260 grain PT Gold
 

The bullet went through carpet, plywood, and 4 water jugs; bouncing off the fifth jug, and flying off about 8' right, and away, into tall grass. Range was 25 yard. Powder load was 80g Blackhorn. The bullet now weighs 166 grain. Finding the bullet required a determined search using a metal detector.

Wow, near 100 grains lost. The only one I have ever recovered was from a Bison in the off side shoulder. It had lost around 5 grains.

Excellent video! I am a little surprised it lost that much weight. But making it through all that was an impressive thing.

Ok, that's good enough for deer. I'll use it this year. You can't beat the price they cost if bought in bulk.

Thanks for testing Ron. Here's a pic of the bullet's results. Jon's brother in law.

The bullet worked well, despite the 100 grains MIA.

See I'm the opposite I guess. To me, losing 100gr is a pretty big deal... Ron has tested plenty of bullets that performed much better imo. Of course, its not a deer... but apples to apples here in the testing.

Ron, what do you think?

How much does the Lehigh lose after the petals fly off? How about a Partition?

I'm more concerned with performance on game, and it looks like it did fine in the picture above.

Keep in mind what Ron does is more of a torture test.

You haven't tested a Powerbelt Ron. That should be interesting. :D

The CF bullets are supposed to lose weight when the petals release. As for the XP it's not supposed to lose any. Maybe ron can answer your question?

You know I was talking about the CF. I know what it's designed to do. I just want to know what it weighs after losing the petals.

I'm not so sure those petals weigh much. The main body of the CF is where the major weight is. Those petals probably weigh no more than 55-65 grains total.

I'm trying to find some PT Gold bullets taken from game. I'm sure they don't lose that much weight.

One of the Lehigh weigh 164.4g, the other 162.8g. Don't know which is which. One of them is the only bullet that worked in the 50g powder test; the other is from the 80g powder test.

The Nosler weighs 247.4g.

One thing one can see in the photo of the PT Gold bullet, is that it lost some of the copper plate.

All of these bullets tested seem to be good bullets. This bullet would be the first bullet i would eliminate, when trying to choose the one bullet i would go hunting with. However, it certainly should kill deer without a problem.

I feel the same way.
Nice work Ron, looks like you are having fun and certainly adding some valuable info for everyone to ponder! :party0005:

Recovered bullet
 

Muley send me your email address at [email protected] and I'll send you a picture of a 300gr PT Gold I recovered from an Aoudad ram I killed last yr. I used Hornady's 300 gr SST's for 3 years and decided to make the change because of inconsistent bullet performance with the SST. We get to take a lot of WT's and exotics on our low fence lease in west Texas. I hunt all year with my 2 Knights, which have Lehign bare primer breech plugs. I use 110 grs BH 209, 300 gr PT Gold bullets, black crush rib sabots and Winchester 209 regular primers. That combo took a 34" Aoudad ram, a 19 pt WT buck, a WT cull buck, 2 WT does and a Fallow and Axis doe last year. All one shot kills and only 2 animals ran over 10 yds. Internal damage was significant. The bullet that killed the big WT hit history right front shoulder and exited the right flank and destroyed everything in its path. That convinced me it was the right decision.

No picture needed. Your post was enough.

Have no qualms about using that PT bullet this fall Muley.

When I test five of my new bullets on a pine tree trunk in late October, I'll know more about which ones I hunt with. The two lead Precisions are a virtual lock to pass the test. Only question marks are my 250 Deep Curls, 200 gr. SSTs and Barnes copper XPBs. Hoping to find the core of that XPB in the soft pine tree-trunk. Not expecting the peels to accompany it.

What's odd about that test is noting that the best mushroom I ever saw enbedded in a pine tree trunk, came from a 270 gr. Buffalo Ballet conical last winter. It's just not a bullet I trust to fly accurately, beyond 100 yards. So unless I return to under 75 yards swamp hunting someday, I won't consider the Ballet for hunting anymore.

I love the 260gr PT Gold. Its a great solid hitting bullet. It actually acts like the lehigh where the pedals sheer off and leave you with a short bullet shank that continues to punch its way through. Its not a bonded bullet, just an electro plating to prevent lead build up when used in pistols, but still a great bullet with up to 110gr BH209. I always use the most accurate load, not the most powder.

I had no idea people were using the PT Golds in CF pistols. I would love to see a link and look at their results.

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/electroplating.html
I appears they use a similar process as Speer which is considered a bonded bullet. Electro plating is basically bonding two metals together. Speer just uses a much thicker plating on the DeepCurls.

its not a bonded jacket is what I am saying, its more like a candy coating on a powerbelt, very thin, just to prevent build up. Rainer makes these bullets so yes, pistols do shoot them. Just a different name for harvester.