Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders First time muzzleloader owner. Blackhorn 209 / Powerbelt

I am about done with this thread, but if you want to see a .452 SST with a cannelure just look at the 460 S&W load they had for a blink of an eye. Which I referenced earier.

But as not to further confuse anyone, it is NOT the same bullet as originally referenced.......

Yes, the .452 200gr FTX and 225gr FTX both have cannelures but they are FTXs not SSTs according to Hornadys website.

Scroll down this thread to see a cross section of two FTXs and the 250gr SST.
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/black-powder/395344-hornady-sst-vs-tc-shockwave.html

You guys are killing me right now

I'm out............

Thanks for posting the pics. I've never seen those before.

And Hornady calls it a FTX here
http://www.hornady.com/store/45-Cal-.452-200-gr-FTX/



And here with the same ammo part number 9152
http://www.hornady.com/store/460-SW-200-gr-FTX/






So now what? My two Hornady links beat your one link

FTX flex tip for use in a lever and SST-ML for use in a muzzleloader ... both with the same red soft tip.

The current 250 gr SSTs I've got have the soft red tip but I have some older 250 gr Shockwaves that have a harder yellow tip.


FWIW, I found a red SST tip on the ground in front of a cardboard target.

I have heard several people make this same observation. Somewhere along the line, things changed and possibly not even at the same time for Hornady vs T/C.

Were the Shockwave tips more pointed too or just harder than the current SST?

The ballstics gel pics i posted were from 2007. This is the before pics from that range session

This has got me thinking. I wonder if the old hard tips were the cause behind the reports of SSTs "exploding".

To put in perspective there's two reasons for putting a "plastic" tip on a bullet. First is to increase the BC and second is to initiate expansion.

Could it be the old tips had erratic expansion?

You could throw away all the notions that they don't expand and especially when a bullet isn't recovered on a complete pass through.

I'm just jabbering and trying make sense of the "reports".

BINGO!!!

Here is the link to that entire ballistics gel thread. Im not sure if you can view it without joining MM.

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

At this time i dont have the answer as to which style is more prone to fragging. I have an opinion but very little data to back up my opinion. I dont use SSTs or FTXs for hunting anymore but i find them wonderfully accurate in my rifles.

I have the two bullets in hand. The shape is identical but the materials are different. I can dig my fingernail into the red tip (soft/flexy) but not in the yellow tip.

Thank you for checking. That is the same as ive heard. Notice the pic i posted has a pointy yellow tip Shockwave. Those are/were hard too. The bonded SW next to it were also hard and might still be hard. Ive seen them with two different shapes also.

It appears we have part of the answer as to why there are such extreme differences in field results.

Unlike you guys that sit on your a$$, I actually have to work for a living. I can't just sit on here all day awaiting your answers and post up things in the given time while your reloading the page every 30 seconds.

Here's a picture of the boat tail, not to mention I've shot it. If you look at the bullets in the case you can clearly see them, however the flat base sits on top, anyway:
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...e-sabots-50-cal-250-gr-30-rds?a=1593990#

As for the cannelure, I must be thinking of a different projectile. But I do remember asking Hornady about it.

bigblock455<--- Don't worry, we haven't even started on the beloved Powerbelts yet.....LOL

Here's another thing I just noticed. The grooves at the end of the SST are slighty deeper and more pronounced. I can see the red tip through the grooves. With yellow tips I can't see the tip and the grooves are not spread apart.

This is so slight it might be a manufacturing discrepancy/tolerance but maybe not.

Some of us have such good jobs we get many days off during the holiday season. Ive got over a month worth of holiday/sick days to use up before next year begins. I didnt use a single sick day all this year.

Very interesting the top bullet would be a flat base and all the rest in the box would be BTs. I wish i could read the T/C part number.

They called them 2 different things because they were. 2 labels designating 2 different bullets.

Part numbers are same because the 200gr SST is no longer loaded. The 200gr FTX has taken it's place, and it's part number.....

Yes and I have already logged more work hours this year than most ever will.....

I also have some Barnes 250s that have a blue pointy hard tip.



FWIW, from the Sportman's guide ...

Thompson / Center Arms� Shock Wave Sabot.

The Shock Wave Sabot is a new spire point Bullet. It has a polymer tip specifically designed as a muzzleloading sabot Bullet, and is not just a conventional pistol bullet converted to a muzzleloading projectile.

Wonder why they make no mention of the boat tail?

Yes, now im quite curious especially since Hydrashocker says he has shot them. They remind me of a Barnes TMZ shape kinda but the sabots look like flat base sabots too. Rather hard to tell in the pic though.

Hard to say.


I say just buy some Barnes and fuggedaboudit..........