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Muzzleloader Bullets

LYON

LYON

PMA Member
I thought I would start a thread somewhat in response to Kelcher's "2nd look" thread about his deer not bleeding at all after being shot with a muzzleloader. I've hunted late season for about 15 years now and have seen this time and time again, no blood at the point of impact or even quite aways down the trail. I have not experimented much with different bullets, I've only used Hornady xtp's and the copper powerbelts. I killed a couple deer with the powerbelts, but did not like how they would explode inside the deer. The XTP's have done well, but still get the no blood trail scenario way too often. This year I hunted with a new gun and shot Hornady SST's. I only shot one deer and same story, no blood until quite a long ways away from the impact location. The bullet passed through completely, but didn't leave much of an exit hole making me think it didn't expand properly.

I've heard pretty positive comments about Barnes expanders. I've not tried them but did see a doe shot with one last year. The blood trail from impact to death (about 40 yards) was unreal.

Just curious from others about your experiences with different muzzy bullets. What works, what doesn't.
 
I am a fan of Barnes expanders myself. I shot a buck last Friday and had good blood all the way.
I was also with a friend of mine last night when he shot a doe and saw the same thing. I haven't ever used anything else so have no experience there.
 
LYON said:
I thought I would start a thread somewhat in response to Kelcher's "2nd look" thread about his deer not bleeding at all after being shot with a muzzleloader. I've hunted late season for about 15 years now and have seen this time and time again, no blood at the point of impact or even quite aways down the trail. I have not experimented much with different bullets, I've only used Hornady xtp's and the copper powerbelts. I killed a couple deer with the powerbelts, but did not like how they would explode inside the deer. The XTP's have done well, but still get the no blood trail scenario way too often. This year I hunted with a new gun and shot Hornady SST's. I only shot one deer and same story, no blood until quite a long ways away from the impact location. The bullet passed through completely, but didn't leave much of an exit hole making me think it didn't expand properly.

I've heard pretty positive comments about Barnes expanders. I've not tried them but did see a doe shot with one last year. The blood trail from impact to death (about 40 yards) was unreal.

Just curious from others about your experiences with different muzzy bullets. What works, what doesn't.
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I haven't been muzzleloading that long so my sample size is about 10 deer (mostly does in MI). I had the same problem as you for the longest time. I tried TC, then Barnes Expander Spit-Fire TMZ. I think I had 10 drops of blood total on all the deer combined. If not for snow, I don't think I would have found most of those deer and they were hit well.

This year I switched to the Hornady's and man did it make a world of difference. This pic is at point of impact on a doe and solid blood to recovery. Again, this is just my experience on a limited sample size.
picture.php
 
I shot Powerbelts with my old Knight muzzleloader and now shoot Barnes out of my CVA and I have never had to trail a deer. Every deer I've killed with my muzzleloader has fell right where I shot them. Most were broadside shots, but there were a couple that were hard quartering to shots.
 
I've had the best blood using the Barnes Expanders in my 45 encore. Some deer have ran aways and some went a couple steps but all left pretty good blood and you could see the blood on the ground from the pass through.
 
My buck this year was shot with 240 grain hornandy xtp mags. Ran about 200 yards through a field great blood but no exit wound.
 
Lack of blood trail has been my biggest concern shooting muzzy. My wife & I both shoot Barnes expanders, hers is 50 cal & mine is 45. Blood trail sometimes has been a little tough to follow without snow. This year have both loaded with solid brass Bloodline bullets. Supposed to fragment front leaflets rather than expand. Reported to produce a quicker kill so hopefully drop in sight and less worry about blood trail. Now just need to shoot something to see if they perform as advertised. Anyone have any experience with Bloodline?
 
Only bullet I've ever used is the powerbelt. I've used both the 245gr aerotip and the 295gr power belt. Deer have either dropped in their tracks or gone less than 150y. Blood trails have been sufficient if I hit them well.

Seems like most issues with the bullets are actually shot placement issues, not failure of a bullet itself. I would pick a bullet based on how well my gun shoots it, any of them on the market will perform if you hit the deer well.
 
Altiman94 said:
Only bullet I've ever used is the powerbelt. I've used both the 245gr aerotip and the 295gr power belt. Deer have either dropped in their tracks or gone less than 150y. Blood trails have been sufficient if I hit them well.

Seems like most issues with the bullets are actually shot placement issues, not failure of a bullet itself. I would pick a bullet based on how well my gun shoots it, any of them on the market will perform if you hit the deer well.
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I gotta disagree with you on that one Josh. Lots of bad blood trails with honady ssts on double lung shots
 
Shot a doe at 150 yds on the 31st with a 250gr SST. Bullet went in perfect right in the meat of her shoulder. It shattered a rib and through at least one lung. I didn't think she was quartering to me much so I don't know if the bullet ricocheted after hitting that rib or what but it ended up shattering a bone in her back leg opposite side. She went 100yds or so and dropped. Almost zero blood and zero expansion on the bullet. Pretty much just looks like it broke the red tip out of the bullet. Ill have to try to get a pic up of it.
 
250 Grain Barnes Spitfire TMZ. Essentially same as Barnes Expander just better at longer distances because of design.
 
Have been using the Barnes 250 T-EZ's last couple of years, Great blood trail if they went that far, Tried the new Hornady 452/ 250 gr Monoflex bullets, They open up like a Barnes, and have the same out come, Did a water jug test at 100 and 200 yard test, they opened up like a flower. During 1st shot gun season tried a new bullet that is like a Bloodline, but is Lehigh bullet subsonic that is a pistol bullet 458/300 gr, Lehigh Bullets makes the Muzzleloader bullets for Knight, Let me say the pedals do break off of the base, Shot a buck at 158 yards, did not have a pass thru, he went 25 yards, the heart had 4 big slices in it and the lungs looked like a grinder was in there.
 
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gundog870 said:
I gotta disagree with you on that one Josh. Lots of bad blood trails with honady ssts on double lung shots
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I've actually had really good luck on the SST's out of rifles. Two antelope in Wyoming and neither one moved and a few deer in Southern Iowa. Maybe they are different from muzzleloaders but I found them effective.
 
Ive shot 250 and 290 grains barnes tmz and now the t-ez's."same bullet, different sabot" If anyone wants to post pics ive only recovery 2 but they are perfect.
Ive seen alot of pencil holes from sst's. More than i care to discuss. Every sst shot deer ive seen has an entry and exit hole that are identical, serious lack of expansion from what ive seen and with no expansion you get no shock value and a horrible blood trail.
Im sure there are good and bad batches as with anything made from copper/lead.
 
I had trouble with Hornady pistol bullets and Triple Seven. I switched to Barnes Expander (spit-fire T-EZ 290 grain) and Blackhorn (90 grains) 5 years ago and wouldn't use anything else. Tonight I shot a doe for the freezer the entry and exit holes were the size of a fifty cent piece and the short 30 yard blood trail anyone could follow.
 
Shot a doe tonight with the SST, which is the first deer Ive killed with one, and I guess I didnt give it much thought (because she went 50 yards and piled up), but the entry and exit holes were nothing like the picture posted above. They werent a whole lot bigger than the bullet itself. Im colorblind so I cant see blood, so I have no idea if there was much of a blood trail or not.

I switched to the SSTs after having some accuracy problems with some other bullets, and I was very impressed with their accuracy, so I guess I never gave it much thought. I figured if I put one in the chest, it wouldnt matter much anyways.

If I didnt have 4 boxes of the SSTs, I would probably switch to something else, but I will keep shooting for now until I have a problem I guess..
 
buck3 said:
I agree if it isn't broke don't fix it.
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My only concern is the first time they fail to produce a blood trail or decent expansion for me is when Im shooting at a giant buck.. then I will really be upset.

I can tell you that the holes in that deer in your pic look pretty dang impressive!
 
For me I started out with the 240 xtp with my 50 caliber. The bullets zipped through the deer with no expansion and tough blood trails. They were very accurate and you could buy them in bulk which was a benefit.

I then switched to Barnes MZ 300 grains that were a big improvement. I did shoot a doe one time that had little blood but the exit hole was about the size of a golf ball and all here guts were pushed through it that stopped bleeding. Lung shot deer were good blood trails.

I then started shooting power belts out of my 45 caliber. They seemed pretty deadly on deer but I never got a pass through. They seemed like a grenade going off in the deer but I hated not having two holes. I also had a few that just kind of fizzed out of my barrel indicating blow by.

I then switched to precision rifle dead centers with my 45 caliber. They were tack drivers and an all lead bullet. It was about 50/50 whether I got a pass through or not.

I then got a new 50 caliber shooting TMZs. So far great blood trails and big holes. Very happy with their performance.

I have trailed many deer shot by SSTs and shockwaves. Typically they would blow through the deer with little expansion and not great blood trails. Once in awhile we got a good one.

So far, I like the Barnes TMZ / TEZs the best. I shoot the 250s now but will be switching to the 290s as they should have a little better trajectory plus pack a little more punch.
 
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