I had an interesting morning. I have been debating (mostly with myself) about which of my guns to carry for unfortunate encounters with big furry, toothy creatures in the woods. I decided to do a penetration test with 4 different calibers into the same test medium to help me decide. I used a Glock 19 9mm, a RIA 1911A 10mm, a 45 Colt Redhawk and a 454 Casull BFR. To make the test as fair as possible I used factory ammo in everything except the 454, for it I used some handloads I had developed for hunting. I fired 2 of each type into the boards at 12 ft.  For the test medium, I cut 1/2 inch fiber board into 12" squares. I stacked 15 of them together and put a bolt all the way through the middle to keep them aligned and tight. The results were somewhat surprising. The 9mm Underwood 115 gr Xtreme penetrator went through 7 boards (Way further than I thought would happen). The 10mm Underwood 200gr Hardcast went through 9. The 45 Colt 325gr Double Tap WFNGC went through 10. The 45lc HSM 325gr Bear Load only went through 7 (less than I thought) and of course, the 454 outshined them all with a 300gr bullet going through 12. So that really did not help me to decide. The 10 and the 45lc were very close and I think I could put more rounds down range quicker with the 10, but make a slightly bigger hole with the 45.  The 454 was fun, but it is to big and slow to get on target to be a good SD gun. No conclusive, but fun. Shooting things is fun!

I started reloading with Blue Dot, but found the flash and bang a little excessive. I tried a couple of others( Unique, WST, Bullseye) then switched to CFE Pistol. I have been very happy with the metering and the down range performance. I dont get the fps that they claim, but I am not to far off and it has shown to be very accurate in my RIA FS HC. I took my deer with it and a XTP 180gr bullet this year at @ 47 yards. Hit right where I was aiming and had complete pass through. Works for me. You mileage may vary.

Thanks for the input gentlemen!

Beautiful!! Congrats!

Has anyone tried the 200gr WFN-GC bullet from Montana Bullet Works? I am specifically interested in how it feeds in a 1911A style pistol. I have been using XTP bullets and would like to switch to hard cast. I didnt want to buy them if they wont feed. Thanks in advance for your input.

I shot my deer this year ( 130 lb Doe) with a 180gr XTP loaded to 1200 fps. Broadside shot at 47 yards. Put it right behind her shoulder and had complete penetration and a nice size exit wound. She went about 15 yards and piled up. I could not be happeir with the performance of that load. The gun is a Rock Island FS double stack.