Last year I took a couple of deer with my Savage 10MLII using 250gr SST's and easy load sabots. Both deer were shot through the lungs and went around 25-40 yards after being hit. Bullet passed through and left a good blood trail.
This year, same powder load, 43.0gr SR4759 producing 2100fps. Approx same distance. Used Hornady XTP's (250gr) (black sabot) and shot two deer. One was a buck and I hit the upper leg bone near the shoulder, it shattered the bone and the dime size (sans jacket) and weight bullet fragment stopped before exiting the far side shoulder region. This buck ran a good 100 yards on a broken leg. Had a hell of a time finding him. He fooled me and ran 50 yards straight, then a sudden turn and I lost the blood trail. He disappeared into a bluff and collapsed. Second deer, a doe, I shot her doing a double lung pass through. Lots of blood. She ran around 30-40 yards into the the bush before dropping.
Bottom line, I see no performance difference between the two bullets at under 100 yards. Trajectory is pretty much identical and interchangeable at that distance as well, plus or minus an inch. The easy load (red) sabots are a lot easier to load in the cold weather.
This year, same powder load, 43.0gr SR4759 producing 2100fps. Approx same distance. Used Hornady XTP's (250gr) (black sabot) and shot two deer. One was a buck and I hit the upper leg bone near the shoulder, it shattered the bone and the dime size (sans jacket) and weight bullet fragment stopped before exiting the far side shoulder region. This buck ran a good 100 yards on a broken leg. Had a hell of a time finding him. He fooled me and ran 50 yards straight, then a sudden turn and I lost the blood trail. He disappeared into a bluff and collapsed. Second deer, a doe, I shot her doing a double lung pass through. Lots of blood. She ran around 30-40 yards into the the bush before dropping.
Bottom line, I see no performance difference between the two bullets at under 100 yards. Trajectory is pretty much identical and interchangeable at that distance as well, plus or minus an inch. The easy load (red) sabots are a lot easier to load in the cold weather.
