Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 225gr Barnes XPB – Impressive Lead Free Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 225gr Barnes XPB is the heavier of the two lead free 44 Magnum loads Buffalo Bore builds. A 225 grain solid copper hollow point at 1400 fps carries about 979 ft-lbs, and because the bullet is machined from a single piece of copper it arrives at the far side of an animal with almost all of that weight intact.

• Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 225gr Barnes XPB Overview
• Lead Free 44 Magnum Hunting Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 225 Grain Copper Hollow Point Bullet Keeps Its Weight
• Specifications
• Guns That Take This Monolithic Expanding Revolver Load

Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 225gr Barnes XPB Overview

Buffalo Bore item 4L is part of their Buffalo-Barnes lead free line. The 225 grain Barnes XPB runs 1400 fps for roughly 979 ft-lbs. Twenty rounds per box.

Buffalo Bore lists boar hunting, deer hunting and self defence as the intended applications, and as with everything they publish, the velocity comes from test firing in real firearms rather than laboratory barrels.

Against the 200 grain version of the same bullet, this load trades a hundred feet per second for twenty five grains. The energy figures end up almost identical. What changes is sectional density, and therefore how the bullet behaves once it meets resistance.

The Buffalo-Barnes line exists because hunters were being told to stop using lead at a point when the lead free alternatives were not very good. Buffalo Bore took the best monolithic bullet available and loaded it to their own velocities, and the compromise largely disappeared.

Lead Free 44 Magnum Hunting Ammo Ballistics

At 1400 fps a 225 grain bullet produces about 979 ft-lbs, from grains times velocity squared divided by 450437. That is squarely at the classic 44 Magnum energy figure, reached with less velocity and therefore less muzzle blast than a lighter bullet needs.

Momentum is where the heavier bullet pulls ahead. At 225 grains and 1400 fps the figure is 315,000 grain-feet per second against 300,000 for the 200 grain load at 1500. Combined with a longer copper shank, that means deeper penetration once the petals are open.

Recoil sits between the light Barnes load and the traditional 240 grain jacketed offerings. Most shooters find it comfortable in a medium frame revolver and mild in anything heavier.

For boar and deer handgun ammunition the heavier bullet is usually the better bet. A hog quartering away needs the bullet to keep going after it meets the shield, and a 225 grain copper hollow point bullet has more behind it to do that with.

Why The 225 Grain Copper Hollow Point Bullet Keeps Its Weight

The Barnes XPB is turned from solid copper bar stock. There is no lead core and no jacket, so there is no interface that can fail. On impact the hollow nose peels back into four petals that remain attached to the shank for the whole of the wound channel.

Weight retention is typically ninety five percent or better. A conventional cup and core bullet fired at these velocities from a revolver can lose a third of its mass to fragmentation, and every grain lost is penetration that did not happen.

Copper is lighter than lead, so a 225 grain copper bullet is physically longer than a 225 grain lead one. Barnes machines relief grooves into the shank to manage the additional bearing surface, which keeps pressure sensible and the bore clean.

The combination of wide expansion and retained weight is genuinely unusual. Most bullet designs give you one or the other, and a monolithic expanding revolver load is one of the few honest ways to get both.

Accuracy is another quiet benefit. Barnes bullets are machined rather than swaged, so weight and concentricity vary very little from round to round, and Buffalo Bore’s lead free 44 Magnum hunting ammo tends to group tightly as a result.

Everything traces back to the same fact: a 225 grain copper hollow point bullet with nothing inside it to come apart behaves predictably, and predictability is what you want from a hunting bullet.

Specifications

Guns That Take This Monolithic Expanding Revolver Load

This is standard pressure 44 Magnum and suits any firearm chambered for the cartridge in sound working order: Smith & Wesson N frames, Ruger Redhawks, Blackhawks and Super Blackhawks, Taurus revolvers, Marlin and Rossi lever guns, and single shot pistols.

It is the load to reach for if you hunt where lead ammunition is restricted. California has required non lead ammunition for hunting statewide since 2019, and other jurisdictions have followed in specific areas.

From a lever action carbine the extra barrel length adds significant velocity and turns this into a very capable deer and hog load out past a hundred yards. As always with a heavy for calibre bullet, check that it feeds through the tube magazine by hand before you rely on it.

Sight regulation is worth confirming. A 225 grain bullet at 1400 fps will usually print close to a standard 240 grain load, but close is not the same as confirmed.

Boar And Deer Handgun Ammunition Availability

This Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 225gr Barnes XPB is in stock and ships from our Collegeville, Pennsylvania shop. MAG5 Firearms is a family owned FFL dealer, and orders of this boar and deer handgun ammunition normally leave within one business day.

For a lighter, faster copper bullet see the Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 200gr Barnes XPB. For a conventional jacketed alternative compare the Buffalo Bore 44 Mag 240gr JHP, and for the deepest penetration in the calibre the Buffalo Bore 44 Mag +P+ 340gr Hard Cast. Tested velocities are published by Buffalo Bore Ammunition.