250 gr. Hornady SST Muzzleloader Projectiles

[smokepolehall]

Your mileage may vary from mine, but i mostly use a .45 with sabot n 200 gr XTP to about 1800-2000 fps. Lungs look like pink mush, have never had one travel over 30 yards. When i use my .50 cal Blk. Diamond 75 gr load of 2 f trip 7 with .451 230 gr XTP same thing. When i field dress them heart/lungs look like soup flowing out. I will also shoot a RB high shoulder shot n drops them

 

[Teach Deer]

When I first seriously started hunting Fort Knox, I bought a Wolf prototype (Beartooth Magnum) and developed a Ft Knox max load...100 grains loose Pyrodex RX under a 250 grain TC Shockwave bullet...while not an easy bullet to load, it printed right at a 1" group at 100 yards (impressed nearly everyone at the Kleber public range--after the smoke in the tubes cleared anyway)...

First hunt was on Area 14 and there were plenty of deer seen, most traveling at high speed...about noon had a group of four does slip in behind me and I took the lead one at 75 yards...she kicked and ran back up the hill (I am greatful--hate it when they always run downhill) out of sight...gave it a few minutes to reload and collect gear then went to where she was standing...a lot of kicked up leaves but no blood...followed the leaves about 10 yards and found a small amount of blood, about 10 more yards the blood was a bit more substantial and the trail easier to follow...found her about 75 yards uphill from where I shot her...

The bullet performed beautifully...hit a rib on entrance but did a number of both lungs...found the bullet buried in the offside rib cage (strangely with the little plastic nose still with it)...

I have since changed to the 245 grain Powerbelt Aerotip (easier to load) still with good accuracy...killed several deer with that load...they tend to drop in under 100 yards with less than great blood trails...blew the spine out of one doe that tried to get up for several minutes...not the most impressive on game performance...

My father prefers the 295 grain Powerbelt HPs from his TC Greyhawk sidelock with 120 grains of Pyrodex...seems to do a bit better on game...

The most impressive combination I have experienced was with the TC 350 grain Maxi-Hunter HP lead conical bullets...pushed with 110 grains of Pyrodex I always got an exit (usually with a hole I could stick my arm through)...from the late 1990s through the early 2000s, I laid waste on deer on the Daniel Boone National Forest with that load...(longest shot I ever attempted was 75 yards)...and kept my freezer stocked with deer meat...that load BTW kicks as bad as any 12 gauge slug I have tried--totally brutal...but I would not hesitate to use it on elk or bear...

As a whole, I doubt muzzleloaders with standard powder charges produce enough velocity to really push monolithic bullets to perform well...generally better off with lead bullets or HP pistol bullets designed to work in the 1000-1400 ft/s window...