Thompson/Center XTP Bullets in Mag Express Sabot explained
 

I have used this bullet/sabot combination for my Whitetail deer hunting. I wanted to save some money and purchase a box of 100 240gr Hornady XTP bullets and then buy the sabots separate. The only 240gr Hornady XTP bullets I could find were XTP Mags. The Mags are apparently tougher than the regular XTP's made for higher rifle velocities. I assumed the Thompson/Center XTP package had mags in it too. Well after a lot of googling I could not find any definitive info on what is in the Thompson/Center package.

Recently, I purchased the 240gr XTP Mags. A box of 100. They did not look the same as the 240gr XTP's in the Thompson/Center XTP package. They were a little taller, the hollowpoint was a little smaller, and the nose was a little more rounded with only 4 cuts in it. The Thompson XTP's had 6 cuts in the nose.

So today I went out and tested the two bullets in water to see if they expanded the same. They did not.

The XTP Mag performed much better expanding to .765" and retaining 222gr of weight.

The Thompson/Center Packaged XTP expanded to .560 and retained only 160gr of weight. It looked like a muffin with its top removed.

My conclusion is that the Thompson/Center XTP in Mag Express Sabot is not a XTP Mag bullet but a regular XTP. I will be using the XTP Mag this year for my deer.

I wrote this up because I could not find any definitive info on this subject anywhere but saw a number of people wondering the same thing I was about what type of XTP bullet is in the Thompson/Center packaged XTP.

I was going to put a photo in but could not get it to upload so sorry. Dang computers.

Good info!! Thanks for sharing

I like shooting them. When I shoot the XTPs I like them in the .430 diameter (44 caliber). Then I use the green sabots with them. Real accurate.

IIRC at one time T/C shipped .430 bullets with black sabots. They are just MMP green 50x44 sabots in black instead of green.

Is it possible the 240gr XTPs that came with from T/C are actually the non mag .430 bullets. That would explain a lot. The T/C package does not say "XTP MAG" on it and according to my calls to Hornady they don't make any special XTPs for T/C. The only special bullet they make ONLY for T/C is the bonded Shockwave.

The XTP's in the Thompson pack measure .452

That is very odd.

Can you post a pic of the bullet and the T/C packaging?

I tried to upload a pic but the upload kept failing for some reason. Here's a link showing what I purchased. http://www.eabco.net/TC-Mag-Express-...0_p_13861.html

i used the 240 grain .430 bullets for many years. Used both the black and green sabots. Killed at least 20 deer and about 75 hogs with that bullet. IMO: It's a very good bullet.


i played with some of the 240 grain .452 bullets Magnum bullets but never got the accuracy the .430 bullets were capable of. May have killed a few hogs with the Magnum bullet.

The 240 XTP is a .429" bullet, while the 240 grain XTP-Mag is a .452" bullet. Hornady does not make an XTP-Mag in .429" caliber, nor do they make a standard 240 grain XTP in .452" caliber.

The regular XTPs were designed for the more subdued velocities you might get out of a 44 Magnum or 45 Colt revolver, which is to say 800-1400 fps. The XTP-Mags were designed for relatively high velocity cartridges such as the 454 Casull and 460 S&W Magnum, which can produce velocities of 1800-2400 fps.

Being quite familiar with both bullets, I took a look at the bullets loaded in the Hornady packages at my local store. In one of the Hornady XTP/sabot boxes, specifically the one labeled 50 cal, 240 grain with the green sabots, those bullets are the .429" regular XTP. In the box labeled 50 cal, 300 grain Mag-Express with the black sabots, the bullets were unmistakably .452" XTP-Mags, even though the bullets aren't specifically labeled as XTP-Mags.

There is also a 250 grain .452 XTP Bullet. Here is a link to the Hornady XTP bullets:


http://www.hornady.com/store/XTP-XTP-MAG/?page=3


Here is the Hornady XTP bullet performance chart:


http://www.chuckhawks.com/underrated_hornady_XTP.htm