XTPs on deer

[mrlnfshr1]

As I posted on another thread, I have been having accuracy problems with my CVA Optima and the Barnes expanders that were working fine in the past. The only cosistant accuracy I seem to be getting at the moment is with 300g Hornaday XTPs (non magnum) over 100g BH209 or 110g 777.
How can I expect this bullet to perform on whitetails out to 125yds or so with this load. How about at close range? Seems to me that I have seen some complaints about fragmentation. Hate to give up the Barnes, but they are too inconsistant at the moment in this gun.

 

[tnhagies]

I've killed deer w/the 240s and both 300g XTPs and never had the first trouble with them. Now, that being said, I can't shoot over 75ish yards where I hunt and I normally don't shoot more than 100g of any powder. I don't forsee any issue with them. They've always expanded well and I can only think of one time where I didn't get a pass through. Noslers are better but I can't afford them. It's a shame you couldn't get the Barnes to work... that's a dandy bullet. Did you try dropping the charge down some w/the Barnes?

 

[Lee 9]

Never had any trouble with them fragmenting, once in a while one of the 240 or 250gr will lose the jacket normally not the 300gr. LEE

 

[paia]

I've killed several deer with a 300 grn XTP non-mag and have no complaints. These kills include four buck that ranged from 60 to 170 yards and dressed 160 to 200 lbs. The 300/.430 is my favorite--I prefer it for deer hunting over any Barnes or Nosler bullet. I have lots of confidence in the .452's also.

I've killed 4 or 5 doe at 25 to 70 yards and the XTP's did well at short range too.

I usually get pass throughs with no evidence of the bullet fragmenting at all. The two 300/.430's I have recovered were shots on deer quartering towards me--the bullets expanded well and stayed together. And the deer did not like them one bit.

XTP's are great--go hunting and enjoy yourself.

 

[vabowhntr]

They have worked great for me in the past (250/.452). I have killed deer with them from 80-100 gr of pyro p in short sidelocks. Down at 80 gr, they don't exit normally, but look really pretty when you recover them. At 100 gr we never found one, shooting out to 75 yards or so.

 

[Doohan]

They will work great!

IMHO the XTP is the standard by which I evaluate any bullet..

XTP's are excellent bullets. The 300 will do you well on any shot.

 

[UtahRob]

They will work great!

IMHO the XTP is the standard by which I evaluate any bullet..

XTP's are excellent bullets. The 300 will do you well on any shot.

+1

I started out using the XTP's the tried 5 other brands and went back to the XTP . They are still the best shooting bullet "" FOR ME"" in my Encore.

 

[WildShot]

I have only one experience with the non-mag XTP on deer and that was not a positive experience.

The load:

120 gr. Goex FFg
300 gr. .452 XTP (non-mag)
MMP 3P-EZ sabot

The shot occurred Saturday afternoon, the range was 25 yards. The target was a large bodied, heavy racked buck that I would estimate between 200 and 250 lbs live weight. The point of aim was chest high at the front edge of the left shoulder. The deer was at a quartering toward angle from left to right. I was standing on the ground, shooting off of bipod style shooting sticks so there was no up or down angle to the shot, almost level. The buck stepped out into a trail through the woods, clear shot, no brush of trees between the muzzle and the buck. Just so happened that I stopped at the intersection of two trails while still hunting, set the sticks up and put the rifle on the sticks to rest my arms. The rifle was pointed in the right direction, the buck walked right into the sight picture as though it were scripted.

At the shot the deer dropped low but did not fall, turned 90 away from me and ran into the woods and almost immediately stopped out of sight. Although the wind covered the sound of the buck walking, I did hear a squirrel barking at him as he passed near a hickory tree. Within 2 minutes I heard the buck crash into heavy brush about 75 yards to my left.

Here is where the dream turns into a nightmare. After a 30 minute wait during which I reload and start making plans for turning the rack into a trophy and the meat into steaks, sausage and jerky I go to the point of impact. No blood, no hair, only hoof prints in the road where he turned after the shot. Three of us search the rest of the weekend, all experienced hunters with excellent tracking skills, could not find any blood sign. Without a trail to follow, the brush on the hillside where I heard him fall is too thick to see him unless you were stand right next to the deer. We covered about a 200 yd. square by walking a 10 yd. grid and still could not find him.

I can only assume that the XTP did not completely pass through the deer and leave an exit wound. All other indications lead me to believe that the bullet performed well. If my ears did not deceive me, the buck sustained massive internal injury and bleeding and death occurred very quickly.

I can not blame the bullet for the loss of the deer. I have to accept that because of the less than ideal shot angle.

 

[mrlnfshr1]

Thanks for the replies guys. At least I feel like the bullet will do its job if I put it on target.

 

[doulos]

Ive killled about 25 whitetails with XTP's. From ranges of 10 to 165 yards I never found them lacking. All kills were with 300 grainers ( the non mag ). All loads were less than 120 grains of loose powder and all bullets exited except 2. Many shots breaking shoulder bones in and out. They have always shot well out of 5 different inlines.
Even though I now use more traditional equipment and patch and round ball I set up my Encore for my son in law with 250 grain XTP's. Its his first season and hes a little recoil shy and I want him to be confident and make a good shot. With 90 grains of Blackhorn 209 and a mmp- sabot this load will print less than an inch at 100 yards. I have confidence in these bullets will do the trick even though they don't have the weight of the 300's.

 

[Okie Hog]

Have killed at least 17 deer and dozens of wild hogs with the 240 grain .430 XTP bullet: Most were bang flops. Sometimes the bullet penetrates a hog or deer hit behind the shoulder, sometimes it does not. Not to worry about a blood trail. Put the bullet in the right place and the animal will not go far.

Hit a deer wrong with any bullet and you will most likely be in for a chase. This fall i shot a small buck at about 80 yards. The animal was looking at me and i tried for a frontal shot. There was no sign that the deer was hit. It took off with tail up. Went to the place where the deer was standing and there was no hair or blood. Walked about 75 yards into the woods and brush and the deer took off.

There was a very good blood trail. Followed the blood trail, jumped the deer several more times and finally it bled out about 400 yards from where it was shot.

The bullet hit that deer in the inside of the left front shoulder, did not hit the lungs or liver and exited the inside of the left ham in two pieces.

Hogs are a lot harder to kill than deer. The 240 grain XTP and two Pyrodex pellets or 100 grains of Pyrodex RS does a good job on them.
Am currently using 110 grains of Goex Pinnacle 2F.

 

[mrlnfshr1]

Well, based on the replies here, I stuck with the 300gr XTPs and 100gr BH209. Shot 2 does this evening at about 50yds. Both shots were pass throughs. The larger doe ran about 30 yds and piled up, the smaller doe about 10 yds. Plenty of internal damage. Didn't look for blood trails since I found both deer where I had last seen them. So far I'm impressed.

 

[alphaburnt]

Thanks in part to paia, I am now using the .430 300gr XTP. Accuracy with Harvester CR and Remington STS primer is less than 1" at 100 yards over 65 gr WEIGHT of BH 209 out of my Knight MHC ( non FPJ conversion). This past Saturday I took an average sized doe at approx 70 yds. Shot was on a broadside animal, through the rear portion of the right shoulder. Bullet exited behind the left shoulder, bullet jelled the lungs and took out the top of the heart and I had a tremendously easy bloodtrail to follow. Monday I went to the range with a borrowed chronograph and this load averages 1700 fps which was a slight disappointment based on what I THOUGHT it might be travelling but it is hard to argue with success.

 

[doulos]

MQ32,
1700 fps with that amount of powder and a 300 grain bullet is pretty good. 90 grains Blackhorn by measure to me weight about 67.5 grains by weight so your load is probably a little less than 90 by volume. No other powder on the market (except smokeless) will give that velocity with that charge and a 300 grain pill.

 

[ART338WM]

I have killed both deer and one bull elk using the fallowing load:

300 grain .452 XTP NON-MAGNUM
150 grains of pelatized Pyrodex RS
Hornady black HP sabot
Winchester 209 primer
Chronographed confimed velocity:2018fps

The XTP performed perfectly every time. The performance on the bull elk was the most impressive of all. Bull was facing me head on slightly quartering to MY right, at a range of 60 yards. I was sitting on the ground to the left of the bull. For the sake of simplicity lets say Im facing north, the XTP entered between the bulls shoulders aboit 1-2" the east of his west shoulder went through both lungs, compleat pass through, smashing a rib as it exited. Left a massive blood trail and went less than 70yrds before dropping. Left a exit hole the size of a silver dollar.

My friend used the same load of bullet, sabot and primer save for he used 110 grains of 3F-777 to kill a NM 6x6 bull elk that scored 320'+. His first shot was 150 yards, a double lung, even though the bull collapsed on his hind quarters and could not regain his feet, but seeing as night was closing fast, my friend reloaded and put a second shot into him (perfect broad side dbl lung) at 70 yards that put the bull down for good. Both XTPs were compleat pass throughs.

At speed below 2300fps you will be hard pressed to find a better ML bullet FOR THE MONEY than the 300 grain .452 XTP in my experienced based opinion.

 

[alphaburnt]

Doulos, I was thinking it would be equivalent to 95 gr volume- based on my measurements in which I loaded 95 gr volume 10 times, weighed them and took an average- I came up with 64.6 gr weight. Looking at the load data published by Western Powders, a 300 gr Swift A Frame .50/.44 shoots 1857 fps with 100 gr volume and 1644 fps with 80 gr volume- so I wrongly assumed it would be in the neighborhood of 1800 fps. It was 30 degrees outside, so I guess this could have affected it to some extent. Based on information from Hornady, the .430 300 gr XTP bullet is a muzzleloaders dream on paper- considering it should perform in a window of roughly 900 fps to 1900 fps, has a ballistic coefficient of .245 and sectional density of .232.

 

[doulos]

I used that same bullet for a while and had good results. I was probably not getting thaat velocity because back then i was using pyrodex Select and real black powder. But the bullet performed well. I then started using the 300 grain .452 XTP and they shot even better out of my newer inlines. They seemed to shoot better out of all of them except one. I stuck with them. These XTP are very hard to beat for whitetails.
If your season is still going on
GOOD LUCK

 

[funman]

I have had excellent results with hornady xtp as well

 

[MOdeer]

Not the 300, but took a buck Saturday evening with the 250. Broadside, 25 yards, through and through. About a thumb sized hole in and out. Very little bloodshot meat, deer went about 50 yards, great blood trail the whole way. This was with 80 grains of 777.

 

[Nick_B]

I have only one experience with the non-mag XTP on deer and that was not a positive experience.

The load:

120 gr. Goex FFg
300 gr. .452 XTP (non-mag)
MMP 3P-EZ sabot

The shot occurred Saturday afternoon, the range was 25 yards. The target was a large bodied, heavy racked buck that I would estimate between 200 and 250 lbs live weight. The point of aim was chest high at the front edge of the left shoulder. The deer was at a quartering toward angle from left to right. I was standing on the ground, shooting off of bipod style shooting sticks so there was no up or down angle to the shot, almost level. The buck stepped out into a trail through the woods, clear shot, no brush of trees between the muzzle and the buck. Just so happened that I stopped at the intersection of two trails while still hunting, set the sticks up and put the rifle on the sticks to rest my arms. The rifle was pointed in the right direction, the buck walked right into the sight picture as though it were scripted.

At the shot the deer dropped low but did not fall, turned 90 away from me and ran into the woods and almost immediately stopped out of sight. Although the wind covered the sound of the buck walking, I did hear a squirrel barking at him as he passed near a hickory tree. Within 2 minutes I heard the buck crash into heavy brush about 75 yards to my left.

Here is where the dream turns into a nightmare. After a 30 minute wait during which I reload and start making plans for turning the rack into a trophy and the meat into steaks, sausage and jerky I go to the point of impact. No blood, no hair, only hoof prints in the road where he turned after the shot. Three of us search the rest of the weekend, all experienced hunters with excellent tracking skills, could not find any blood sign. Without a trail to follow, the brush on the hillside where I heard him fall is too thick to see him unless you were stand right next to the deer. We covered about a 200 yd. square by walking a 10 yd. grid and still could not find him.

I can only assume that the XTP did not completely pass through the deer and leave an exit wound. All other indications lead me to believe that the bullet performed well. If my ears did not deceive me, the buck sustained massive internal injury and bleeding and death occurred very quickly.

I can not blame the bullet for the loss of the deer. I have to accept that because of the less than ideal shot angle.

Sounds like you missed.