.44 Mag Leverevolution rounds good?

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StonewallRuger

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I bought some Hornady Leverevolution 240 gr. rounds for my SRH .44 mag. Will these suffice for whitetail hunting within 100 yds?
 
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More designed for use in rifles than pistols, but they should work fine. I'm kinda curious as to velocity loss with these from a short barrel as opposed to what you see with a good JHP. Still, the gummy tip should improve the trajectory even from a handgun.
 

Mr Jukebox

Bearcat
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Fort Rock Ohio
Actually i believe if you look it up that hornady says in the leverevolution line that the 44mag and the 357mag are both designed to work well in a hand gun. I am almost postive that i read that on there site don't have time to look it up as i am at work but someone can.
 

Knuckles

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StonewallRuger":3fw1z3jg said:
I bought some Hornady Leverevolution 240 gr. rounds for my SRH .44 mag. Will these suffice for whitetail hunting within 100 yds?

They're a good hunting round not only for the flatter trajectory, but also for controlled-expansion from the funny, rubber tips.
 

mohavesam

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Designed by computers, built with computers. In short, optimized with 21st century technology for the chambering like no other bullet/powder combination before it.

What's not to like? All you have to do is be good enough!
 

tookalisten

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Here's the 225 gr at 50 yds, 44 mag, SBH 5.5", open sights, sitting with hands resting on sandbag. 6 inch target:
SBH50ydsHornady220.jpg


I've been trying every load/brand that I can get my hands on and mine seems to like these and the American Eagle 240 gr HP the best so far. I have not shot any 300 gr of any type yet.
 

Redhawk4

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Is there a 240 gr version available? I've only seen the 225 gr. in 44 mag and it's the only one I could see on their site.

Hornady quote ballistics for rifle and handgun for the 225 gr on their web site so they obviously think they are suitable for either, although I suspect the powder used may not be optimal for the shorter barrel.
 

Knuckles

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Nope!... Hornady went a little light on most of the Flex-Tip Handgun cartridge weights... they were testing for trajectory and power and these are the grains that they settled on for optimum performance. (made for revolver mind too!)

They have many .44mag grain choices... but only 1 LeverEvolution rnd.

That funky rubber Flex-Tip... I guess, makes for very consistent expansion.
For instance, the 160gr .30-30 "LeverEvolution" is smack in between the common 150gr and 170gr bullets.

I here the stuff works!
 

Rodfac

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Mar 11, 2009
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Can't speak to the velocity of the LeverEvolution rounds but I've chrono'd Winchester WHite box 240 gr SP's in both a Ruger 6.5" .44 Magnum and a Marlin 336 with a 20" bbl. In the Marlin they ran 1710 fps, in the Ruger 1350 fps. A 300-350 fps loss in my experience is about average...20" carbine bbl vs. 6.5" handgun tube.

Hornady lists the 225 gr bullet at 1870 fps from a rifle and 1410 fps from a handgun. Few rifles over 20" were built until the Marlin cowboy offerings came out, so there's a question there. No telling what the handgun bbl length was.

I do know that they're expensive...and I'm skeptical about vastly improved performance on game vs. the usual 240 gr hard cast Keith style flat points or one of the JSPs or Hp versions. Just my opinion...some of you probably have experience on game with them and would care to share. The .44 Magnum is a 100-150 yd proposition in my opinion, the realities of its trajectory let alone remaining energy the big factors.

Regards, Rodfac
 

Redhawk4

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The profile of the LeverEvolution bullet will definitely make a difference in terms of trajectory and velocity at longer range, that's why rifle bullets are always pointed. I would assume the benefits are greater from a long rifle barrel where the MV is considerably higher than in a short barrel, but it is a flat shooting round from a revolver out to 100 yds based on Hornadys figures.

With regard to the bullets performance on impact I agree with Rodfac that it probably doesn't produce very different results from many other bullets, dead is dead - 44 mag seems pretty effective.

The object of the design was to get flatter trajectory and greater down range performance whilst being able to load them in a tube mag without the danger of igniting a primer with the bullet behind. Beyond that, having used the polymer tip, I suggest the bullet design was all about ensuring expansion would take place, and they could achieve similar performance to other traditional expanding bullets rather than necessarily taking bullet performance to a new level. If you don't need the extra range and flatter trajectory they provide then I don't think there would be any other benefit in using them.

I like the concept and thought that's gone into the application, and the red tips have an appeal. I bet the 357's would be really powerful out of my 24" lever gun.
 

MasterBlaster77

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May 3, 2008
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Texas
I have shot a couple of boxes of these through my scoped SBH Hunter and was quite impressed with their accurracy. These will be my hunting load this year as soon as firearms season opens in a couple of weeks. I am not set up to load for 44 mag yet but I think these will do just fine until then. Longest shots i will have are going to be in the 60-75 yard range and should be quite devastating based on some informal testing I have done.
 

nn

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Feb 22, 2008
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Wish I had the resources to properly test the .44mag bullet. I've shot water jugs and the bullet seems to break up more than I'd like it to.
The .357 seems to be a tougher bullet.
Having said that, I would not hesitate to shoot them if that was my only choice.
 

Redhawk4

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nn, were you shooting form a revolver or rifle? That's one thing I've found with my 24" barrel lever action in 357 mag is that the huge increase in MV from the long barrel often causes the bullets to disintegrate, depending on type, in my crude tests.

Some 357 ammo gets up towards 2000 fps, that's alot quicker than the bullets were intended for, as they were no doubt designed to expand at handgun velocities.

Having said that, LeverEvolutions were originally intended for lever action rifles so if anything you might expect the bullets to have had problems expanding fully at revolver velocities. I guess they had to make some sort of compromise.
 

Shoot44

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Can't seem to find the data sheet at the moment, but I chrono'd a few of the 44's out of my Marlin 1894S, (20" barrel), and IIRC, they averaged just below 1800 fps. Haven't shot them over the clock from my SBH Hunter yet.

Shot a few milk jugs with the 357's from a Marlin 1894, (18" barrel), and boy do they explode those jugs!

Since my hunting shots seldom range past 40 yards or so, I see no real reason to pay the price for these things, myself. Just bought a box of each to try them out. If I could get the bullets cheaply enough, I might hand load some, though.
 
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