I shot a TC Encore. After a few years of experimenting the best one for my gun is the 200gr shockwave w 120gr lose powder. This has been extremely accurate and lethal in the field. Over several seasons I've taken whitetails upto 186yds probably 8 deer, they never go more than 30yds. There may be better loads but this one works for me and I would be hard pressed to change after my results. Good luck

I use the 250gr bonded shock wave, the bullet has been very accurate for me out of two different rifles, a triumph and a optima elite. I have shot about 10 deer with them and have had very good blood trails. One I shot this year entered on the left flank and exited the right side of his neck. Thats some penetration, the bullet tore his insides apart, it was like cleaning a road kill deer.

First off, welcome to the forum. I have to agree with you. If you have a rifle and load with those kind of results.. why change. I have real a lot of reports of others, shooting the 200 grain Shockwave hunting, with similar results. It must be a devastating projectile.

There are a lot of good bullets available, since I mostly shoot deer bear and feral hogs with an occasional chance at an elk on a trip I have chosen according to my needs which may be different than some one else's.
Here in AR around where I live I use the regular Shock Wave for practice and the bonded for hunting when I get a chance to hunt the open fields I use the 200grain 50/40 Shock Wave. I feel the most important consideration is accuracy here in the brush I am often shooting through a hole where accuracy and flatness of trajectory are very important and of course in the open fields where we have shots up to 250 [my limit because I have no place to practice any longer distance ] the 200 grain Shock Wave is consistently the most accurate at long range so my Endeavor is always sighted in with it with 140 grains of Blackhorn which it is very accurate with.

If you type in the following-" maxmuzzleloader 6 criteria to look for in a modern muzzleloader bullet" If you type that in this report will exlpain all about the shock waves capabilities and reports of other bullets too. mabe someone knows how to write this up so all you have to do is click on the subject mentioned above. I do not know how to put this in place. ( maxmuzzleloader- 6 criteria to look for in a modern muzzleloader bullet.)

Better off to buy your Shockwave bullets at Walmart where a box of 15 cost 11.00 or if you prefer the XTP Mag express, you can get a box of 30 for 11.99. Seasonal, so stock up when they have them. Cabelas is more than twice the price for both types. I use both. 240 grain XTP mag express and 200 grain Shockwave which are XTP bullets with poly ballistic tips. Work great on deer. I've down more than 3 dozen. Hit both lungs and they won't run. No trouble tracking your deer when they fall where you shoot them! Good luck!

Sabots are $5-5.55/50 at Grafs and Midsouth Shooters Supply
100 240gr or 250gr XTPs can be had for $23-25/100
Plus shipping

Cabelas is around $24.99/100 for just the 240gr and 250gr bullets and but their sabot pricing does suck.

Im not seeing any savings by getting them in 30 packs for $11.99 plus tax and travel costs if you know where to get them online.

i've killed 20-25 deer and many dozen wild hogs using the 250 grain SST and 250 grain Shockwave bullets. The noses of the 250 grain SST bullet and the 250 grain Shockwave are different. The SST has a soft pliable nose; the Shockwave has a hard plastic nose. i have long thought theres a difference in the expansion of those bullets under some circumstances.

On the last day of OK deer gun season i shot a big fat doe at about 80 yards with the 250 grain Shockwave bullet. That doe went down at the shot, jumped up and took off. After checking the ground where the deer went down it was evident the bullet did not expand.

After searching for 45 minutes i found that deer over 200 yards away-dead. The exit hole was about .50" in diameter and both lungs had puncture holes. When that bullet expands it destroys the lungs.

i'm almost out of 250 grain Shockwave bullets, the remainder will be expended on targets and i will buy no more of them. i do have lots of 150 grain SST bullets that i will continue to use.

I like the 40-200gr SST and 458-325gr FTXs for hunting. Both have a pretty good track record at smokeless speeds. Most of the other sub 300gr FTX/SST lineup i just shoot at paper. I like the Parker 275gr BE a little better.

I have only used the regular SW's in both the Super Glide sabots and the black ones. They provided excellent results on deer. However, I don't really use them now because of the price. There are other bullets/sabots that work just as well for my needs and distances at better than half the price. I used Scorpion funnel point mags with a crushed ribbed sabot this season with great results. Shot a doe at about 75 yards, spun her in a circle and about knocked her off her feet. She then made 2 leaps and dropped about 15-20yards away and was down for the count. The Harvesters are about 1/3 of the price and also grouped really well at the 50 & 100 yrd ranges I experimented with. Most of my hunting ranges are less than 100 yards so I decided I could get away with the Scorpions which proved to work well. Also, some of the bullet/sabot combos are actually the same under different names. But others on here know better which ones are the same but market different with different prices.