Tested the Hornady Great Plains bullets today.........

[tdorval]

Has anyone had experience with the hgp on elk sized game? I would imagine they’re effective but first hand experience is always best. What about the pa conical?

 

[Confederate rifleman]

I've been shooting the .45 caliber 250 grain XTPs in Harvester crush rib sabots over 70 grains of 3f Swiss for over a decade now.
Results have been uniformly excellent in both accuracy and terminal effects.
I've shot them in 1-28, 1-38 and 1-48 twists. Black Diamond, Firehawk and Hawken/ Renegade respectively. Velocities, chrono'd, range from 1570 to 1610 fps.
My aperture sighted Hawken shoots a pretty consistent 4 inch group at 200 yards with this load. REALLY have to watch the wind though...
Zeroed at 100, the drop is 22 inches.
I've taken 13 deer with this load. None went more than 50 yards after the hit. Wobbling like a drunk...
This bullet, according to Greenhill's formula, needs a 1-49 twist.
IF it's possible to go wrong with the 250 grain .45 XTP, it'll never be by much. GREAT bullet, and in my experience, more accurate than the magnum. 45 240 grain. Don't know why this is so. Ymmv.

 

[ETipp]

Has anyone had experience with the hgp on elk sized game? I would imagine they’re effective but first hand experience is always best. What about the pa conical?

Lewis did and he was not pleased with the results at all. He posted about this. The bullet blew up and did not pass through on an elk. Also, if you go to "I love Muzzleloaders" on Youtube you will find some penetration tests Ethen did with them. The HGP bullet blew all to pieces.

Its my belief that the HGP bullet could be an excellent deer sized conical and might be my choice if/when I decide to use my .50 New Englander again. But as of now, I hope to be using my .54 GPR with round ball this coming season, at least on one deer anyway.

 

[BlackPowderGuy (AJHS)]

I've used the HGP on deer from a 1:48 sidehammer...bullet did not fragment and deer keeled over where she stood...at about 40 yards. I pushed the bullet slow though...80 grains of T7. I know some think that is too slow but I really wanted to prevent fragmentation of the lead bullet due to meat safety concerns. - She was quartering away...bullet entered where you see and exited behind offside shoulder. Plug here also for the mag-spark 209 adapter. At the time, I couldn't get #11 caps...

 

[Hatchet Jack]

I've used the HGP on deer from a 1:48 sidehammer...bullet did not fragment and deer keeled over where she stood...at about 40 yards. I pushed the bullet slow though...80 grains of T7. I know some think that is too slow but I really wanted to prevent fragmentation of the lead bullet due to meat safety concerns. - She was quartering away...bullet entered where you see and exited behind offside shoulder. Plug here also for the mag-spark 209 adapter. At the time, I couldn't get #11 caps...

You are probably getting around 1600 fps at the muzzle with that load. Nothing slow about that. Actually, some may say that's a little fast for an all lead conical. I'd say it's about perfect.

 

[deermanok]

Y'all blasted that one good.