ORIGINAL: grunterhunter6574
thanks for the input...I used a hornady sabot 45-300 gr. XTP MAG. I am new to the whole black powder hunting scene and dearly love it. My gun was given to me from my brother-in-law. It shoots very well...1 1/2" groups at 100 yards. We have a shooting range at our home and I shoot it quite often. There was another reply to my post that states I might have hit bone and had a large fragmentation, this sounds very practical. I wish I knew more about muzzleloaders, but unfortunately I do not. This time next year I will be able to reply to others in search of answers. Until then...its all about learning,(for me anyhow). Thank you all!
The XTP Mag is a good bullet especially in 300g, however it does fragment loosing it's jacket in high velocity shots, like your's--from what I have read---I have a friend that uses the 240g with good results. I recommend the Barnes MZ, TMZ, Barnes Origonals in 300g in .458 diameter with Orange sabot or Crushed Rib sabot (yep the .452 sabot), also the Barnes XPB in 275g is a good bullet. Randy Wakeman talks about all these on his Web site.
Www.RandyWakeman.com.Best wishes onyour bullet choice. Since you said a year from now you will know a lot more, may I suggest some resources:
1) buy a copy of the book "Rifle Bullets for the Hunter: A Definitive Study"
http://www.ramworks.net/estore.html
2) read this article on ML bullet performance:
http://www.snipersparadise.com/tsmag/July03/july03.htm
3) Read articles by folks on "Chuck Hawks Web Site"on bullet performance
4) read things by Bryce Towsley, google that, on bullet performance,
5) Pick out a few good bullets--Nosler, Barnes, Speer Gold Dot--and read all the content on Cabelas and Midway on "Product Reviews". Google Nosler Fragments, Barnes Fragments or Speer Gold Dot Fragments and see what you get. Do the same thing for XTP and Powerbelt.
Chap Gleason