I started shooting muzzleloaders as a boy with my grandfather and I am 70 + and still going strong, I have tried most, everything I could get my hands on, most of them have done quite well for me, I believe that putting that bullet in the right place is much more important than which bullet,but using the right bullet on the right size animal really does help.
The right weight: Deer, 40 cal 200gr gives good BC, Velocity and SD there for the 200gr Shock Wave and XTP
45CAL 250 gr in SW, XTP and especally the Gold Dot[ all the deer I have shoot with The Gold Dot have been bang flops
The 300 gr open to slow for me to use on deer I am very careful about where I shoot them and the 300grs have been leaving nest round holes in and out and have to track the deer, but they are excellant for elk moose or bear.
I have used the conical and the will do the job if you are where the law requires them the pb's will do ok but you need to keep the load under 90 gr for them to get the mushroom depenably, The SaborTooth is a much better design and is more dependable with heavy load that get away from the rainbow trajectory, if I have to use a conical with out plastic I use real bullets. Good luck and good shooting. Lee