus if it gives a lighter carry weight and even more if it has better hard barrier ability.

[OlongJohnson]

The thing about hunting ammo is the dispersion of lead particles away from the immediate wound track. Little pieces get surprisingly far away without leaving noticeable wounding to tell the tale of their passing. If I'm going to eat the meat, this matters to me. If I'm varminting and going to leave the carcass for other animals to eat, lead matters to me. Either way, lead-free projectiles solve the problem reliably.

[03RN]

When I spoke to Hornady CS about their 10mm Critical Duty load vs the XTP, they told me the Critical Duty bullet was tougher and would penetrate better than the XTP load.

I would love to find CD as a component. Wonder what would happen at 2000fps from a .357 carbine.

[Spartan1980]

I would love to find CD as a component.

Same here along with HST bullets, as it is we have to be satisfied with Gold Dots. I guess it could be worse.