whitetail bullet

[pooldoc]

I've had good results with the Harvester 300 gr PT Gold with 110 gr of BH 209. I find the 120 gr load of BH a little unpleasant to shoot and accuracy suffers. Barnes line of MZ bullets really expand well, I just have't found a load that works as well as the PT Golds. Not sure why the inconsistent performance from the Hornady's .No complaints about accuracy.

 

[speedmaster97]

Took a doe this year with a barnes expander w/110 gr of BH209. No problem with blood trail, she went 10-15 yards.

 

[DartonJager]

I have been shooting shockwaves and have been having trouble getting them to expand on deer. They punch right through with the same size entry and exit hole. Blood trails have been non existent. I am looking for something that will expand on deer.

Can you make a recommendation?

Schuylkill,
You CAN NOT go wrong with Hornady standard 300 grain XTP's. Its a handgun bullet that works superbly at ML velocities and they are reasonably priced. I have killed deer and 1 elk and each and every time they passed through, left great but very short blood trails. My friends also use them on deer and 1 330" bull and had results that mirror mine. I also can not recommend strongly enough you use Harvester smooth black sabots for use with .451" 45 caliber bullets like the XTP. If your ML will shoot them well they are a great any species bullet.

The Barnes T-EZ flat based also are a great bullet if your gun shoots them well, but a bit pricy. Based on my experience the flat based Barnes ML bullets are more accurate than the boat tailed ones and I have shot well over a hundred combined of flat based and boat tail. Tried only one pack of 15 of the standard Barnes non-tipped expanders with the HUGE HP and they shot well and have a very good reputation for killing what they hit, but I could get the tipped ones cheaper so I went with them.

Between my Encore 209x50 (1200-1300 shots), Savage 10ML-II 1000-1100 shots) and my Knight Elite (175-200 shots) I have used well over 2500 Harvester sabots and are 100% satisfied with them, best sabot there is IMHO. Have used the smooth black sabots for .451' bullets, black crush ribbed for .458" bullets, and they are awesome.

Lastly, I can not recommend STRONGLY ENOUGH BH209 BP sub. I'm on my third jug and I would rather buy BH209 than use any other BP sub for free, and this is coming from a guy who went through over a 1000 Pyrodex pellets and several jugs of 3F-777. After only one range session with BH209 I literally sold or gave away all my remaining Pyrodex and 777.

 

[pooldoc]

I could not agree more. I hunt in West Texas where a large percentage of my shots exceed 100 yds. Our whitetails average live weight is about 140 pounds, however we have Axis,Fallow, Aoudad and a lot of large feral hogs on our low fence lease so I prefer a heavy bullet. Two years back I switched from Hornady's 300 gr SST to Harvester's 300 gr PT Gold bullet and Black Crush Rib sabot using 105 to 110 grs of BH209. Extremely accurate load and great terminal performance. I shoot 3 different versions of Knight's Disc Extremes(Elite, Long Range Hunter and Master Hunter) all with bare primer breech plugs.

 

[flowhnun63]

Hornady Interlock
Nosler Ballistic Tip, you can go wrong with these.

 

[pooldoc]

I agree they are great bullets, but I don't think they have one for a .50 Cal Muzzle loader.

 

[Buck Buster]

I have a CVA 50 cal. Optima V2 and it loves Traditions 250gr. Smackdown boat tails. They are made by Hornady. They come with EZ load 3 petal sabots, you can buy a pack of 15 or 30. They shoot under 1 1/2 minutes of angle at 100 & 200 yards, amazing! OH I put them down on top of two triple seven pre-formed pellets, I buy them at Dicks Sporting Goods. Have shot at three deer so far from 60 to about 95 yards, three shots three dead deer. All have dropped straight down in their tracks, the last one was the one at 95 yards. It was standing in some tall weeds on the side of a power line, all I had was a neck shot. When the smoke cleared I didn't see anything running, when I got up the hill to where I thought it was standing it laid there stone dead from a neck shot. I tried different CVA bullets because my gun was a CVA, they didn't group well for me. So I asked on different forums what guys were having the best accuracy with, Hornady and Barnes were the best two I bought both, went with the most accurate one. Good luck hunting and be safe.

 

[Buck Buster]

Didnt know they were muzzle loaders!

 

[Snyper708]

Didnt know they were muzzle loaders!

(You have to push on the cartridges REALLY HARD!)

I've had great performance with 300 Gr 44 Cal XTP's and MML green sabots in lots of different rifles.

 

[Buck Buster]

I Don't think there is a lot of difference in the two. I could get the same thing buying sabots and pistol bullets, 44 cal. but just trying different bullets to see what shot best I went with the packaged deal. Good luck hunting and be safe.

 

[Bravo 4]

I agree they are great bullets, but I don't think they have one for a .50 Cal Muzzle loader.

Yes Sir, they sure do.
Nosler makes a 300 grain BT for muzzleloaders and the Hornady makes a .430 & .458 grain Interlocks.
I know at first glance I thought "rifle" bullet, but remembered I had some of the Hornadys in .50 cal sabots.

 

[Buck Buster]

Hornady 50cal. 250 gr boat tail, poly tip very accurate.

 

[jimmy223]

Hornady 50cal. 250 gr boat tail, poly tip very accurate.

Check out Federal bors lock 270gr. I love them with Knight Bighorn.

 

[Buck Buster]

Glad you have something that shoots good in your gun, whatever gun it may be. That being said, each gun it seems can have a mind of its own and like different bullets and powders. As I said in reply # 35 about my CVA liking the SMACKDOWNS! I cant help but feel that there is little room for improvement. But thank you for the imfo. on the Federals that I didn't try. I have always liked Federal products, and use their turkey loads. I'm sure the 270gr. s shoot good. Are they a boat tail bullet? Good luck hunting and be safe.