Newtosavage
Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2015
- Messages
- 2,918
Late yesterday, I shot a very large feral pig sow with my CVA muzzleloader. 50 cal shooting 44 cal Hornady 250 grain FTX's in plastic sabots. Shot was 50 yards. The bullet went completely through and left a big hole on both sides. MV is only about 1850 fps.
After locating the sow and verifying two holes (as I suspected based on the blood trail), I asked myself whether I've ever NOT had two holes from my muzzleloader kills, and the answer is no. I've shot probably 5-6 deer and as many hogs now with my muzzleloaders, always a similar combination of 44-45 cal. 240-250 class bullets like the FTX and some hollow point Remingtons. I purposely choose bullets that are designed to expand at lower velocities.
A few years ago, I shot a whitetail doe at a lazered 145 yards with my Ruger muzzleloader. I estimated the impact velocity at around 1400 fps and the 240-grain Remington soft nose hollow point went all the way through her like tissue paper.
This pig was a considerably thicker target though. Why do you suppose these slow, heavy bullets penetrate so well? No fragmentation? Controlled expansion at those lower velocities? More mass to drive through? Just curious.
After locating the sow and verifying two holes (as I suspected based on the blood trail), I asked myself whether I've ever NOT had two holes from my muzzleloader kills, and the answer is no. I've shot probably 5-6 deer and as many hogs now with my muzzleloaders, always a similar combination of 44-45 cal. 240-250 class bullets like the FTX and some hollow point Remingtons. I purposely choose bullets that are designed to expand at lower velocities.
A few years ago, I shot a whitetail doe at a lazered 145 yards with my Ruger muzzleloader. I estimated the impact velocity at around 1400 fps and the 240-grain Remington soft nose hollow point went all the way through her like tissue paper.
This pig was a considerably thicker target though. Why do you suppose these slow, heavy bullets penetrate so well? No fragmentation? Controlled expansion at those lower velocities? More mass to drive through? Just curious.