Conical use requires a good firm fit to be accurate and most barrels are just too loose for them to ingrave the rifleing properly so they don't shoot well without the wads. They also lead up the barrel a bit and that also decreases accuracy over time if not scrubbed out often. In addition I find them hard to get started without messing up the nose of the bullet a little so accuracy is off to a bad start to begin with.

I use the xtp bullets from Hornady mostly because they load without deformation, the sabot seals the bore well and they expand well enough to give good performance. I agree that a pure lead conical is great performance if they load well in your gun but I find them more of a problem than I care for. Iuse saboted bullets or patched roundballs for all my hunting and shooting.