In 2024, I made my first attempt at handgun hunting and it did not go well. In the article I wrote covered everything, including a plan to correct my failures. The primary steps I need to take are practice and more practice. To practice, you need ammunition and in this economy, .357 Magnum is not cheap. Thankfully, components are relatively inexpensive. I acquired 200 of the 158 grain version of Hornady's XTP along with a bottle of H110.
The first set of handloads started with load data at 16.2 grains and worked up to 16.7 grains increasing by .1 increments. I skipped 16.4 grains resulting in a total of 50 rounds loaded up for velocity testing. After having them sit around for about a month, the only day I had a chance to do anything was a rainy Saturday that I needed to use for mowing the Little Farm. Once I was tired of being soaked on the tractor, I setup my Caldwell chronograph under the tailgate of my 4Runner. After stepping back some distance, I began the testing with my Taurus 66 with 4 inch barrel.
Hornady XTP 158 grain with H110
16.2 - 1151 fps - ES 95
16.3 - 1199 fps - ES 114
16.5 - 1210 fps - ES 49
16.6 - 1226 fps - ES 43
16.7 - 1276 fps - ES 71 (there is an outlier of 1237 that if removed I get 50 fps for the ES which is better)
None of the loads had what I think are excellent extreme spreads but they were worse with the lesser loads. I also had some trouble with getting readings on some of the loads. I don't know if my chronograph is working well or calibrated correctly but I did some additional testing with a factory load I had on hand, the Remington HTP 158 grain SJHP.
Remington HTP 158 grain SJHP
1373 fps - ES 46
Seeing those numbers for the HTP absolutely surprised me. So much so that I am questioning the accuracy of my chronograph. Every test I have seen of the Remington ammunition from a 4 inch barrel is usually in the high 1200 fps with some being low 1300s but to be 70+ fps higher than any other tests concerns me. That said, it does highlight that right now, it might be better for me to zero my red dot for the HTPs and practice with the XTPs.
Looking over the numbers for the XTPs and running the 16.6 and 16.7 grain velocities through a ballistic calculator, I find that even the 16.6 grain load should have enough velocity to make it to the 110 yard mark and still expand and penetrate nicely. The HTP should still be good for around 60 or so yards based on minimum velocity thresholds I use for each. I use 1044 fps for the XTP and around 1190 for the HTP which these are based off of data collected from testing seen around the Internet. If you add some velocity for error, we still have some good useable distance. Based on performance from the 2024 hunt, I think I will limit myself to 50 yards as best I can so either loads should work fine. Additionally, this works nicely as the gun club I have a membership with has a 50 yard range that I can do this sort of thing with.
I had figured that I would be most interested in the higher end of the load data anyway so next steps will be to load up additional strings of both the 16.6 and 16.7 grain versions. I'm thinking around 25 of each. This will allow for additional velocity testing along with some beginning accuracy testing and it uses up the last 50 bullets in the first Hornady box and last of the CCI primer box I have to match. I also have a few of the factory Hornady Custom with the same bullets that I want to run over the chronograph as a baseline. Next time I go out, I will try to test on a sunny day instead of slapping together something.
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