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hey all was just curious what bullet you have had the most success with out of your muzzleloader?? I have a Thompson Center Omega that shoots the Hornady SST bullets very well but the terminal performance on deer has been suspect . Problem I am having is very poor blood trails to absolutely non existent blood trails. I hunt some pretty thick areas were no blood trails is a problem. The deer I have taken with the bullets have been lung shots through and through recovered in less than 100yds but if I hadnt heard them fall I may have lost them due to weak to no blood. Thanks All.

Scott

Thus is second-hand, but my sons took 3 deer last year with my Knight using 300gr .45 Hornady XTPs, the regular ones, not mags, over 80gr (56 gr by weight) BH 209. The light load keeps the bullets within the velocity window for good perfomance. All three were pass-throughs with big exit holes, including one on a 200+ pounder. Blood trails were short, the best kind.

Hollow point copper-clad, all copper or all lead bullets should help you in the blood trail department.

My favorite is all lead, made by prbullet.com..... Precision Polymer Tips. Other favorites are Barnes TEZ and Expanders. An excellent all-copper are the Knight Bloodline bullets, which I hear surrender the biggest blood trails.

Some XTPs will bust-up with too much speed. That's why Hornady produces the 240 and 300 gr XTP 'Mag' bullet.

I have a box of the Barnes all-copper 250gr bullets designed for the .454. They have a BIG holler point. If they shoot okay, that's what I'll use this year. I also have some Nosler 300gr Ballistic Tips that come in MMP .458 orange sabots. Pretty good BC for ML slugs.

240 - 300gr XTP's over 75 - 100 gr. 777. I averaged 10 deer a year, for the past 15 or so years with these bullets. They are accurate, and put the animals down. As mentioned, they are available in standard, or with a thicker jacket, if you push them fast. Longest shot I had was 180 yards. Good blood, deer dead in 35 yards. That was a 240 over 100gr 777.

Its pretty obvious the Bloodlines are made from UNSC3600 brass.
http://www.knightrifles.com/product-category/muzzleloader-bullets/bloodline-muzzleloader-bullets/

http://www.lehighbullets.com/products.asp?cat=31

Here is a link to several bullets shot at smokeless speed and T7 speed into perma gel.

http://www.modernmuzzleloader.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6450

The lowly 250gr XTP did surprisingly well although i would still recommend being careful of shot placement.

You didnt mention your powder load with the SST or which weight. Some of the older SSTs had a harder tip material and for some reason did not expand as easily with mild loads.

Overkill I am using 100grn by volume BH209. Thanks for the advice all very much appreciated.

I wont be using the SSt's this year I am switching to something else. Anyone use the Barnes T-EZ??

Have had real good luck with both the 250 and 290 Barnes TMZ on elk.

ETA; they both shoot real well out of my Omega.

Thanks SLM

The T-EZ is a very good bullet. Usually flat based bullets are easier to get shooting good vs a boat tail bullet. You have a lot more sabot choices with a flat based bullet.

I had my first muzzleloader experience last year. I worked up a load for my T/C Impact with a 250 gr. XTP over 95 grs. of Blackhorn 209. Using a crush rib sabot that load shoots extremely well for me. I asked here about an estimated velocity and was told it probably ran about 1,850 fps. Checking the chart that seemed to be a stretch in the performance envelope for that bullet. I was a bit concerned but thought I'd slip it in the lungs on my typical skinny little Ozark ridge running acorn munchers. Problem was the shot I got on a smallish buck put the bullet right on the shoulder. The bullet came apart inside, no exit and the buck ran about 150 yards with a very sparse blood trail. I'm moving to the "Mag" version this year.

Yep, good choice to move into a Mag XTP, unless one doesn't mind additional ruined venison.

The 240 gr XTP Mag is all that's needed for Whitetail. The 300 grain is overkill, but helpful with solid bone impacts.

I used Barnes for years, till I tried a box of Bloodlines. Accuracy was about the same, but can't see how one could get better performance on game than what I saw using them.

I use the 275 gr and dad's been using the 250s.

Ive shot a few deer with the Harvester 280 gr. hard cast bullets out of my Omega .50 cal. and have got two big holes and heavy short blood trails every time.I wouldnt hesitate to use them at any angle on deer.

Dont assume the 240gr XTP MAG will shoot like the 250gr XTP. The mag has a much thicker jacket and would not shoot nearly as well for me in several rifles.

If you are shooting longer ranges into the boiler room i have some serious doubts you will even get good expansion...That bullet is tough.

Actually I was going to work with the 250 gr. MAG version. My shots are in the timber and usually from about 40 - 70 yards, though the buck above was closer to 90 - 100 yards. And no assumptions about the loads accuracy until I put the work in.

Scotts,

I have only killed five with the Barnes T-EZ bullets. That said though, I am extremely impressed with them. The worst result was one that only produced a blood trail for 3 jumps. That deer had red soup for lungs but for a fist size chunk of one lung. The heart was shredded. The bullet passed through the base of each scapula. The deer made it about fifty yards. How it did that I have no idea, and it did not go down at impact. There was a golf ball size hole all the way through, I could literally see the opposite shoulder. The four I shot last fall were all shoulder shots and all four dropped into their shadow and never moved again.

The 250 grain T-EZ was a little hard on the meat. Not so bad as a lot of rifle bullets to be sure, but worse than what I am used to seeing out of TSX/TTSX bullets out of 3000+ FPS rifles. I used 66 grains by weight of BH-209 which gave me stellar accuracy and about 1700 FPS. Be sure to try a number of different sabots with the T-EZ. The Barnes sabots were too tight a fit for my guns, and I found some others that were even worse. Also, be sure to get a tip for the ram rod that accommodates the plastic tip on the T-EZ. I have shot them with jammed back tips and it didn't effect accuracy or killing efficiency, but I'd prefer it not do that.

It would be the 275 gr. ballistic extreme for me over 110 grs. by volume of BH209 in a Knight Ultra-Lite and Mountaineer. The 250 TEZ is also a very good choice.