XTP ?'s
 

I've been reading about the performance of the XTP's on deer, and I'm ready to switch to them if they perform well out of my Optima Elite. I'm shooting 250gr SST's which shoot great but just poke small holes through the deer.

I am going to order a box of them to test between our Illinois firearm seasons. I'll just stick with the SST's the first weekend (I know they will kill deer :) ). If the XTP's shoot well, I want to buy them in bulk. I found the 45 cal Hornady XTP-Mags at a local gun shop in 100 packs for about 30 bucks. What brand of sabots do I need to buy to match the ones that Hornady packs with theirs (the black ones)?

The other question is do the T/C XTP's perform as well as the Hornadys? I've seen a few positive posts about them, just not nearly as much as the Hornady brand.

rw

Aint they the same Tc uses Hornady bullets just different sabot's tho.

In the .250gr .452 diameter Hornadys, I use the MMP short sabots...

I use the 240gr XTP's and Love Them. They shoot great, and are Devestating on Deer. I have never lost a Deer in 15 years of using them. I get Half Dollar sized entrance holes and sometimes the same if not bigger exit holes.
Now there are some on here that say they will seperate from the jacket or whatever, but you could'nt get me to use anything else from the results I have had. I shoot CVA's and get 1" groups at 100yds and 2"+- groups at 200 using 110grs of Pyro RS. They shoot great and kill Deer. Period!
(BP)

XTP's have killed a bunch of deer. I've added a few to that total :). They work very well, and for the price may be the best all-around deer bullet for use in modern muzzy's. IMO there are better bullets out there, but you will pay good $$$ for them.

My only criticism is that the jacket can separate from the lead core and fragment at very high velocities. This has happened to me once. However, the result was still a boom-flop.

Hey breech plug are you using the .429 or the .452 in them ?

Sorry, I should have said Im using the XTP Mags, the Pistol Bullets. There the .45cal .452" 240gr.
The Pistol Bullets are a little more tough than the ML ones. I also use the 240gr XTP's, the ones packaged by TC in the 30 Pack, but all I know is they are .45cal and also work Great. But they look the same to me when I compare them, so they may be the same.
(BP)

Yea I have some XTP .44 cal .429 240 grain I'm going to try them out here soon.And see how they do...

Im sure you'll be Pleased with the way they preform. Not only do they shoot nice groups but they put a hurtin on the Deer. What are you using for a ML and what Powder?
(BP)

Tc Omega and T7 pellets

hunt12ga

Just going to add my two cents in here - just to pass some information. I know and i agree that the XTP probably has harvested more deer tham any other bullet, but just to add this to the mix - Speer is making a bullet called the Deep Curl, it is a hunting bullet and it was formerly called a Gold Dot. The thing about this bullet is that it is bonded and has a device insterted in the lead to help control expansion. I kinda have dubbed it a "poor man's Nosler"

I use to shoot a lot of Hornady's and every once in awhile i would find the copper stipped from the lead. The copper would be just under the skin on the enterance side and the lead would continue on but sometimes even then it would even break up.

Trying to show you what i mean you might look at these pictures. The first one is where i shot some Gold Dots/Deep Curl bullets into a saturated soil (clay) water bar trying to destroy or strip the copper. Did not work with the Speers - but i tried...



This second picture i repeated the shots using XTP's...



You can see some of the XTP's turned themselves inside out - not all but some...

Again the XTP's have been highly successful and they certainly have worked but I really believe the Gold Dot/Deep Curl is a more dependable bullet in the worst conditions.

I shoot or did shoot the .452/250 grain for whitetails - complete pass throughs most of the time, and the .452/300 grain for elk - and of course the 300 could be used for whitetail also and it has a BC of .232. It is a shooter - the pointy SST/SW has a BC of .250

Again just my opinion...

Hi Breechplug and all,

There is no such thing as a made for ML XTP bullet.( XTP: Extreme Terminal Performance) but there are standard XTPs and magnum XTPs, the standard .452 are designed for non Magnum calibers, the 45 Colt, the Magnum is designed for the higher speed "Magnum" calibers, Example: 454 Casull and such. In the .430 diamater the same applies. 44 special verses the 44 mag and the 444 marlin.

I believe that most of the XTPs sold for use in MLs are the Standard variaty 250 gr. and 300s. they have a better history of accuracy than the Mag version of the XTP because of a thinner jacket alllows them to be made easier and more consistently than there mag counter parts. Yes there are also the Mag versions sold in the 30 packs and others.

The XTP has a solid track record and will keep harvesting game. The Speer Bullet is IMHO a better design for a Multi- purpose Pistol bullet for the General masses. It should hold together better in the MLs with there higher than pistol speeds.

As most of you know I now only hunt/shoot boolitz that I cast and really like the wide meplat Hard Cast design that LBT designed for Harvister. I will be using a different cast boolit this season, it is from a BRP products mold. Just a little lighter still nice Meplat and fits the harvester SBH sabot beautifully.

Ken

Ken, check out Hornadys Web Page and also Midway USA. Hornady makes a ML HP XTP Bullet designed for Hunting with todays high preformance MLers. It a 44cal 240gr HP XTP combined with a 50cal Sabot. This Bullet is intended for BP ML Rifle use.
(BP)

I use the 300 gr .429" XTPs with a Harvester green crush rib sabot with excellent accuracy. I havent killed a deer with them yet but I have shot my biggest bug ever (over 200 lb) with a .400" 200 gr XTP pushed by 80 gr of Pyrodex P. That bullet made a complete pass thru and left a devastating wound channel which was caused by good expansion shot at about 65-70 yds.

I have killed over 20 whitetail deer and dozens of wild hogs using the 240 grain .430 XTP bullet. The vast majority of those kills were bang flops or near bang flops. Never lost a hog or deer that was hit with that bullet. There are a few memorable tracking and dragging jobs because i failed to put the bullet in the right place.

Keep the muzzle velocity in the 1,700 to 1,850 fps range and put the 240 grain .430 XTP bullet in the right place: It will do a good job on whitetail deer and hogs.

The Following was Copied directly from Hornady's site as you suggestive I look at. My statements came from the Hornady loading manuals, and there site. The XTP regardless of the marketing BS you read in descriptions of saboted bullets is still the XTP. The XTP is listed If you open one of Hornady's Manuals with a suggested speed range for desired results. The BP ML just happens to be very similar to Velocity of the Magnum pistol cartridges that the XTP was designed for. Made for ML's is Marketing BS. Thats all. Try buying just a box of the XTP that is referance as made for ML's you will end up with a box of Pistol Bullets they only make one XTP line of bullets Period! ( this line of bullets includes those for standard cartridges and those for Magnum cartridges) They use Marketin BS to baffle you and take more money from your pocket by fancy descriptions.

Please take special notice that XTP is the registered Trade mark of this description, a Pistol Bullet!!!! You can't have the very same Identical registered trade mark on different products!



XTP®

Features:

• Controlled expansion to 1.5x its original diameter over a wide range of velocities.
• Heavier jacket stands up to the high pressures and velocities of the highest performance handgun cartridges.

Here is my experience. I shot an Encore 50 cal and I was shooting the XTP 240 Grain HP bullet. The green sabot 44 cal bullet. I have had this gun for three or four season and killed 6 deer with it. Every deer I shot I found less then 100 yards away (most with 30 yards). The problem I have with this round (and the reason I am switching) is I have never fund a blood trial. Now when I say never I am not just throwing that word out there, I have NEVER had a blood trail. Had I not seen where the deer went I would not have found them. I shot a doe two years ago at thirty yards. She ran about 40 yards in the snow and not a drop of blood until she jumped a creek. Yesterday I shot a doe at about 120-130 yards and hit her right in the front shoulder. As the smoke cleared I saw her confused walk in about a ten foot circle dragging her front right leg. She then walked into the woods and was never seen again. We had 5 guys looking for several hours and never found her. This is the first deer that I have ever hit good and could not find. Again we never found one drop of blood, from a deer that could barely walk and was dragging it's front leg. If it was a one time thing I would overlook it but every year I kept saying I was going to switch bullets because of this and now I am going to switch mid season. They always shoot good groups for me but when shooting a muzzle loader you don't always see what direction a deer runs. I am sure other's will have different experiences as this is a popular round but I am not going to risk it any more.

A shoulder shot is Not a Good Shot, you broke her leg, this was not the Bullets Fault. A Deer can run just as far on 3 legs as it can on 4. Even if she was leaving some sort of a Bllod Trail Im sure you still would'nt have recovered her.
(BP)

I know that hitting the shoulder was not the ideal shot but I have made many ideal shots that did the damage needed, however the blood trail was non existent.

Not all shots we take are perfect shots - it would be nice but there are to many varibles. Just totally guessing here but your should shot probabaly cause the bullets to come apart - strip the copper from the lead and then it was unable to penetrate as far as you would have liked.

Most premium bullets will not have this problem, Bullets like the old Nosler Partitions, Barnes Copper, or the Lehigh Brass bullet.

Another regular priced bullet that does not exhibit this tendancy is the Speer Gold Dot/Deep Curl.

If a 225gr Powerbelt driven by 80gr T7 3f could take this shoulder shot and put it down within 5 yards with an excellent blood trail, i dont see why a thick copper jacketed bullet like the XTP can not.

Dumped right into the shoulder

That is very sound advice. the .430 240gr bullet is a very good bullet.

At the range (120 yards) and the load you are describing (2 T7 pellets), I highly doubt bullet failure on the part of the XTP is to blame for you being unable to recover the deer. Most likely, either you hit it too low in the leg, or too far forward in the shoulder and missed the heart. This happened too me once, and the deer required tracking and a second shot.

XTP's are fairly tough, and I've only seen fragmentation and jacket separation on very high velocity impacts.

XTP bullets have always worked okay for me, several deer and an antelope. I don't push them too hard, and they don't appear to break up as all have been pass throughs. I can't believe a shoulder shot would stop the bullet, it appears to me that you just hit low and broke a leg. Guess you'll never know as deer was not recovered. None of us are perfect and everyone misses their mark every now and then.

MD, that looks more like a Heart Shot Deer than a Shoulder Shot? mabey a few more inches to the right and you'd be in the Shoulder. Now I did'nt see the Deer's wound in Person, but by the Pic that's what it looks like to me. Now you might have caught a tiny part of the Shoulder wich caused the Powerbelt to explode and fragment thus causing alot of internal damage resulting in the quick kill.
(BP)

No fragments. I think it lost something like 14 or 16 grains in all. That was some years back so the memory is a bit faded.

Went through both shoulders, sucked the lungs, guts and other innards deep into the chest cavity. You should have seen the deer later on that we shot with the same load! Holy moly.

Dang MD what do you live on here, just kidding. Good Shot reguardless of the outcome. All I know is I cant wait untill next Saturdays Opener :fighting0007:so I can unleash the ACCURA and a XTP, the Freezer's EMPTY!
(BP)

good luck! Hope you see a hell of a more animals than i did during 9 days of hunt. Pffft! 1 deer and 40 turkey, zero elk. Last time i ever hunt this unit!

I think there are a couple things to remember. #1 is that not all bullets will preform beautifully EVERY TIME. Just doesn't happen. Bullets are equipment and equipment fails sometimes.

Secondly, deer react weird sometimes. Sometimes they simply just don't bleed well.

I wanted to try the Gold Dot (or Deep Curl as it's now called) this year. I have always heard about how well it performs on deer. Friday I made a great shot on an 8 pointer and he didn't bleed at all until where he fell. (about 40 yards) I still believe they are good bullets but the point is, sometimes deer just don't bleed and there is not magical bullet that will always give you the perfect blood trail.

If you don't have confidence in the XTP, then find something else. But my point is, you may still have this same experience with another bullet as well.

Thank's MD. Im getting Pumped. My Wife had here Wrist Surgery in August and she's not up to par yet for shooting Her Mler. I have Her ACCURA loaded with a 240gr XTP with 70gr's of Pyro. She's shot it a few times after I sighted it in to make sure it was sighted in close for Her, a few adjustments and it's on. The ACCURA with a Scope is Pretty Heavy so the Recoil is'nt so too bad at all. All she has to do is lay it accross the rails of the Stand and Shoot, no off hand shooting.
If anyone's reading this, is 70gr's enough? Im sure it should be. She's going to limit her shots to about 50-60 yds tops.
I feel for ya MD, I've had ELK a few times and I LOVE IT! wish we had them here. Is your Season over?
(BP)

yep over until next year. Good thing though is that i pretty much will get my bull elk tag for unit 84 next year, along with a buck tag. I may just save the buck tag however.

So all you get is 9 Days?
(BP)

surprisingly thats good. Normally rifle season is 4 to 5 days. This year they gave us 9 days, Same amount that we get for muzzle loader season.

Boy that would be over with the Blink of an Eye, I guess were Pretty Lucky here, our Bow Season go's from Oct 16th thru Nov 19th then Gun Nov 20th thru Dec 12th then Late ML Dec 13th thru Dec 21st and that Go's Fast!
So do you think 70gr's of Pyro in My Wifes ACCURA is good enough for shots out to 60yds?
(BP)

heck yeah! You dont need a ton of powder behind a bullet to kill. My nephew uses 80gr BH209 in his wolf with a 250gr slickload sabot.