Hornady Handgun Hunter Ammunition

Hornady has created a new line of handgun hunting ammunition appropriately named Handgun Hunter. Initial calibers are 9mm Luger, .40 S&W, and 10mm Auto pistol cartridges and .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, and .460 S&W Magnum revolver cartridges.

The ammunition is loaded with new, specially engineered copper-alloy MonoFlex handgun bullets and premium cases, primers, and propellants. Designed to provide deep penetration and 95 percent weight retention, the MonoFlex bullets have a proprietary elastomer material inserted into the bullets’ hollowpoints. Upon impact, the elastomer tip compresses and causes the bullet to expand quickly.

I test-fired the .44 Magnum Handgun Hunter ammunition in my trusty old Ruger Super Redhawk double-action revolver with a 9.5-inch barrel. It’s currently the only .44 Magnum handgun I own, but believe me, I’ve owned a bunch over the years. I’ve never gotten rid of the Super Redhawk because it’s rugged, accurate, and set up for easily installing a scope. I’ve used it for hunting big game from Michigan to Texas.

The .44 Magnum Handgun Hunter loading carries a 200-grain MonoFlex bullet and is factory-rated with a muzzle velocity of 1,475 fps, providing a muzzle energy of 966 ft-lbs. Out of my revolver’s 9.5-inch barrel, the velocity averaged 1,363 fps for six rounds. The extreme spread was 79 fps, and the standard deviation was 32 fps. Those results were obtained with a Competition Electronics ProChrono Digital chronograph positioned 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle. The resulting energy was 825 ft-lbs.

Accuracy at 25 yards averaged 2.35 inches for four, five-shot groups. I used a Bushnell 2-6X scope with a plex reticle to gather those results, and I fired the revolver from a bench using a sandbag rest. As you can see, the new Handgun Hunter ammo is accurate and consistent.

MSRP: $37.31 to $52.28 depending on caliber; hornady.com