.35 Remington contender

[patience0830]

Does anyone have any suggestions for .35 caliber bullets that expand reliably at 14" bbl velocities? shot this out of my contender

this pointed soft point went thru 2' of deer, including about 6" of spine and I thought I should have gotten at least a little expansion out of it.
here's the deer.

 

[kludge]

Hornady 180gr SSP Interlock (Single Shot Pistol).

It was designed for the .35 Rem and single shots.

P.S. nice deer!

 

[redneckmedic]

That is incredible... are you sure it wasn't a lemon? Even solid copper expand more than that!!!

 

[SWAMPMASTER]

Hornady 180gr SSP Interlock (Single Shot Pistol).

It was designed for the .35 Rem and single shots.

P.S. nice deer!

This I have a couple friends that use these and nothing else they work well and get deer every year

 

[snapping turtle]

The SSP is a good shooting bullet but is more for knocking down steel pigs and rams and chickens than expanding on live deer. IMHO.

Core loc bullets in 180 and 150 grain should expand much better than the SSP. Hornaday makes the flex tipped version of the leverevolution bullet which should expand at 14 inch speed. The bullets were available this year and the magic pixie dust powder next year.

Shoot that pistol at night/dusk and see the 3 foot flame off the end of the barrel. I do not think the bullet is the culprit but that the powder is not burned fully in 14 inches and lots of speed is scrubbed off in the lacking 4 inches. Still it should be less than 400 FPS compaired to a 20 inch barrel. A faster burning powder is more likely your answer, Lots of contender specific loading data available. The Lyman 49th has a special section on the contender. I used h322 powder in my loads with good results but newer ones might get you better speed without spikes.

At what distance did that deer get hit? At .35 it does not need to expand a whole lot as it is already large hole.

I still have the 35 rem contender barrel and somewhat switched to 7-30 waters. It is a 30-30 necked down to 7mm. It has a rim which some contender fans believe helps in accuracy in contender pistols over the rimless versions of auto cartridges.

 

[kludge]

The FTX would be another good bullet.

Replying to my e-mail, Hornady said it was designed to expand in the 1600-2000fps range.

This guy had good results with the 180gr SSP, and said the exit wound was big enough to put your thumb in. (shooting a .357 Max rifle, ~2200fps MV = 1900fps @ 105 yards)

The Great .357 Remington Maximum Revival

The Remington 200gr Round nose Core Lock is also a favorite in the .35 Rem at rifle velocities, I have little doubt it would be fine in the Contender.

Some other good reviews of the 180gr SSP here, some hunting with pistols.

Hornady InterLock Bullets 35 Caliber (358 Diameter) 180 Grain Spire Point Single Shot Pistol Box of 100 - MidwayUSA

 

[451_Detonics]

The Barnes 200 and 225 grain TSX bullets do extremely well in the 35 Remington.

 

[dg101win]

Hornady 180gr SSP Interlock (Single Shot Pistol).

It was designed for the .35 Rem and single shots.

P.S. nice deer!

Another vote for this bullet
This ahead of H322 with a Fed 210 primer in R-P brass gives 2,000 chronographed fps out of my 12 inch ported barrel. When I put it in the right spot it worked great.

 

[x10]

Hornady 180gr SSP Interlock (Single Shot Pistol).

It was designed for the .35 Rem and single shots.

P.S. nice deer!

+1 here,

the SSP did ugly things to the last deer it was used on. Plus bad things to my ears

 

[patience0830]

Hornady has discontinued the SSP.

 

[patience0830]

The Barnes 200 and 225 grain TSX bullets do extremely well in the 35 Remington.

At 14" pistol speeds?

 

[bstewrat3]

There are a few new bullets in the 12 years since you asked this question. Hornady 200 FTX is what I will be moving to if I ever run out of Hornady 180gr SSP-SP, which is unlikely at my current rate of 6 shots per year.

 

[two70]

At 14" pistol speeds?

The 200 grain should but there is no reason to use anything heavier than the 180 grain TTSX for deer.

 

[sportsman223]

Yep no longer in production Hornady 180gr SSP Interlock (Single Shot Pistol) I have shot a boat load of these Full load of Win 748
Probably got about 1000 left

 

[BluePig]

Very grieved to hear about SSP no longer in production. They also shoot very well out of the Remington XP-100 too.

 

[snapping turtle]

I have found the core loc 150 do shoot well in 14 and 16 inch barrels and have nice expansion in the few deer I have shot with them. They group well but not like the 180 SSP.

Since I have a lever in 35 rem I went away from the SSP‘s after that purchase. The core loc always seemed popular in 35 rem/30/30 circles. I just grabbed a few boxes of each core loc grain bullets when I got the lever. The 200’s group well in the micro groove barrel in the lever the 150’s not so much and the leverevolution while not dropping as much at distance Seem a bit erratic in the grouping.

Handloaders can get the handloading for the contender manual which is full of great tips but it is an older book and does not contain many of the newer powders popular today. That said it gives a nice starting ground for experimentation as most of the manual is for silly wet shooters. Powders that shoot 3 foot flames out of the barrels at dusk might not be perfect for a short barrel accuracy and the core loc factory loads will have that flame thrower effect out of 14 inch barrels as that powder must be slower burning.

 

[MrSmitty]

"I coulda been a Contender" Stanley Kowalski........

 

[patience0830]

"I coulda been a Contender" Stanley Kowalski........

You don't have the mettle for it.

 

[gemihur]

Looks like it's flight was not stabilized by either adequate speed or twist.
My recommendation is to use a nice cast bullet with a big meplat and that usually does the trick for me
The factory barrel in 35 cal. is 1:14" and 14" of barrel doesn't make for extreme velocity unless loaded accordingly.
My go-to barrel for .358 bullets is either a 12" Bellm Bbl in 357 Maximum or an extended super 14 for carbine use 358 Alpo (.358x444 Imp)

*Look into use of IMR 4198 and lighter bullets to gain the velocity that you're looking for outta your super 14
Do not judge all ballistics of a given load by the performance of a single impact's result
A hunt scenario has an infinite number of subtle factors that can result in an unexpected outcome
You can resolve this, that deer tasted good, Didn't it?

 

[topash]

Fury custom bullets make 4 different bullets for 35 caliber. They have a good reputation in 14" contenders. Recommended by Mike Bellm for 357 maximum. I use their 44 caliber bullets in my 14" 44 mag contender. No expansion problems.