JMH
12-23-2005, 10:09 AM
What type of muzzle loader bullets does everyone use?
I keep notes on the bullet performance and here what my experience has been.
In the past I have used the Knight 260 grain copper jacketed hollow point with mixed results. The 1st 5 deer I shot with them were all hit in the rib cage (lung area) and none of those deer went farther than 10 yds. Then I hit a deer in the shoulder/upper leg bone and it turned into a 4 hour tracking job. And I had to shoot the deer two more times. My second shot was a repeat of the 1st shot only opposite shoulder. After inspection of the shots, I found that both bullets fragmented into many small pieces and did not punch thru to the vitals. I was shocked that this happened with both shots.
After that I went to the Hornady XTP 240 grain copper jacketed hollow point bullet. The results so far have been much better. The 2 deer I hit in the rib cage seem to have gone a bit farther than the one with the Knight bullets, but they were still down within 60 yds. I have shot 1 in the shoulder/upper leg bone with these bullets and the performance was great. The bullet smashed thru the 1st shoulder busting the big part of the upper leg bone, thru the vitals, thru the opposite shoulder and was lodged under the hide. I found the bullet to be nicely mushroomed with most of the lead still intact to the jacket.
Both of these bullets use sabots and I was shooting 105 – 110 grains of Pyrodex from a .50 caliber.
I keep notes on the bullet performance and here what my experience has been.
In the past I have used the Knight 260 grain copper jacketed hollow point with mixed results. The 1st 5 deer I shot with them were all hit in the rib cage (lung area) and none of those deer went farther than 10 yds. Then I hit a deer in the shoulder/upper leg bone and it turned into a 4 hour tracking job. And I had to shoot the deer two more times. My second shot was a repeat of the 1st shot only opposite shoulder. After inspection of the shots, I found that both bullets fragmented into many small pieces and did not punch thru to the vitals. I was shocked that this happened with both shots.
After that I went to the Hornady XTP 240 grain copper jacketed hollow point bullet. The results so far have been much better. The 2 deer I hit in the rib cage seem to have gone a bit farther than the one with the Knight bullets, but they were still down within 60 yds. I have shot 1 in the shoulder/upper leg bone with these bullets and the performance was great. The bullet smashed thru the 1st shoulder busting the big part of the upper leg bone, thru the vitals, thru the opposite shoulder and was lodged under the hide. I found the bullet to be nicely mushroomed with most of the lead still intact to the jacket.
Both of these bullets use sabots and I was shooting 105 – 110 grains of Pyrodex from a .50 caliber.