.44 cal bullet

[Myerslake2005]

I looking for recommendations on a .44 cal bullet for Whitetail.  I shoot a .54 cal Knight MK 85 using a MMP white sabot with a Hornady .44 cal 240gr HP XTP.  With 100gr of just about any powder I get MOA to sub-MOA at 100 yards but I'm not really satisfied with the peformance on the deer.  The one bullet I did recover expanded perfectly and weight just about 240 grains but I don't get great wound channels and most of my exits are just a little bigger than the entrance.  THe last double lung shot I had was still dying when I walked up to it about 10 minutes later.  I may have to high an expectation for a muzzleloader but I'm use to an animal being dead within a few minutes of a double lung shot not 10-15.

So I'm looking for recommendations for a different .44 cal bullet that I can use with my current MMP sabot since my gun really seems to like it.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Brent

[moto357]

sum conicals out of that 54 ought to leave a bigger wound channel and kill em quick too

[tn_junk]

I used a hard cast 310 Grain .430 dia out of a Lee mold.
This bullet was designed for a gas check, and the slight
diameter change on the back of the bullet made it sit
real well in the Sabot. It shot MOA out of my
Encore 209x50.

alan

[jtech]

Check out the precision rifles Dead centers. My Black Diamond realy likes the .40 cal 220 grainers and they are devastating on deer. piled 2 and 1 went 30 yds. Precision rifles makes a wide variety of muzzle loading projectiles. I called the Co. once for some starting point info. and they were very helpful.

[Skopia]

I have to say that I have had compltely opposite reseults with the .430 240 gr xtp. Every deer that I have shot, (5), have been one shot kills and wide woulnd channels. All pass throughs and lots of blood. The furthest a deer has run was about 50 yds. That was a slightly quartering to shot. Bullet entered just behind the front shoulder and exited after breaking the next to last rib. No complaints here.

[alleyyooper]

Give the 300gr. Speer gold dots a try.

My 54 isn't a Knight but it really likes the 50cal. 300ga. Speer gold dot HP in a Purple MMP 54cal sabot.

Al

[hunt-m-up]

Out of a .50 cal mzldr I've used MMP sabots and Speer 44 cal 270 gr Gold Dot JSP's with good results/performance...I'm not fond of HP pistol bullets in a mzldr. I mostly shoot solid copper Barnes now.

[SHOOTALL]

hornady HP/XTP work great for me , but i shoot the 45 cal.bullet  in my .50 cal ML not the 45

[alleyyooper]

"hornady HP/XTP work great for me , but i shoot the 45 cal.bullet  in my .50 cal ML not the 45"

 ???What?


Al

[SHOOTALL]

you can get sabots that allow the use of 45 cal. bullets . They seem to shoot better for me . with a thiner plastic sleeve maybe they hold the bullet in a more stable position on its way out the bbl. ?

[bubba]

do they make a sabot to shoot 44 caliber bullets out of a 54 caliber gun?  I did not know that

[Busta]

Bubba,

MMP makes a white .54/.429-.430 sabot for shooting 44 caliber bullets.

http://www.mmpsabots.com/white.html

[bubba]

cool thanks for the info. 

[Masterblaster1]

Your the first guy I ever heard complain about a 240 grain XTP. My uncles, and grandpa(rip) have shot them out of 44 mags and MZ's since the came out and they stack deer like cordwood with this bullet. The wounds I have seen from them look awful severe to me. But to your original question drop down to a lighter grain weight like a 180 or 200 that may help get you more shock. Or go to a 200 grain Speer Gold Dot. Another question, what is your powder charge? Remember if you drop in weight you will lose some penetration but the wound channel should be messier. Personally I use an 265 Hornady Interlock in my 50 cal but it is less violently expanding than an XTP and I am happy with it. My 9 pt had a 44 hole on entrance and about a 50 cal on exit and he only made it 50 yards before collapsing.

[alsaqr]

Have killed almost 20 deer and dozens of hogs with the 240 grain .430 XTP:  Most were bang flops or near bang flops.  Every animal I have ever shot with that bullet was recovered; including a few that were gut shot.  Hogs can be much harder to kill than deer.  Never saw a deer that was double lung shot go over 200 yards after being hit:  Ditto for hogs.  That includes some hogs that I shot with my .22 magnum and a FMJ bullet. 

[DennyRoark]

I've shot 6 deer with the 180 & 240 XTP's and 4 were bang flop, one walked 10 yds and the other ran about 50.  Recovered 4 of the bullets and they all expanded about like the ad pictures.  My wife has shot 2 with the 240 cheap shots, one ran about 25 yds and the other about 50, but she gets pretty excited and shot placement was not "optimal".  They also looked just like the XTP's I recovered.  On all of them there was a considerable amount of meat loss on offside due to bullet shock.  We shoot 80 to 100 gr of Pyro RS.  I don't think the XTP's expand as much as say a Speer Gold Dot, but looking at the damage I don't know that it matters.  The one that ran 50 yds on me was shot at 125 yds, all others inside 80.  Unless your shooting long range, I would say drop your powder charge a little, and try not to hit the shoulder (or the backstrap) .