Hornady Handgun Hunter Performs Afield
Hornady’s Handgun Hunter ammo is available in popular handgun
cartridges, all featuring Hornady’s Monoflex copper bullet.
It’s not every day new products are introduced for handgun hunters. As a matter of fact, handgun hunting often takes a back seat to home and personal protection guns and gear. So, when new firearms, ammo, or any other handgun hunting-related items hit the radar screen, inquiring minds want to know more.
Recently our friends at Hornady have launched a new line of Handgun Hunter ammunition. I couldn’t wait to get my grubby hands on some. This new offering from Hornady is available in 9mm, 40 S&W, 10mm Auto, .357 Mag., .44 Mag., 454 Casull, and 460 S&W Mag. The new ammo utilizes a copper alloy Monoflex bullet with elastomer material inside hollow point cavity of the bullet.
Don’t ask me what elastomer material is but Hornady experimented with a lot of stuff to get it right. According to Hornady, this elastomer interior expands rapidly upon impact, causing the copper jacket to mushroom compliments of the pre-cut petals or skives. Deep penetration results with massive energy transfer.
This high-racked 8-pointer fell victim to Hornady’s Handgun Hunter .44 Mag. from a Freedom Arms Model 83.
I had the full intention of giving this ammo a serious trial run during a handful of hunts, but no thanks to the coronavirus, several of my hunts were canceled. Due to travel restrictions and other pitfalls, these hunts just didn’t materialize. Thankfully, I didn’t have to get tested for the virus before hunting whitetail on my farm — and the property was open for deer hunting business. Best of all, I didn’t have to wear a mask!
Long before season I took the .44 Magnum Hornady Handgun Hunter ammo to the range. I would be shooting a Freedom Arms Model 83 with a 10″ barrel. This is a serious hunting revolver with great accuracy. If the ammo didn’t shoot well in this Freedom Arms, I would have reservations. The .44 Mag. offering comes in a 200-grain Monoflex bullet. Five shots over the Oehler 35P chronograph revealed a velocity of 1,428 fps. After sighting-in at 50 yards, I marched the target out to 100 yards. The results were not disappointing. Several 5-shot groups were inside 3″. Put this revolver in the hands of somebody who can shoot a revolver well and the groups would be tighter. I was more than pleased with the accuracy but was anxious to see how the bullet would perform on game — like a big whitetail buck.
Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places
Opening morning found my wife and me sitting in an elevated blind, hoping for a mature buck to appear in the food plot we were watching. The rut was in full swing and the first big 8-pointer we saw was chasing a doe so fast we weren’t able to get a shot. Bucks get crazy searching for gratuitous sex. My wife usually gets the first opportunity to fill her tag, so I had to wait a couple of days before she connected on another dandy 8-point — who was also looking for love.
It was later in the season when my opportunity came along. The wind was howling early in the morning and I wasn’t expecting much activity. Well, that’s when it usually happens — when you least expect it. The high racked 8-pointer came past my stand while trolling for chicks. He stopped momentarily behind a small cluster of brush and I couldn’t see him. At least I had time to get my earmuffs on and a sandbag up on the window ledge. I cradled the Freedom Arms in the bag and cocked the hammer. When the buck appeared from the brush, he was on the move. A few short grunts from the grunt tube and he froze in his tracks — just 38 steps away. The buck was slightly quartering toward me when the hammer fell.
Immediately I could see the front shoulder was hammered as he disappeared quickly into the woods. It was an easy and short follow-up. The 200-grain Monoflex bullet had broken the shoulder, plowing through the vitals and making an exit on the opposite side. No bullet recovery possible.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what velocity some of these other cartridges achieved. On a chilly 37-degree morning, I set up the Oehler 35P and ran five rounds of 10mm thru a Springfield Armory 1911 TRP Operator with a 6″ barrel. Average velocity was 1,352 fps. Next up: .357 Mag. in a S&W Model 686 with a 6″ barrel obtained 1,338 fps.
In the coming months I look forward to more hunting with Hornady’s Handgun Hunting ammo for black bear, hogs and plains game in Africa. I have no doubt it’s going to work well.
