True Shot Bullets

Few people have more respect for Elmer Keith than I do. He taught us a lot about the use of hard-cast handgun bullets on large game. It seems he was in error on one point, though. He believed that the sharp driving band on semiwadcutter bullets cleanly cut blood vessels and contributed to a quicker kill. We now know that cavitation created by the flat point of the bullet pushes flesh aside so that little comes in contact with the driving band. It is the meplat, the flat nose on the end of the bullet, which contacts flesh and blood vessels and does the real damage. The heavy, wide flatpoint style of bullet has been proven to be effective on the largest game in the world because the wide meplat crushes tissue effectively, and the heavy weight of the bullet ensures deep penetration.

Oregon Trail Bullet Company has established a solid reputation in the manufacture of quality cast handgun bullets. I've used them extensively in mid- to lightweight configurations for some time. Until recently, though, OTB didn't offer much in the way of heavy flatnose bullets suitable for hunting. That has changed. The new True Shot line of premium cast bullets offers a good selection of heavy gas-checked handgun hunting bullets of the widenose, flatpoint design.

I tested True Shot's 310-grain gas check .44 Magnum bullet in my Super Redhawk mounted with a 2X Burris scope. Off the sandbags, accuracy was excellent and leading was minimal. You don't really have to shoot these bullets, though, to see the attention to quality that goes into them. They are superbly cast and come nicely packaged in 50-round boxes. As to the all-important wide meplat, the 310-grain .44 bullets measured .380 inch across the nose. That is indeed a WNFP and should handle as big a critter as you dare tackle with a .44. Suggested Retail: 310-grain .44 caliber-- $9.99 per 50