Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Hornady Great Plains Bullets

Who uses them and on what game? You guys even recover any of these bullets? I got a few boxes of these, all 385-grain for my 50 cal. Cabela's carbine caplock muzzleloader to try. My plan is to use them for black bear over bait this spring, with all shots being under 50 yards.

I'm a ML pilgrim. I went on a Colorado Elk hunt last fall with a couple of hard core ML guys. They shoot that bullet and in their Remingtons and it will tip a Elk right over. Ken

I shot the T/C maxi's out of my .54 renegade 430 gr..did a good job on deer,never shot a elk with them.give the no excuse 460 gr a try,excellent conical..a whole lot of sidelock guys shoot these and like them.muzzleloading-bullets.com

I'm with Builder, the No excuses bullets have no equal in my opinion.I still prefer to use the PRB but also have 2 guns that shoot conicals.

used 385 hp ripped in half on a deer. after that i went back to powerbelts.

check these out www.thorbullets.com

+1 on the No Excuses, another option are the Traditional Hunters and Hydra Cons from Parker Productions. Thor's are excellent especially for those "lead ban" hunts.

The Hornady bullet is a great bullet. I cast one that is similar, but heavier. If I did not cast my own I would probably shoot the Hornady bullets. Great company, great bullet, reasonable price. Not a trendy or designer bullet, but definitely an effective bullet. Tom.

another conical i hear great things about,but have not personally used them are the bullshop conicals.

Great Plains are the preferred bullet in my 45 Hawken. Performance on deer is consistently great.

I've shot 3 deer with them and all the bullets went though the animal. I'm still surprised by that.

How so? Oh, and welcome to 24 Campfire!

They will be fine for your intended purpose. I have shot them numerous times and had excellent accuracy and terminal performance. I have killed two elk, two mule deer, two antelope, two whitetails, and two blacktails all with the 385 Hornady Great Plains. I think only two of the bullets exited and shots ranged from 20-200 yards. That is a pretty big mushroom to get past the elastic hide on the far side. I have used them in a TC black mountain magnum (.54 and only killed paper)and my Knight Bighorn. I would not hesitate to use them on black bears.

Andy

My, that's a lot of "twos"

Generally, they mushroom to TWICE their original diameter. They do kill very well, but you can't push them really hard, or they will come apart. Don't know why you need a hollowpoint in a soft lead projectile.

Must be my lucky number.

I used them for years from my 50 cal Hawkins...they work great on whitetail and imagine will do so on bear...recovered one from a deer but beleive it or not found it on the ground where the deer was standing at the shot...just enough energy to pass thru and fall out as the deer ran off....I have a bunch of 385,420(IIRC)and 460gr in .50 cal the later 2 are no longer made...if anyone is in need let me know

From my Knight .50 cal KRB

That is exactly how my Knight spits out the same bullet! But I use 100 grains of Tripple Seven.

Andy

Two mule deer in two shots with the .50 cal 385 gr Great Plains bullet from my traditional side-hammer T/C rifle.

No complaints about accuracy or on-game performance. Did not recover the bullets.