I'll also throw my two cents worth into this arena. From a hunter's point of view, and one that the Lord has allowed to be tempered with more than just a few harvests.
When traditional handgun cartridges and calibers are considered, it only takes once when shooting an adredalized wild hog, coming at you with malicious intent, and having emptied your six-shooter into the beast at bad-breath range only to have him continue on for you with those razor sharp teeth to make you reconsider your ammo selection. This actually happened, and the ammo used was loaded with Hornady 300g XTP's in a .44 mag, the gun a SBH. Range began at less than twenty feet... final range eight feet, the old bar-hog was killed by a friend with a .45-70 shooting cast bullets. What happened? two shots had missed the hog, and four had found their mark squarely in the center of his chest.... the grissle of that armor he had stopped those XTP's cold! The bullets never penetrated to the vitals. Had these rounds been loaded with a hard-cast wide meplat bullet any one of the connecting shots would have been fatal.
Case two was an Oregon spike bull elk. A long story, but suffice it to say that through the course of some strange events, this spike bull was on a collision course with me through a very narrow game trail through some extrememly thick willow, alder and chinquapin brush. My tool of opportunity a Ruger Security Six .357. Range again tweny feet, to six feet, emptied the gun, elk's head stopped sliding on snow less than one foot from my feet. Load: Hefty charge of Blue Dot and Speer 158g Half-jacket hollow-points (this nearly 20 years ago), again two rounds missed the animal, four hit, one finally hit the soft spot in the brisket where the wind-pipe goes through, and it penetrated the top of the heart. This animal made one pass at me, turned around ran down the trail towards my partner who missed it, and the spike bull returned down the trail to me once agian where I finished working on him with my handgun. Post mortem showed the one round piercing the heart was the only one that made it past the brisket on the critter. The mortal wound was made in the first three shots I fired, it just took him about two minutes to die. Again, had I been shooting a hard-cast wide meplat bullet, any of the frontal shots would have been fatal, for they were well placed.
Another place that I wouldn't substitute a good hard cast bullet is in fall bear hunting. When those blackies have been fattening up for hibernation all fall eating berries and acorns, an entrance wound alone isn't enough for a blood trail when things go wrong and you have the unfortunate mis-placed shot. That hide and fat shift around, and in short order will plug-off an entrance wound so that it quits bleeding entirely. A spine shot is about all that will positively anchor these tenacious critters with regularity. Their will to survive is amazing, and if I have to track one through the fall woods, I want him leaking profusely on both sides. A hard cast wide-meplat bullet will accomplish this goal from a handgun, and do so with certainty, every time.
Bill, I'll agree that for most hunting applications, when using a centerfire bottle-necked cartridge, that jacketed bullets are the best option when full power loads are needed. I shoot quite a few Barnes X in .30 caliber for the hot loaded '06 and '06AI hunting ammo used in our family.
However, most of the deer hunting done around here, even with those '06's is accomplished with aplum using somewhat reduced (.30-30 type velocities) velocity ammo, and the loss of venison to bloodshot is nil. When loading for .35 caliber and up, I've found nothing better than cast.... of course I'm a cast bullet junkie, I'll be the first to admit that one.
Given traditional caliber hunting handgun ammo, I'll take hard cast wide-meplat bullets every time. The same holds true in all straight-walled rifle cartridges as well.
God Bless,
Marshall
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