OK You Convinced Me, Used Shockwaves Instead
 

I guess the TC Shockwaves must have heard me poor mouthing their performance online. This is the quickest I have ever had a deer go down after being shot with a muzzle loader and the best blood trail I have ever seen with a muzzle loader. Not that it was needed she went about 15 yards. Sorry for the poor photo. This is the exit hole. Shot distance was about 60 yards. Used 2 50 grain pyrodex pellets behind a 250gr shockwave. Blood trail like a red carpet.

That will work..Congrats...

I've only had a couple stumble more than 10 yards shooting shockwaves, most just took a dirt nap on the spot of impact, but I'm a shoulder shooter.
RR

A well placed shot never hurts. I've used the 200 SST's with good results.

Congrats.

same bullet as the shockwaves.
RR

I have found Shock Wave and Lehigh to be the most consistantly accurate bullets in ALL my muzzle loading guns. My experence is that up to 1800 FPS the regular Shock Waves are excellant and over 1800FPS the Bonded preform best. When I go after something over 500 pounds I use the Lehigh as on really big game the extra penatration is worth the money.

Congrats!!!! Are you using yellow tip or blue tip? Blue tips are bonded and I have a suspicion many people that complain about poor expansion are using the bonded bullets when they may not be necessary. Also, did you hit the shoulder or just behind? Nice shot and great deer. Again, congratulations.

Yellow Tip.

I like the Shockwaves/SST's. Last year I used the 300 gr. SST. The deer ran about 5 yards head first into a tree and flipped over backwards. He was done at that point.
Wanted to use them again this year but only had a couple left so I'm using 300 gr. XTP's instead.

I have yet to take game with a Shockwave but their accuracy on the range has impressed me so much, them and the SST are a real favorite. Lee got me interested in the .40 caliber 200 grain Shockwaves with some reports of hunting success. I have read about the horror stories of pencil hole in and out wounds. And I always wonder.. what was the bullet placement and what did it hit in its travel? And so I started shooting them. I believe with the amazing accuracy of them, they just have to be a real white tail killer. I did expansion tests with the 200 grain and found not only do they penetrate and expand, but they don't seem to fragment like the larger shockwaves. So in my Optima, had I got the opportunity to hunt this year, (which due to doctors advise is a no) I fully intended to put the 200 grain to the test. Even at close ranges as I encounter. It was going to be them or the 300 grain XTP.

I hunt caribou and deer with the 200SST, great bullet, accurate, deadly and light recoil.

Congrats on the harvest! Nice shot placement. I also like the 200 grain Shockwaves - they do really well for me...

I've been using the bonded 250gr shock wave for several years with excellent results until this year. I posted back in oct a doe I shot and had some trouble finding her with a well placed shot from the SW. Early this month I shot a 14 inch 8pt at approximately 40 yards. I felt good about the shot and the buck ran off into a strip of woods that separates two small fields jinking his tail. When I see a deer jinking his tail after a shot that has always been a positive sign for me. When I got to where the deer was standing I found no blood or hair, I followed his tracks out of my food plot until the tracks came to where the field was growed up. All the weeds had red stems so I knew it would be impossible to find blood in it, but no big deal I saw exactly where he ran into the strip. I found two drops of blood where he went into the woods. I fully expected him to be lying in that strip, but he wasnt. I didnt find anymore blood other than the two drops. If he followed the strip of woods it would lead in into a super thick cottonwood thicket. I decided to back out and come back the next morning. At 7am I took my lab and me and her searched until 2pm with no sign of the buck. The cottonwood thicket is about 4-5 acres and we searched it from stem to stern. We searched the other field, the woods along the bay, the strip he ran into again, nothing. I realize since I didn't find the buck I cant verify where my shot hit. All I can say is I felt good with the shot and my muzzy is on. Like I stated early I have had excellent results with the SW's and I am not gonna stop using them. Maybe I got a hold of a box that was bonded a bit to much I dont know. I just dont like losing game that I shoot. I made every effort to find that buck but I didnt him. Hopefully he will live, but I dont think so.

What type shockwave were you using, yellow or blue tip.

you do not need a bonded bullet or an all copper bullet at muzzleloader velocities for nothing, unless your hunting dangerous game. stick with the yellow tips, especialy for whitetails, stay off the shoulder till they are past 100 yards if your worred about meat damage.
RR

Have never used the bonded Shockwave bullet and can't speak to that one.

For many years i used the 250 grain Hornady SST bullet interchangeably with the 250 grain TC Shockwave. Those bullets have killed 25-30 deer and dozens of wild hogs for me.

The 250 grain Shockwave bullet sometimes failed to expand: At first i hardly noticed. Never lost an animal but thought it strange that the exit hole was the same size as the entry. Hogs and deer of like size that were hit in the same place with the 250 grain SST either did not have an exit or had a huge exit hole.

IMO: The soft tip of the SST causes the bullet to expand more reliably.

i stopped using the Shockwave bullet.

I just purchased Barnes T-EZ bullets in 250 grain, hope I don't have any issues with them expanding.

I have taken three deer, I believe, with the 300 grain S/Ws in my Omega. I used the 250 SSTs this year and they both performed the same on deer. They are very accurate, at least for me, out of my Omega. I have taken three deer with 240 XTPs (.452) and they were accurate and deadly as advertised as well. As stated many times before by many people, pretty much any accurately placed bullet is going to work.