Thanks for the post. Your comment about the album helped me figure out how to get a pic posted. I was able to upload to an album then use the url.

That XTP-Mag expanded almost perfectly.

Yes. I was impressed. That is what will be in the optima during deer season.

I think you have it backwards. The bullet on the left is the classic XTP MAG design. You can tell by how the jacket curls into the hollow point. The cross sections i posted show it as well.

You are correct I mistakenly labeled them incorrectly. Mag is on the left. It was late. I fixed it now.

BTW, as you can see in the cross section pics the 240gr XTP MAG has a very thick jacket. While 2 pellets at 50 yards may work fine, you may not like its performance as the range increases. That bullet has the BC of a brick and loses velocity fast.

It was designed for 454 Casull type speeds and not 45colt. A 240gr in a 454 Casull has no problem hitting 1900fps. Your 2 pellet load is well under 1900fps according to the Triple7 load data.

This pic is of a 250gr XTP shot at over 2100fps into ballistics gel at 50 yards. Performance was nearly flawless. 209gr retained weight.

Yeah if you research this subject, there are as many that say the Mags don't expand as say they do expand at ML velocities. So I'll test them at 100 yards and see what they do. That way I know for sure what they do. At 50yds expansion and weight retention looked pretty good.

The 240gr XTP Mag using 2 pellets 777. The mushroomed bullet in the center was from 50 yards and the far right bullet was shot from 100 yards. Both in to jugs of water. The 50 yard bullet was found in the 4th jug and the 100 year bullet was in the 5th jug. Not sure how it got thru more jugs from a longer distance but that is what happened. In my opinion this XTP Mag performs great out of my muzzleloader. Cannot wait to use them on deer this year. 2 weeks away.

It is not uncommon for slower, unexpanded bullets to penetrate deeper. This happens because it takes energy to change the bullet. If the bullet doesn't expand as much, the saved energy, carries the bullet further.

The energy for the expansion comes from the powder. The force for the expansion, from the tissue of the animal. Less expansion requires less force, thus less tissue damage.

Your testing indicates the non magnum bullet would be better for hunting deer at 100 yard. The magnum bullet will work, but won't be as destructive, as the non magnum out there.











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I was able to test the 240g XTP Mag on a whitetail this muzzleloader season and it performed perfectly. The shot was 110 yards and it left much bigger holes in and out than the Hornady SST 250g my buddy used on his deer.