smokeblower
Unlike Cayugad i have never found the time for 44 caliber bullets from a 50 cal ML - Ireally like being closer to bore size, so much so that I in fact shoot .458/300 grain bullets for elk hunting. For deer i do come back to .451/.452 bullets.
I have to tell right off the bat I am totally partial to the Gold Dot. It is a bonded bullet and it has a BC of .232 close to some of those pointy bullets out there.
In defense of the XTP - they have taken a ton of animals and shot by a lot of shooters. You should also know that there really are 2 .452/300 grain XTP's. One is just the plain old XTP and is an excellent buttet form 10 to 100 yards on whitetail, the other is the XTP-Mag - it is a bit tougher bullet and does not expand as easy as does the regualr XTP - but it is probably better at long ranges.... At close range I have found that it will pass through a white without expanding much at all.
I have torture tested both against XTP's against the Gold Dot and it my conclusion tha Gold Dot will provide better penetration from 10 to 200 yards - plus it will stay together - I have nickmamed them a poorman's Nosler.
Most important you will need to discover which one will shoot from you gun best...
These are recovered Gold Dots both 250 and 300 grain...
These are recovered XTP's from the same test... This does not show an XTP-Mag. You can see there is/was significant weight loss. But I will be the first to tell you shooting a projectile in mud @ 100 is awful hard on a bullet.