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Muzzleloaders and blood trails

Scoob said:
I shoot the exact same powder and sabot as you and shoot double lung and it has always went through with a okay blood trail.
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I have shot some heavier grain sabots in the past and had issues with a threw shot.
 
I shoot 240gr XTP 44 cal with black sabot in front of 95 gr of loose power. I’ve yet to not have pass through or great blood. I killed deer from Tn to Florida with it and it just hammers them. Love me some smoke pole hunting.
 
I have taken more than 50 deer with muzzleloaders (when I used to feel a need to fill every tag in my pocket) and most were with 240 gr Hornady XTP with green, ribbed sabots. I have only lost 4 bucks that I shot using them, but none were due to the bullet failing. 2, including a huge public buck last fall, were due to hang fires with Blackhorn 209 (ask me about EDM cutting less than a human hair cut in a breech plug to try to fix it) and the shots did not hit where the original aim was due to the delays. The other 2 turned out to be scope issues that got resolved with replacement. I have tried almost every other bullet made in the past 25 years and none have ever performed any better for me in Knight, CVA, Traditions, and Thompson Center toys. The only blood trails that were not good with them was when the deer fell on the spot or fell within 20 yds of the shot (which defines almost all of them). Cheap, deadly on deer and the range, everything else out there is just marketing.

John H., Hickory, NC

“You sure are cocky for a starvin’ pilgrim.”
 
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The internet is chock full of powerbelt no blood trail/poor bullet performance whining. Sometimes they dont expand sometimes they blow apart. They are well marketed garbage. Stick with Hornady, Barnes or PR.
 
I shoot the XTP in slower ML's (<1200fps) but prefer the Barnes or SST in the faster modern ones.
 
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