Wow, most of the time I agree w/most of these guys but I'm kinda shocked on this one. So much talk about how the XTPs don't perform is interesting. I've been shooting them in MLs since the early-mid 90's. I've yet to lose a deer w/them and I think the farthest I had to track one (which really wasn't a track) was about 30yrds. I'd say (guessing of course because I don't have exact numbers) 90% of them were pass throughs. I've shot through shoulders, lungs, neck and a couple chest shots (I do remember one of those not passing through because it was lodged between meat and hide on the hind quarter (still in its jacket))Last year I hit a limb about the size of a sharpie, cut it in two, and still got a pass through.

Hence why I'm a little confused why people are having issues w/them. Over the years I've shot from 80-110 grains all having the same performance. Not saying that the GD isn't a great bullet because it is. 'Dance w/the one that brung ya' I guess...

Shooting 300g Mag

I was as surprised as anyone. My hunting partner shot them out of his knight with the same amount of powder and does OK. Ya never know.

TNHagies, The XTP's do preform well with in the enevlope they were designed for,I think most of use agree on that; a few of us have tried to push them beyond that and found out where the limits on a particular bullet are.
A lot of what was said related more to what the minimum that they could go down to depending on which one you are talking about like the 250 is max for best results at 1850, I never found a max on the 300gr. I used the 250 in 4 different rifles with good results but my loads were always under 120gr RS [IF you use a hotter powder like777 or black mag it might be a bit less. The 240 has I believe to different designs one of them is very tough the 230 was designed for low velocity so it does not take much to blow it up. Lee

I guess that can be why I'm not seeing the results that you guys are talking about because I've never pushed any of them really hard. 110 is the max I've ever shot just because I don't feel like the extra 40 grainshas any added bonus(for me). Guess that's why I've never had one blow up on me. Pehaps I should go back and read again, it sounded like people were saying they blow up regardless of the charge.

"Cast bullets" shoot thru and penetrate deeply, but they are not best for hunting since they don't expand and cause large wound channel."

There is more than one kind of cast bullet. WhatChap saya (or was that what someone else said? I'm confused.)would be true only for hard cast. Pure lead casts expand very well.

And I don't think anyone would suggest radically changing a load that is a proven workhorse in your use. The XTP chart seems a bitdeflated so far as speed limitations for many of the variations. XTPs are not all bad in my limited experience using them.

I used to shoot the maxi balls and those didnt expand for chit. Lost 2 deer my first year of muzzleloading due to that crap.
One had double drop tines too [&:]

looks like good expansion to me, but it is NOT a Maxi-ball. Even with those FG, were you casting your own or using store bought? When you cast your own you can know (within reason) what they are made of ...

Store bought.

I only cast roundballs myself.

The maxi ball i was using left a small splatter of blood that lasted 6 feet and then nothing.

The deer i ended up getting needed 2 shots and even those didnt exit or mushroom any. And that was one heck of a small deer.

Those Maxi's shot great on paper for me, but I never actually took a deer with one. Given your results, sort of glad I didn't.

Same here, they shot excellent out of the cva blazer i had but damn it was a new ball game on those 3 deer i shot that year. Two of them were the biggest mule deer ive ever seen to this day.