Oldrookie
I did see your pics of the recovered speers and they were impressive. Being new to muzzleloading, maybe I made an assumption about hornady that came premature.
I really do not think that you have made a premature decision... The XTP's have taken one heck of a lot of game over the years and are considered very reliable by a lot of people. It seems like centuries ago now but i use to be a Hornady fan when I was into center fires... then somewhere along the line 30 or 40 years I got a 300 Win Mag and started shooting elk with a 220 grain Hornady round nose bullet. I was, at that time, a pretty decent elk hunter and I took an elk every year. My first 3 elk were taken with the Hornady bullet, but in every case I would find the copper just under the hide into the meat a little bit and the lead blown to bits all over inside. I really did not like this performace - so I switched to Nolser Partitions - never had that problem again. The Nosler partition is the best bullet on the planet as far as I am concerned but, the price of the bullet has put it beyond my reach - so I have been on a serch for a bullet that would eventually replace the Nosler. To this date it is the Speer Gold Dot - it seems to function relativly like the Nosler - I like that...
I assume at that range there would be very little difference between the groups of either the 250 or 300g speer? There isn't much difference with the hornady at least with my Optima.
I would almost guarantee that... My personal preference is 300 grain for elk and 250 grain for deer. When you look at the hollow point on the 250 and then add in the fact that it is bonded... it will do the job easily to 150 shooting dead on. I am one of those people that want a pass through, I am also one of those people that want the bullet to perform while passing through. I do not want the bullet to make a nice clean whole through, I want tremedous hydrostatic shock to occur as it passes through. The 250 does that on a thin skinned animal like a deer.
I would up your charge as soon as you
fill confident and comfortable to 100 grains of T7
loose powder I say loose becuase a 100 grains of loose is a lot different than a 100 grains of pellet T7. Pellets are designed to be very comparable to real Black powder or Pyro. Loose is 15% more than pellets, probably more like 10%, but Hornady wants to be safe so they advise 15%.
As all of us, when I take a shot at game; I have an obligation to put them down as quickly as possible.
AMEN - I am to old be be following a wounded or even a dead animal that takes off running through the woods... it just aint fun anymore. I want to anchor that animal right where he stands, OK I'll give them 20 yards, but that is enough. That is why i feel the "hydrostatic shock" is so important, not just the penetration of the projectile.