Hornady FTX Sabotless test
 

Rangeball pm'ed me and asked if i had any interest in trying the .500" Hornady FTX 300gr bullets in my rifles. I figured what the heck!

I got them in the mail today and took 1 shot at 100 yards with 150gr T7 pellets just to get an idea where i was hitting.

This evening i came back out with 90gr BH209, Standard CCI Primers * Must be that .035" Flash hole :wink: * and the .500" FTX.

They load easy in the Accura's barrel but mid way down, they tighten up a bit. No problem reloading with the borrowed ramrod from my Hunterbolt.

For an experiment with a new bullet, wow do they shoot tight! I did not allow any cool down time either. With proper cool down, its pretty scary to think about the accuracy they would offer in my Accura.



100 yards,
A bit hard to see shot #3,

Pulled the target up and snapped a picture as the #3 shot is much easier to see. Shots 1 and 3 are touching.

Those are nice bullets for accuracy, but to kill something I probably wouldnt use them. They never held together. Everytime I dug them out of the dirt they were just in fragments. I've even used the same bullet (not weight) in a .450 marlin and 270 with no better results. Fun bullets to shot and punch paper, just not animals in my view point.

They look like a nice bullet, but I have no experience with them. So maybe they do fragment. Nice shooting there MD54. With that kind of accuracy you could place them things right where you want.

Once i buy a box i'll see how they hold up. I want to search around tomorrow and see if i can find them in the dirt. Darn sand buckets get shot up so much that its hard to keep them full of sand

You are exactly right, those bullets are horrible on game. But they are very accurate.

Awesome!!! I've been wanting to try this for some time now, but I don't get a lot of time on the range and I didn't want to waste a box of bullets if they wouldn't work. I read where one guy tried these and basically got no accuracy, but all bores are different I suppose. I remember reading that your accura liked the .500 thors so I thought that these might work in mine. I'm glad that you tried them, I really would love a cheaper jacketed for bore conical. I wonder how they would shot with a sub base (or a cut down sabot) for gas control? I wouldn't be worried about using these on game, I know that they aren't barnes, but these are made a bit hardier than the SST's that we are used to from what I can gather.

I have some veg wads to try out next time when i order a box. I figured that i'd try them naked and see how they'd do for starters before getting seriously into it.

it would be really interesting to see chrono results with and without the wad. it seems like you had a lot of drop from where you were sighted in. the ftx's look like they were hitting at the bottom of the target.

Yep they were. With 150gr T7 magnum pellets they were dead on but once i switched to 90gr BH209 they were shooting pretty low. The rifle was originally sighted in with the 245gr Powerbelt with 90gr BH.

I'm sure that their BC isn't all that great, but I would think that a lot of the drop might be due to gas escape slowing them down

Recovered a FTX tonight!! Took my dog for a walk after a rain shower and was scooping dirt out of the cave my bullets have been cutting away at. Found the 300gr FTX in perfect shape and very thick in the center. Light engraving from the rifling. After washing it and scrubbing it clean, it weighs 260 grains.

I look forward to testing them in news paper and my wet sand buckets! It would be a very affordable conical to use for both target and hunting.

Mine never came out looking like that. I wonder what the difference is.

I would be incline to believe that it would take a pretty hefty charge to upset them so they:s13: would seal with out a wad. i think I would try 130 or 140 gr BH.

they must be sealing a bit or I don't think that they could shoot that good of a group. if a lot of gasses were leaking I wouldn't think that they would do so very consistently or evenly

recoil was pretty stiff, a bit stiffer than with a 300gr thor to be honest. Good rifling marks in the bullet as well.

130-140gr BH209 is a Do it at your own risk according to Blackhorn.

So I took this as inspiration and went out and picked up some .50 gold dots. I haven't had a chance to shoot them yet (will friday) but I ran a couple down my accura's barrel and I know what you mean, they start off easy and then really tighten up, I wonder why? I'll post up my shooting findings

Glad to hear that. I sent MD some. I use them in 54x50 sabots and they are great for the money. Rainier 50-335gr are even cheaper and fit the same as the GoldDots 50s in my Extreme 50. They all have a slightly cupped base that might help a little bit too.

It will be interesting to see how well "plated" bullets work sabotless. Ive got 3 bullets ready for my Elite 45 and need to knurle my 50s for them to work in the Extreme 50.

Im finally going to get some private range time this weekend without a bunch of distractions.

I may not try they at all.. I dont really like how much they tighten up at the end. I'm afraid that with a little fouling I wont be able to get seated constantly, I dont understand how they go down so easy and then get so hard part way through. the bullets look like they are only getting engraved on part of the bullet, not all the way around

I may try to knurl some for my knight through