ronlaughlin

Lately the 44 caliber 300g xtp has been on my mind. Hornady claims the B.C. of this bullet is 0.245. The ballistic coefficient of the 45 caliber sst is supposed to be 0.250. Do you see my dilemma? The blunt xtp is supposed to fly about as good as the pointed sst.

To check the B.C. of the xtp i did a little experiment, and combined it with another little experiment of seeing how it would shoot in a hunting situation. First i clocked the speed of the xtp shot from my Accura with a chrony. The chrony was at about 20yd so to keep the sabot from causing damage, and it say the xtp was flying at 1900 feet per second. Then i set up a target and shot it from near 98yd, and then from near 202yd, allowing the gun to cool off in between shots. Then i went home, and came back another day after a dang blizzard passed and fired two more shots at the target, and went home, and fired two more shots the next day. The gun wasn't cleaned between shots, nor swabbed. Shooting one shot a day kinda is how it goes whilst hunting. Shooting two shots a day isn't quite like hunting would go, but with the gun allowed to cool between shots it was some similar.

A picture of the target is shown below. The upper three shots were from about 98yd, and the lower three shots were from about 202yd. Naturally the aim point was the center of the bullseye. I wish the three upper holes were about an inch lower, but this is how they turned out. Before i shoot again i will turn the scope down 4 click.






One can see that swabbing the barrel between shots, and cleaning the breach plug between shots is not necessary.

Then i played around with a ballistic calculator and came up with this:







The ballistic calculation is quite close to real life which indicates, to me at least, the ballistic coefficient of 0.245 is indeed true. This tells me that the xtp flies about as good as the sst. I like that because the xtp is cheaper to shoot, and should be more better on game.

The load was 105g of BH209, with Winchester 209 primer, and the Harvester high pressure green sabot.


Did another ballistic calculation for how the bullets will fly when the scope is adjusted lower, and that follows:






Now, that is some better for hunting. One can kill deer by holding dead center with a simple reticle scope out to a little beyond 200yd, using the inexpensive xtp. The remaining energy out there is plenty for a clean kill. It surprised me how much energy the bullet still has at 200yd.

Since we can't use scopes here during the muzzle loader season, and i already knew cleaning a rifle during the hunt isn't necessary, this little experiment doesn't do me much good, but it did keep me from doing chores, so that is good.

Semisane

Excellentreport Ron. I'm really impressed with the correlation between your target results and the calculator. I agree withyour scope adjustment plans. Generally speaking, I don't like to be more than 2" high at 100, given the maximum shot opportunity in my hunting area is 175 yards, and most will be 100 or less.

cayugad

An excellent report. And personally I like the 300 grain XTP in .44 caliber. I understand others like the .45 caliber and for one reason or another shoot them, but the .44 are more consistent for me shot for shot.

Those are some good groups. I want to shoot tomorrow and see if I can do somewhat as good. I picked up some Triple Seven pellets when I was in town. $30.00 for 50 shots... I must be nuts.

kb1

wonderful report ,I"ve been shooting 250g sst/sw for 2yrs now but have been playin with .44 300g xtp the last 2 range sessions and they have shown great promise.

SWThomas

Awesome report with awesome illustrations!

ronlaughlin

Thank's all for the nice comments................now here comes more. On those days i was shooting the Accura, i was also shooting the X7 with the peep sight. However, i tried one of them apertures that can be dialed different sizes, and dialed it about as small as i could stand. This helps 'sharpen' the front sight for my old eye.

The load is almost the same, but with a change in the sabot to the green crush rib. Winchester 209 primer, 300g .430 xtp, and 105g BH209. Velocity is some less too. Here is the target:






I managed to rip the paper ajacent to a bullet hole when i pulled it off the backer, but the hole is still evident. I didn't bother to shoot this rifle at 200yd, because i could barely sight the target at 98yd with the iron sights. As before it took about a week to shoot the target taking 1 shot per day with blizzard problems in between.


Now here is the ballistic calculation for this rifle:






So, i guess if i could see good enough, i could shoot a critter quite a long ways away without hold over. Ethics will need to step in here. One thing i will change for hunting is to replace the adjustable peep insert with the factory supplied insert. Now on to other bullets...........no, perhaps on to CHORES.

SWThomas

Good shooting! It may not be minute of angle but it's definitely minute of deer. And that's all that matters.

gleason.chapman

I agree, droping the sight in yardage from 185 to 165 gives you a more resonable MPBR for whitetail, the usual norms for the "3 inch over method" is 3" high at 100, and you find where your hitting 3" low at which in this ballistics run was right at 195 yards. That bullet start dropping off the fence at 200.
Chap