Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Al-Muzzleloader Forum Hornady Bore Driver FTX

Gents. I switch this year to the new Hornady Bore Driver FTX bullets. I am shooting the .50cal under 110gr by volume of BH209. They have grouped amazingly. I took them to Oklahoma last week and killed a very large 10 point. The performance was excellent with a perfect mushroom lodging the the far side cape. I also shot the new Bore Driver ELDX which is 340gr. They also shot very well. I just decided to go with the FTX because of the great reviews.

I've shot about a dozen different bullets this year and the Hornady Bore Driver FTX was by far the most accurate. The Hornady Bore Driver ELDX was a close second. I also chronographed the loads and found these two bullets to be the most consistent. They say that you should have about 1,000 ft-lb of energy for whitetail. Using this standard, the FTX had a range of about 125 yards and the ELDX about 340 yds. The ELDX is a 340 grain bullet that has a high bullet coefficient. The ELDX may be a tad slower, but it shots flatter at long distances.
I had some plastic fouling when shooting sabots that resulted in significant velocity drops after 3 shots. I ran a bore snake after each shot, but after 3 shots I had to do a hard clean to restore velocity.

I might have to make the switch. Can’t find any Barnes T-EZ 290gr and shot my last one this past week

On a whim I tried Hornady 250 gr SSTs w/ low drag sabot in my 50 cal Pro-Hunter. Easy to load, bullet easily seated at bottom of sabot. When I was shooting TC 200 gr Shockwaves (which I believe Hornady made for TC) had to press the bullet into the sabot before loading,

Over 110 grs of BH209, put 3 shots into 1/2" @ 100 yards. Figured that was good enough for me and they're readily available. While I most likely wouldn't take a 200 yard shot, ballistics say it will still be moving over 1400 FPS and delivering 1000 ft-lbs. That's close to a 44 mag at the muzzle for that bullet weight.

I've been wanting to try them, but I mostly hunt with 45 and 54 caliber and haven't been able to find any in those sizes