My First Handgun Hunt Follow Up - Pre-Season Load Development and Velocity Testing

 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.

My First Handgun Hunt - It Did Not Go Well and My Plan to Fix It

 For the 2024 deer season, my primary goal, outside of putting food in the freezer for the family, was to harvest the food using the Taurus 66 with a Burris Fastfire 3 red dot. The reasoning has been that I want to be able to carry a pistol during the deer season while on the homestead doing chores and harvest a deer should the opportunity present itself, without retrieving a rifle. Plus being able to hunt with a handgun is just cool. This year was to be the proof of concept. 

The build is a newer Taurus Model 66 with a 4 inch barrel. This is actually the second one I've had as the first, a blued model, was replaced during an RMA. I replaced the rear sight with a AliExpress Doctor/Noblex mount and a Burris Fastfire 3 red dot. The dot is an older one I've had for a while that has the 8 MOA dot. While I think that dot is too large for this application, on anything 75 yards and less, the dot would still be inside the vital zone of a whitetail. It ends up not being as bad of a choice as one might think. I don't remember why I bought that size MOA dot in the first place but I wished it was smaller.

The revolver was loaded with Hornady's Custom line using the 158 grain XTP bullet. I zeroed the dot for 25 yards. That zero should let me be able to shoot out to around 85 yards without holdover as at 88 yards, the bullet should be around 3 inches down. I don't think I'd be stable enough to make that shot off hand so I'm not really worried about needing to go further with this particular build. Sadly, I only had the single, 20 round box so I had not practiced much with that load.

Opening day started interestingly. Heading into the property for an evening hunt, I knew that deer tend to like hiding in the swamp area on either side of the driveway. On this first hunt, I was armed with the Taurus and my Marlin 1894 CST. On the walk, as expected, I spooked 4 does. 3 of those appeared to be yearlings with a much larger doe. I opted to hold off on the shot with the Marlin seeing how quickly the entire thing played out and that it would have only been 5 minutes into the deer season. I slung the rifle and drew the revolver to see if they were on the other side of the bush. They weren't. I pushed into the property and waited to see if they would come back in.

A doe showed up immediately after this picture was taken.

After waiting for a short while, I needed to start heading home for baby reasons. I made an attempt to see if they had come back into the swamp area. Turns out they had but crossed into the neighbors property and I don't have the option to follow. I had missed out on my first chance. 

I made a second attempt for an evening hunt a few days later. I approached the swamp area around the driveway with the revolver in hand this time, ready to go. Once again, I spooked a doe onto the drive. 

I immediately presented and hunted for the dot. Mistake number 2. I knew the dot presents much higher on the Taurus than I am used to compared to my semi-auto pistols. In the rush, I couldn't find the dot. Thankfully, I had enough time to correct the issue and found the dot as a broadside was being presented. At this point, the shot distance was probably around 30 yards, no more than 45 yards. I know that with my carry gun, I can land hits at 50 yards in the vital zone standing. This off-hand shot should have been just fine.

But it wasn't.

I was able to somewhat stabilize but even in single action, I was still fairly jittery. When I pressed the trigger, the revolver snapped up. The doe stood for about a second then ran off. It didn't even seem she was hit. I took a second to recoup and walked up to where she was standing. 

After searching for around 15 minutes and box scanning, I was unable to find any blood trail. Just to be sure, I walked through about where she would have run along the property line to see if I could find her. I found nothing in the 45 minutes I walked the woods along the property. I missed. While I was on the property, I stopped at my shooting tree where I have 2 metal targets hanging around the trunk of a pine. I took a shot at around 25 yards and missed again. I took a kneeling position and took another shot hitting the target. 

At this point, what confidence I had in my setup is dead. I had a total of 10 rounds left from the box. 7 for the speed loader and 3 for testing and I needed to do some validation work. I took the revolver out and setup a target at 25 yards to make sure I was zeroed correctly. I found that I was pretty much on target. What I also learned is that the distance to the target was more like 50 to 60 yards, not 30. I still should have taken a knee for stability but I feel better knowing that the shot distance was further than I thought. A miss is still a miss though.

While I still had a two full months left of the deer season, pretty much anything after Thanksgiving for me is dead. Add holidays in full swing and a 3 month old baby plus everyone getting majorly sick, the deer season was pretty much over. Everyone getting sick was a little heartbreaking. One, because seeing your baby sick is just sad but it coincided with the earliest cold days when the deer that were left would have been active. I had been sick from Thanksgiving until January.

So how will I correct this issue before the 2025 deer season? Load development and practice. 

My plan for 2025 is to start handloading using Hornady XTP bullets and H110 powder. I ordered 200 of the 158 grain XTP bullets which is what the factory load is using. I have my powder charges from the reloading data, all I need to do is load up several test samples for accuracy and chronograph work. I'm hoping that I can work up a load to around 1295 fps with good accuracy. This is pretty hot but I'm seeing where some people have pushed over 1300 fps from a 4 inch barrel. 

Once I have my load, I need to make up quite a few and just start practicing for the 2025 deer season. I would also like to replace the red dot with something in the 2 MOA range. I do have a Vortex Venom 2.5 MOA on a 22 pistol that I could harvest. Since it's just a .22 LR, I can replace it with something cheaper from Amazon or swap the 8 MOA Fastfire.

I also have my Smith and Wesson Model 17. I have been collecting ammunition for it to see if I locate a high velocity load that's accurate for the purposes of long range pistol shooting. I figure it would be good for me to be able to practice with .22 LR being so much cheaper than centerfire cartridges. Interestingly, I am seeing that red dot mounts also exist that should fit K frame Smiths so should I truly want to make this work, I can replace the rear sight. I don't know that I want to do that yet.

Based on anecdotal data for expansion of these bullets, I'm finding, in conjunction with a ballistic calculator, if I can zero whatever dot I use with this conceptual 1300 fps load at 75 yards, I should be able to have a 100 yard capable revolver. Whether the accuracy is there to make this work is beyond me at this point but we'll find out.

Stay tuned to see how the load development turns out.