Thor II Conicals

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

I got a small sample of these to look over and see how they did in my CVA Accura as far as loading. The Thor II is basically the same as the original Thor. Its a .500" conical which now has Graphite applied around the bullet. With the originals you had to order a specific Diameter thor bullet for your barrel size. With the Thor II you no longer have to do this as the graphite will cut into the rifling.

 My Accura uses the .500" thor  and the .505" Thor II loads very smooth as soon as you give it a wrap with the bullet starter. To me, i think that the graphite also aids in a smooth push all the way down on to the top of the powder charge.  I only had 12 shots and so i wasnt really able to work up any loads. My best so far was with 150gr American Pioneer Super Sticks and the CCI 209M Primers. Originally wanted to use Winchester W209's but got into a rush and grabbed the wrong primers




Recovered bullet still shows sign of the Graphite,


If you are wondering why the bullet didnt open up... Thats due to the bullet hitting dry sand. This bullet will go through a 1/4" plate of steel and hardly deport. This bullet requires Water  ( Muslce/Tissue) to open up.

[kctibs]

Any more thoughts on these Thor II bullets. I checked their website yesterday and did not see any Thor II and ordered a sizing sample last night. I have already heard back from them this morning. Looking forward to trying them. I have been using Powerbelts and they are really accurate but I am undecided on the end effect although I did kill my cow elk in 09 with them. This is the only chance I have had to hunt with them. How many Thor bullets in a package for $21.95? The site did not say.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

15 per package.  They are actually cheaper than the powerbelt platinums, heck cheaper than the regulars at some stores.

Thor II is not available yet.

[Buckskin]

Just ordered 2 packs of the 250 grain, .501's.  Hopefully be able to shoot them next week and see how they do.  The .500 basically dropped right through the bore, the .501 was comfortable to load and the .502,3 I couldn't get started.  Even though I've read that then Encore uses .502. Hopefully the .501 is the right choice.  But I guess I have 5 1/2 months until Colorado calls me...

[kctibs]

I just got my sizing bullets yesterday and a I tried them this morning. I also have an Encore and had the same results as buckskin. Although I was able to get the .502 loaded it probably took more force than 20 to 30 pounds of force. And I suppose after shooting once the .502 would be unloadable. So I am going to settle with the .501 also.

[Buckskin]

Good to hear.  I will post my results next week if I can get out.

[kctibs]

Just posting the results of shooting my Thor sample bullets. .500 was to loose and just slide down the barrel. Went to .501 and felt pretty good going down the barrel. Tried .502 and was very tight and hard to push. So I loaded the .501 with 100 grains of Shocky's Gold, I did hit the target at 50yds but it did keyhole the target. I had a log behind and the bullet penatrated about 2'' with very little damage to the bullet even found the ballistic tip next to bullet. The bullet had no rifling marks. NOT very impressed so far. So I thought I will try the .502, wrong could not even get it started. I did not clean after the first shot my thinking was if hunting and a second shot was needed I wanted to know if one could be loaded without cleaning.
So my conclusion is I will not be using any Thor bullets. Maybe when the Thor II comes out I will try once more.

[Buckskin]

Well THAT'S not what I wanted to hear! I did read somewhere that you do need to push them a little harder to get them rotating correctly.  I assume this is because they are lighter than the lead counterparts.  Like in the 120gr of powder range.  And also that they need to hit flesh/water to expand them correctly.  I'm going to give them a good test and report back.  Was thinking of using soaked telephone books for the expansion test.  Any other suggestions?

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

You dont need to push Thor's hard. I shoot them with 105gr pyrodex RS with excellent accuracy. Like all copper bullet, Or hollow points in general, Water/Flesh is needed for them to expand correctly. You can shoot the Thor right through a 1/4" steel sheet and it wont mushroom much at all. And shooting into logs, wont do it either, I shot straight  through a live tree during hunting season and it zipped right through. Good thing to know just in case you got a deer hidin behind a tree!!  

I fill up a 5 gallon bucket with sand and then put a One gallon milk jug in front of it, filled with water. Shoot into that and this is what you will get.  Phone books, soaking wet, should do the trick just make sure they soak in water over night.


175 yards with the 250gr thor and 105gr pyrodex RS. This rifle with that load will hold 1 1/2" groups @ 200 yards.





When they Hit big rocks,

[kctibs]

I agree that it would have to go through flesh, muscle, or something similar to expand. The problem I had was that the bullet never stablized and was tumbling through the air and hit the target sideways making a keyhole.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

yeah that sounds like you need to push them a  wee bit faster.

[kctibs]

I may give that a try I am going to talk to the guy from Thor and see if he can send me a couple of more bullets to try. I really don't want to buy a whole package and still get unfavorable results.

[Buckskin]

Well I haven't gotten to the accuracy test with the Thor's yet but I did shoot the .500 size to see how it performed.  Shot it into a 5 gallon bucket of saturated sand with 120 grains of 777 at about 10 yards.  Very impressive.  Held 98.7% of it's weight and expanded to 1.240.  I sure as hell hope these things fly straight, because I like what I see so far.

Do the barnes rifle bullets perform as well as these Thor's???  I might have to play with these in the 30 caliber range also...

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

and the weight that it did lose was probably the 3 grain blue ballistic tip. Love the way these open up.

Good question because i'd love to switch over  to barnes in the centerfires.

[mirage1988]

Lost the biggest buck of my life using a  barnes tsx in 7 mag. Shot was 80 yards, I didnt take a second shot because I saw the blood on his shoulder. Trailed him about 200 yards, jumped him so we decided to track him in the morning. The next morning we tracked him another mile and ran out of blood       I think the bullet didn't expand. I will NOT be using them again!

[Buckskin]

I would think even if it didn't expand, hitting him in the shoulder would put him down, obviously it passed through.  Maybe brisket???