40 Cal bullet in a 50 Cal wolf.

I have some sabots that hold a 40 Cal bullet. The 155 gr group amazing.

Do y'all think an 155 grain bullet is big enough to take a whitetail deer ?

getting a bit on the small side, would go with 180 gr XTP if anything they are a known deer killer.
Not saying it wouldn't kill a deer cause a 40 gr .22 long rifle will, a lot depends on type of bullet.

dbowling said:

getting a bit on the small side, would go with 180 gr XTP if anything they are a known deer killer.
Not saying it wouldn't kill a deer cause a 40 gr .22 long rifle will, a lot depends on type of bullet.

Click to expand...

It's a 155 gr Speer gold dot.

Gold dot is a very good bullet, good broadside thru lungs no bones other then a rib hit would equal a dead deer more then likely.. you just have to decide if you want to use that light a bullet and if your gun will shoot them good, have heard its hard to get really good accuracy with that weight bullet but I have zero experience with them, lightest bullet I've used is 200 gr .40 caliber.

I found 200gr. Hornady SST Shockwaves w/ blue sabots at a Wal-mart closeout sale. Turned out to be .40 cals. Loaded some over 1-60gr/1-50gr T777 pellets(110gr total wt) and found them to be more accurate in my T?C Impact than the 250 gr. .50 cal SSTs and 240gr. Hornady XTPs I had bee using! Have taken 2 does so far inside 100 yds. so far this year, smaller one <100# was DRT and the other one >100# went less than 30 yds. I have 40 cal ammo I could pull some bullets from down the road but still have 40+ SSTs. Have been thinking about .45 ACP 230gr. Bonded bullets from some Federal LE Tactical ammo I have loaded in a .50 sabot.?????? Your 155s should be awesome.

Gold Dots open up pretty fast so I'd be a bit leery of a 155 grain. A 180 would be much better and if you can find a 200 grain, it would be even better. For whitetails I use a .40 cal, 200 grain XTP cal in my .45.

I wouldn't use less than a 200 grain .40 for deer and stay off the shoulder if using the 200 XTP hollowpoint. They just aren't built as tough as the SST.

I have also used the 200 SST/Shockwave and 120 grains 777 on deer with great results. Even headshot a groundhog one year after season was over while "unloading" the muzzleloader at the local range. Our 100 yard berm was being riddled with groundhog holes and it decided to come out at just the right time.

That 200 SST/Shockwave was specifically made for muzzleloading and does a fine job when applied to a deer.

Speer does not offer a 40cal 200gr. They offer 2 styles in a 180gr. One has a deeper HP than the other. They call it Short Barrel in the description. Nosler has a 200 and Hornady has 2 with HPs. The XTP and the HAP series.

The only way i would consider a 40cal 155gr for deer would be a Barnes TAC-XP. Lightest i would go in lead jacketed is a 180gr.

Somewhere in this meager mind of mine I have this feeling that a solid copper bullet of 155 grains just won't retain the punch power of a lead cored bullet of the same weight, especially with a hollow point as exaggerated as the TAC-XP 155 grain. Personally I wouldn't even pull the trigger on a deer with the TAC-XP at 155 grains thinking that with the velocity needed to get the bullet close to going thru the animal the bullet would just explode. I can't help but think a lead cored bullet would perform better, but I wouldn't use any 155 grain bullet on a deer anyway. I might do a 180 grain, but it would be a minimum for me personally.

You wont blow up a Barnes. Ive shot the 225gr XPB at over 2300fps and it only sheds about 20gr if it loses all the petals. It too is made for low velocity loads like the 45LC. The 155gr TAC-XP is made for 10mm and it will shoot a little bit faster than common 45LC data. Its not intended for use in 40S&W.

At 1550fps a 155gr bullet has just a little over 800fps. 1800fps has over 1100fpe.


No its not a good choice but for close range work like kids loads it will exceed any 10mm handgun load and most 45LC load data.

Interesting Gm, thanks for the energy outputs. Now....I have the 50 cal Optima pistol and shoot a 240 grain .44 cal XTP over 63 weighed grains of 209 powder. I keep all shots inside of 50 yards. Do you think that this TAC-XP 155 would be a feasible bullet for that charge using the 40/50 sabots? I'm always game to try something new with the pistol.

Im not really a fan of 50x40 at all. If you can find a 45cal bullet close to the same weight i find 45s to be a bit easier to get to shoot. You have far more sabot choices and thinner petals release from the bullet faster.

Barnes does have a 160gr and a 185gr 45cal TAC-XP and Copper Only Projectile aka General Bullet has a couple too. One of the guys on the board has used the 185gr in a CVA Wolf IIRC.

Bet that 185gr 45cal TAC-XP would work out well in the Optima pistol.

That would be my guess also. They cost around $33/40.

I have about 800 of 40 Cal bullets. That's why I was wondering.
45 would probably be better.

I agree 50/45 a better choice I have 3 boxes of Speer 200 grain 40 caliber pistol bullets

Something I've come to realize over the years is that jacketed bullets behave very differently when fired in sabots.
The bullet hits the critter with its jacket intact. I believe this allows the bullet to withstand higher velocity impacts than its rated for by the manufacturer.
When fired from a rifled barrel w/o sabot, the jacket is compromised by the engraving of the rifling. These cuts set up stress risers, fracture lines if you will, and when the bullet expands the jacket can split along these lines.
I've shot enough deer with various
calibers and weights of XTP's to have noticed the effect. I took a large doe with a 200 grain at a muzzle velocity of 1800 fps. The range was 25 yards and a front quartering shot that got the shoulder ball and a rib before going through her chest like a blender. BOOMflop. The bullet did not exit, nor was it found.
Some would call that a failure. I don't. It was an instant kill of a deer involving a good amount of bone and a bullet going 550 fps faster than it was rated for.
I took a 125 pound ( dressed weight) 8 pointer with a 180 gr 40 caliber XTP at 1750 fps.
He was turning and was kinda bent unto a U when the bullet hit at 52 yards. It got a rib, some of the left lung, tip of the right, travelled along the inside of the abdominal cavity and wound up under the hide on the outside of his right ham. Somewhere it shucked the jacket, but still weighed 122 grains. He went 50 yards and crashed. The 180 was going 350 fps faster than expected.
The 155 gr 40 was rated to, I believe, the same velocity as the 180 ( 1450 fps). But its not a lot of bullet to work with. I would personally treat it like a 45 ball in terms of shot placement and range.