40 caliber 200 grain XTP? Yup!

08:30 this morning. Got a nice size button doe. Yup. A girl with antler buttons. I seem to have a knack for finding the odd ones this year...
Anyway. A quartering to shot at 25 yards. The powder charge , 70 grains , muzzle velocity, 1800 fps. Results? BANG flop. Tail spinning like a woodchuck.
Now Hornady rates this bullet for a max of 1200 fps, sooo this one was a bit fast. I figure it hit doing 1700, give or take.
It bullseyed the shoulder knuckle ( didn't want to) blew 2 ribs and tore a 3 inch hole going INTO the chest cavity. The lungs were shredded the heart was blown to bitty pieces and the bullet did not exit. With the bone hit, i suspect it was coming apart. Not a problem though, as this was one of the fastest non-spine kills I've ever had. Had I missed the knuckle, i suspect I would have had a massive exit wound.
Given it was going 500 fps faster than intended at impact, took out a good size bone and 2 ribs, I give this bullet 5 stars. I have yet to be disappointed by any XTP I've used. Superb bullets. Bravo Hornady!

Nice result.

It's too bad Hornady doesn't make a .40 XTP mag, although I'm guessing even a long barreled 10mm pistol would be challenged to exceed 1200 fps by any significant margin.

Of course long as the bullets work, no need to change anything.

750-1650 fps using my 44-cal / .430 200gr Hornady XTPs.
It's a tougher bullet than yours. However, the B.C. on my 44s are less than your 40-cal.
Yours - .199
Mine - .170

:yeah: Congrats on your boyish girl. :huh?:

BTW.... I just came home with some 44-cal 200gr Hornady FTXs. Look similar to the SSTs and I'm wondering if I made a good move buying this bulk 50-pk. I have some green Crush Rib 50/44s to use with both the XTPs and FTXs, being both of these bullets I believe are .430 and not .429s.

The 40cal wildcats for pistols never really took off and 10mm has its limitations. The 401 Herters PowerMag was one of the few. The .401 WSL (Winchester Self Loading) round was even earlier and very short lived rifle round. Hardly any 40 wildcats have been made since so its not surprising you wont see a tougher 40cal 200gr in mass production anytime soon.

The few that still exist shoot mostly lighter bullets in cases with little volume. Too small to use a 200gr and achieve "mag" level performance.

Hawks bullets will make a tougher 40cal if you want to pay the price. Quality control might be a bit of a gamble especially if you want a spire point. His HPs and SPs didnt look too bad from what ive seen though.

Nice work CR! I assume out of your .45?
Love bang flops :yeah:

I know one guy who shot a 4pt doe years ago, pretty rare for sure.

Thanks for the information. Congratulations on the harvest.

Yup, from my Super 45 XR. I'm really enjoying this rifle, 1-20 twist and all.
As of now, I'm fine with the XTP's. Maybe if I go for bigger, I'll try the SST's ( 200 grain). They are tougher, but Hornady hasn't published the velocity specifications that I can find. Most states restrict what a 45 can be used for. Makes little sense to me. While a light 40 may not be good for elk, can someone explain how a full caliber 400 - 500 grainer isn't? I mean its a flying telephone pole! Maybe specify bullet diameter and/ or weight... I could just use a 50 with 357's or 40's and be legal. Makes NO sense... Oh well.

FWIW- I purposely used this very bullet last year with a chrono'd muzzle velocity of 2629fps on a nice sized deer at 35yds into the shoulder blade. I did this based upon the opinion that it wouldn't be a good choice given it's speed limitation be less than half. Well entrance was .5" through shoulder blade leaving a nice wound channel about 4" in diameter by about 8" deep before fragmenting into pieces. There were pieces of bone pushed to the far side of the animal.
No crater wound like people said would happen. None of the pieces hit any CNS/Spine or even the heart. The deer collapsed in the same four tracks it was standing in when the shot went off like a sack of potatoes. The trauma of this bullet at this speed can only be compared to doing the same thing with a 250XTP in the 2200fps range.

I do believe that the .40 XTP 200 would probably be at it's very best in the velocity range you've mentioned(1800-2200fps) if you are looking for a better balance between penetration and expansion than my experiment.
Sure they don't exit when pushed this hard, but then again, they don't run either

Have used the 40X200 grain XTP a bunch in my 45 cal SML rifles. I keep the velocity in the 2100 or less range and have never had a bullet failure. 2 shots to show performance are 1/ a 10 yard shot into a 150+- buck with a base of neck shot = bangflop. Bullet did not exit the neck but did a great job destroying the spine just in front of the shoulders. 2/ a 40 yard quartering on shot on a 90 # doe. bullet entered just inside the right shoulder penetrated through the body cavity exited belly and then entered the left ham and stoped just under the skin at the back of the ham. perfect mushroom and bullet weighed 160 grains. Doe did a 360 spin and then a 60 yard death run, internals a mess. I still use the 40X200 XTP on the guns dedicated to woods hunting as it is very accurate and gives superb performance. In my "open field" guns it is the 40X200 SST for it's much better BC and = performance at higher speeds and accuracy at longer ranges and I push it at the 2600 fps +-. Just my experiences, yours may be different. W

Just more reasons to love the XTP... Guess Hornady practices truth in advertising. Accurate, deadly, dependable...

There is one really good bullet made in 40 caliber it is the 200 grain Lehigh Bloodline. I took a 9 point buck at about 45 yards with one 2 years ago hit him running on a diagonal shot went in on the edge of the left ham and diagonal threw the body and the right front shoulder he got a few yards the skidded a ways on his nose.
Everything inside his body was destroyed.

I found a cheaper 200gr you might find interesting. Its the Hornady 200gr HAP. Its based on the XTP but it does not have the "slits" around the HP. Normally you can only get them in huge bulk packs but atm Wideners has them for about $45/250

https://www.wideners.com/reloading-supp ... mm-bullets

Hornady Action Pistol (HAP) bullets are supposed to have less expansion but otherwise they are very similar to an XTP. I would imagine at ML speeds, expansion would still be pretty intense but slightly less than a XTP. I wish i had some to send to Ron for "jug testing" so we could do a apples to apples comparison against the 40cal 200gr XTP.

Modeled after the legendary XTP bullet design, HAP (Hornady Action Pistol) bullets are further refined into the perfect competition projectile. While XTP bullets use folds and a cannelure to aid in controlled expansion and terminal performance, we have eliminated these from HAP bullets leaving only a sleek and balanced projectile with a protected nose that aids in consistent and reliable feeding in autos.

Click to expand...

Seems like a good practice bullet. But the notches etc, found in the xtp promote even expansion. Ones I've recovered show no tendency towards lopsided expansion. This results in better weight and core retention as well as improving the chances for straight line penetration. Hornady has removed these notches in the HAP line, seeming to concentrate on accuracy and reliable feeding in autoloaders. Not saying they would be a poor hunting bullet, just seems like Hornady has made the distinction between the two.

IIRC the Nosler 40cal 200gr bullet has no notches either and expands quite nicely. The HAP looks very similar to the Nosler. The HAP was designed to meet minimum power requirements in 40S&W. When using a 200gr bullet the MV required is pretty low. Probably about half the MV you are getting in a ML.

The only thing that has kept me from trying these was the fact they were only offered in 500 ct packs and wasn't interested in wasting 495 bullets if they didn't shoot or perform any better at high speeds than the XTP.

Has anyone tested these in regards to accuracy vs XTP 200's and has anyone taken any game with one?

Maybe we could do a group buy and split up the 250 qty for us to all try??

I'm with Confederate Rifleman, and have no interest in using something designed as a competition/target bullet on game. I know what the .40/200 XTP will do and I will stick with that for the few cents difference in price.

Confed- The 200 xtp stays together pretty well on game below 1800fps...but most .45 MZ's are pusing this bullet north of of 2000 fps and in some cases in the 2400-2600fps range.
Thats well above double the 1200fps it's designed for.
As much as I do like the XTP, I think the exact same bullet minus the skives in the jacket and a rounded edge on the Hollow point might improve it's integrity a bit for more penetration when used above 2000fps.

If someone has the interest I'd like to get maybe 5 people willing to split a box of 250 with me, as I would love to test them.

I would take 50 and possibly 100. I would also send some to Ron if he is upto trying them out on some jugs. I think i still have some of the Nosler 40cal 200gr also. As i said they look just like the HAP.

Ive wanted to try the HAPs for a long time but just couldn't bring myself to buy a huge box of them.

Anybody else?


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Just about no two shots on game are the same, speed at impact, angles, and exact shot placement. I just came back from an Elk hunt where one Hunter moved up to a 300 Weatherby Mag over the years because of unpleasant experiences with slightly smaller chamberings. The relative & I both had instant drops on elk with the 30-06 and a 300WSM. I'm more into shot placement than quibbling with relatively minor ballistic specs.

I'll be shooting the 200 grain XTP at 2200 fps out of my 45 cal Knight this Fall again, no reason to change.