50calty

.452 dia with the Harvester Crushed Rib Sabot

nchawkeye

That 240gr in .452 is dang short...I know some that do use the 250gr in .452...

The 240gr XTP in .429 has been used since the beginning of the inlines and has done very well...The reason I went to the .429 in 300 gr is because of the great ballistic coefficient...It's very close to the 250gr SST which I used for a few years...I wanted that higher coefficient for hunting over our soybean fields down east but also wanted to move to a hollow point design to help the bullet open up...At the lower powder charges my gun likes the SST didn't expand well on lung shots...

Now...The .452 300gr XTP also has a great following..One is a fellow up the road in Greensboro...This is the guy that invented the smokeless design that Savage picked up...It's his bullet of choice and he tests it in eastern NC and makes shots over 200 yards with it...Even at higher velocities he still prefers this bullet over the Mag version...

Any of these 3 (4 if you count the .425 250gr) will do a good job...The .429s are just a bit more streamlined and in my case my rifle groups the .429 300gr best...That's another reason I use it...

quake

I have used both the .44 and the .45 cal. 240gr. Hornady XTP with great success in the field. Good accuracy, too. They work excellent on deer as long as you do your part with good shot placement.

I have not used the 300gr. XTP so I can't comment on them.

TNHagies

I've shot all of them (44 and 45 cal ones) at one point or another.

My experience is that:

• .430 300g are more accurate than the .452 300g
• .452 300g (non-mag) are great if you shoot longer distance as the bullet will open up nicely at lower velocity
• .452 300g MAG are great for close range shooting. If you don't shoot more than 50 yards and you want a tough bullet to shoot through brush or through shoulder blades. This is what you are after.
• .452 240g MAG is an excellent deer killer.
• .452 250g performs about the same as the 240g MAG in my opinion.

Hope this helps. My favorite two are the .452 240g MAG and the .430 300g

lemoyne

I used the 250 and 240 gr XTP for years then Sabotloader talked me into trying the Gold Dots, I really like the 250gr Deep Curl [What they used to call a Gold Dot ] and the 300gr is excellent for Elk. I never looked back I still have about 4 boxes of 250gr XTP to fall back on if I should happened to run out of Deep Curls.

Dutch

[QUOTE=nchawkeye;3816936]The 240gr XTP in .429 has been used since the beginning of the inlines and has done very well...The reason I went to the .429 in 300 gr is because of the great ballistic coefficient...It's very close to the 250gr SST which I used for a few years...I wanted that higher coefficient for hunting over our soybean fields down east but also wanted to move to a hollow point design to help the bullet open up...At the lower powder charges my gun likes the SST didn't expand well on lung shots...

NCHawkeye, do you have BC data on the .429 300 gr XTP's?

sabotloader

50calty

I have hesitated providing any input in this thread, but since it is still out here and growing thought I might.

I am assuming that you have your questions about the regular XTP and the XTP Mag answered and they have provided you with a visual method to identify them.

I KNOW that XTP's probably have harvested more animals than any other bullet available in the US. When I first started shooting ML's I started using XTP's cheap readily available... even though the little voice in my head warned me no to go there.

When I was a centerfire hunter I tried Hornady brand bullets in my 270 and 300 Win mag and quicky learned there are better bullets available. Often, but not always, when shooting with the 270 or Win Mag - I would find the bullets separated. I would find the copper just inside the hide and the moved on through doing its thing. Sometimes staying together and getting good penetration other times fragmenting in pieces. At that point I switched to Noslers Partitions never looked back. I continued to shoot Hornady and other copper lead bullets at paper but not at animals.

When I moved to ML's - I found the same problem continued to haunt the Hornady line... except the 40-200 grain XTP - I have not got it to separate yet.

A few years ago I set out to test my thoughts on the XTP's after I found a separated bullet in a deer.

Here is an example...



This was designed as a torture test. You can see see some XTP's separated some didn't. I can not even tell you that a majority of them separted, but some did which created a doubt in my mind everytime I would shoot one...

Then when Speer brought out the Gold Dot, now called a Deep Curl (for American court ruling). When I read about the bullet they stated that the bullet was bonded and expansion was controlled internally... To me they proved to be a 'Poor Man's' Nosler Partition.

I repeated the torture test on the Gold Dots/Deep Curls...

Here are the results of one of those tests into the same medium that I shot the XTP's



I, unlike Lee, have very few XTP's left in the collection...

Nothing scientific in any of this but enough to know which bullet I would use if given the option.

oldsmellhound

Both my hunting buddies use the .429 XTP 240 grain non-mag version. They've probably taken 30 - 40 deer with this bullet in the past 10 years. It has worked well for them. I have no doubt that there are more advanced bullets out there, but the XTP does get the job done. The price is right too. I can't remember any instances of bullet failure at with the powder charges they were using (80 - 90 grains T7). Most deer were boom-flops or were recovered within a short distance. Pass-thru's were achieved about 50% of the time depending on a number of factors. There were a couple instances of losing deer or long tracking required - all that I can recall were due to poor shot placement. Again, no matter what bullet you use, shot placement is key.

I have had good luck with the .40 cal 200 XTP, but recently have been using the 200 SST more often.

nchawkeye

The BC on all these is on Hornady's website...The .430 in 300gr is .245...

Of the 3 that I shot with this bullet last year, 2 dropped, one was to a high shoulder shot...One I hit right on the elbow, the bullet shatter the leg and heart and he 2 wheeled for maybe 10 steps...

As far as a bullet fragmenting...I've seen this in several other bullets as well, both muzzleloading and centerfires...Those fragments destroy tissue as well...The worse bullet I ever used was a .243 100gr Remington Premium that bullet would pass through and leave a hole the size of a nickle...Deer ran on lungs shots 125-150 yards...With a plain jane CoreLokt, they usually run 30-60 yards with the same lung shots...

XTPs are plenty tough for any whitetail you'll run across...Especially if you stick with velocities in the 1600-1900 range...Many of us don't care for ultra high velocities, just isn't necessary...

sabotloader

nchawkeye

Gotta admit I am a velocity-trajectory person, so I am shooting them with a stiff load, even the Speers are shot with the same load.

I also know in the normal situation my shots on average my shots would be around 60 yards, but I also want to be prepared for the the possible 200 yard on an elk or deer.

This cow was shot at an extended range and I am glad that I had the velocity and a bullet that would do the job.



This deer was harvested @ 120 yards and the bullet and load worked very well there also



Neither of these shots did I wonder if the bullet might come apart...

I know XTP's have a loyal following and that is fine - but IMO there are much better bullets on the market now.