In years past I've taken a lot of deer with XTPs, mostly in the 250 grain range in my .50 cals or the 200 grain range [.40 cal] in my .45's. In each case I shot the bullets hard velocity wise and as long as I kept the shots off large bone there wasn't any real excessive damage. When I say I shot them hard, I mean my loads were pretty stiff to get the accuracy I wanted, less than an inch at 100 yards. The weighed charges of BH209 in the .50 cals was 77 grains. In the .45s it was 63 grains. These charges remain the same today but at the range during my usual shooting T7 fffg is weighed the same for the 50's and 45's respectively to shoot the XTPs, while hunting charges are of the weighed BH209 and Barnes XPBs are used.
In the last six or eight years I've shot more deer with the Optima pistol with a hunting charge of BH209 weighed at 63 grains. Early on I used the 240 grain XTP and those bullets put a lot of deer on the dirt without taking another step. They're an excellent deer bullet. I get a bit better accuracy with the Barnes XPB in a 225 grain bullet and maybe 150 fps better velocity, plus I don't need to worry about lead in the meat. But really, any XTP shot without hitting large bones is a devastating bullet without a ton of meat damage.
Load those guns up and go hunting Ode.... you're fine.
What Mr. Tom said is spot on. 100 yrds or less 240 xtp with supplied sabots over 70-80 grains of 777 is a whitetails worst nightmare
