Not having any luck with SST bullets out of my muzzleloader expanding on deer. They have been the most accurate bullet i have shot but cant take the close calls on finding my animals. Anybody have suggestions for a polymer tipped bullet that is reliable?
What you are discussing is not really that uncommon for most any tipped bullet shot at ML speeds. You can read this same scenario on just about any forum. It just happens,
not always for sure, but enough that it raises some questions.
I use to shoot the SST or SW quite a bit - they are one of the most accurate bullet I have ever shot, but results were not the best for me.
I have always had a problem with the durability of the lead copper bullets at ML speeds. So I began torching testing the here locally. Even when hunting elk in the old days with a centerfire 300 Win Mag – I found that I could shoot the lead out of the copper. I use to shoot Hornady lead copper at elk – I would find the copper just inside the hide and the traveled on… the animal was dead – he just did not know it for awhile.
As a result I started testing bullets in a home devised torture test, and I admit it is was devised to destroy bullets…
This is the result of shooting 250 SST into a wet clay soil bank… The copper was stripped from the lead…

Same results for the XTP series…

The only regular priced production bullet that I have tested that seemed to stand the test were Speer Gold Dot bullets now called Deep Curl’s…

Of course, the premium bullets like Barnes, Nosler Partitions, and the new Lehigh’s/Bloodlines can not strip…
I should also mention, I am not a fan of tipped bullets anyway at ML speeds and velocities.
I copied this from another one of my posts…
They look good, I have read about them before. Might have to look into them. I like the poly tipped bullets better then the hollow points. But might give them a shot.
Again this is really just one guys opinion... but I have shot a lot of different bullets, and coming from being a nut about bullet BC during my centerfire days. It really did not take me long to figure out that at muzzleloader velocities and muzzleloader range (my self imposed max is 200 yards with a scope) BC is not all that critical. It is what the bullet does when it gets there... Terminal Performance, well and accuracy of course.
For myself... I must admit most of my shots I would be 60 yards with some so close you could measure them in feet. But even though my average harvest is 60 yards - I still load for 200 - just in case! you just never KNOW!!! Because of that when I was using the SST/SW with poly tips - there were a few occasions that I shot an animal at close range and ended shooting a nice 45 cal hole – right through the animal. The bullet got in and out of the animal so fast that it had no time to expand.
Thinking about this, I thought about the 460 grain Bull Shop conicals that I shoot during our ML season, why do the work so well over all the ranges? I decided it was the meplat of bullet – that is what caused it to work so well… From there, I moved back to the HP to get the same effect – large meplat in the body creating one heck of Hydrostatic Shock in the organs…
What I loose in a lower BC – I more than make up in effect of Terminal Performance…
On the other hand if I were shooting a lot at 200 yards and beyond – yep! I want a pointy bullet…