Parker Productions Introduces A New Generation of High Performance Muzzleloading Bullets
Accuracy such as this made Toby Bridges a fan of Parker Productions' jacketed Hydra-Con Bullets early on. There are actually two groups here. The three interconnecting holes were shot with the 275-grain Hydra-Con. The two lower right and the single at top were shot with the 250-grain version. All six-shots are inside of 1 1/2 inches.
The first season that Toby Bridges hunted with the Parker Hydra-Con bullets, he took 7 deer with the then new bullet design, including this nice buck taken at 150-yards. All seven deer went down fast and hard.
Shown here are the "older" (left) and newer (right) versions of the Parker Hydra-Con Bullets. Both bullets shown are 275-grains.
Parker Propductions incorported a small steel ball that sit right under the lead semi-spitzer tip. Upon impact, this ball was pushed rearward into an internal hollow cavity, creating the hydraulic effect that promoted full expansion of the jacketed Hydra-Con design. The front of this bullet has been ground away to show the steel ball.
NOW...THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL A SPIRE-POINT BULLET! Parker Production's new polymer-tipped high performance muzzleloading bullet (yet to be named at this writing) has all the aerodynamics to be a real down- range performer. Early shooting tests reveal it is accurtate as well.
When the weather begins to warm in late February or early March, woodchucks often come out to sun themselves. Author Toby Bridges zapped this old winter chuck at about 140-yards with the new polymer- tipped spire-point bullet prototype he received from Parker Productions. It shot very well out of the PEDERSOLI 2 "Denali" break open rifle.
My good friend, video and outdoor television producer, Mark Drury is the one who initially got Bob Parker, the head honcho at Parker Productions, and I together. A few years ago, Mark had hunted with an all-lead saboted bullet produced by Bob and had been extremely impressed at the how well the bullet expanded and knocked deer down where they stood. And when Bob had shared with Mark that he would like to develop a jacketed version of the design he refered to as the "Hydra-Con", Mark immediately gave Bob my phone number.I knew the minute I first spoke with Bob Parker on the phone that he was sincere about wanting to develop a better saboted muzzleloader hunting bullet. And when he asked if I would confidentially test a few different prototype runs of his new jacketed design, I immediately agreed. No one has ever wanted a more effective muzzle-loaded hunting projectile any more than your's truly. And a few weeks later, the first of those bullets arrived.Bob and his sons Dean and Dwain pretty much produced the first hundred bullets I recieved, one at a time on a hand-operated press. Still, they were extremely uniform. And when I ran them across my RCBS electronic scales, I found the bullets to be right at 265 grains. And surprisingly, except for two or three bullets, all were within a half-grain of each other. So, I wasn't too surprised when my first series of hundred yard groups, at velocities ranigng from 1,900 to 2,300 f.p.s., averaged just a little over 1 1/2 inches, with several well inside of an inch. The 451" diameter rounded-nose jacketed bullets came with the Muzzleload Magnum Products standard length high-pressure black sabots, and loaded relatively easy. And when I reported my findings back to Bob Parker, my only partially negative comment was that I would like to see the bullet with more of a spire-point for better downrange retention of velocity and energy. And the next hundred bullets I received for testing were just that. While still not quite a "spitzer" or "spire-point" the shape was there, with an ogive that could be terminated in something of a point.The slightly flat-nosed prototype bullets still shot extremely well. And when I weighed the run, the bullets were right at 249 grains, or right at the targeted 250-grain weight Bob was shooting for. And a few months later, I received a supply for my fall hunting, complete with a very slightly rounded semi-spitzer nose. And in addition to a 250-grain bullet, Bob Parker had also sent enough of the 275- and 300-grain versions for me to shoot and hunt with that fall. What I remember most about that shipment is that when I opened the box, on the piece of carboard that had been placed over the noses of the top layer to protect them from damage, Bob had written..."The Bridges Bullet".On my first hunt that fall, a coastal North Carolina muzzleloader hunt, I had taken 6 deer with the Hydra-Con designs - 2 each with the 250-, 275- and 300-grain bullets. My longest shot of the trip was a buck that I had shot at 214 yards as it fed out into a still green soybean field. Center shot through the chest cavity with a 275-grain Hydra-Con, that deer ran just 20 yards before going down, the other five dropped where they stood. In early December, I then took a nice 11-pointer in southern Illinois with the 250-grain bullet at 150-yards, dropping the 250-pound live-weight whitetail in its tracks.What made the new bullet so lethal was it's internal design. Parker Productions' Hydra-Con design incorporates an internal hollow cavity. Sitting right on top of that cavity is a tiny (but slightly larger diameter) steel ball. The separate spitzer-style tip is formed over the top of the ball during the final stages of shaping the jacket around the lead core. When this bullet impacts the target, the ball is forced back into the smaller diameter hollow cavity, insuring that this bullet expands fully.Well, one of the people I ALWAYS look for at the S.H.O.T. Show is Bob Parker. He is a gentleman and always a pleasure to talk to...and very often he brings something new and exciting to look at. And when he pulled his newest generation jacketed bullet from his pocket at this year's show, I knew he had reached where I had wanted him to go from the very beginning. The bullet Bob showed me at the show is so new, he hasn't even had time to give it a name yet. Now, there are a few really good, aerodynamic saboted muzzleloader bullets available that offer the shooter a projectile with a reasonably high ballistic coefficient for improved downrange performance. And for the most part, the newer bullet designs feature a somewhat sharp frontal shape. But if you want to see what a real spire-point saboted bullet looks like, take a good look at the bullet in the photo at the right. Parker Productions' new polymer-tipped jacketed spire-point is built for accuracy and energy retention out at 200 yards where it is really needed. This design does not incorporate the internal steel ball. When forced back into the sealed internal cavity. the tough polymer tip handles the job just fine all by itself. Recently, Bob Parker sent me a small handful of 250-grain pre-production bullets for photography purposes. But once I had shot the photos I needed for this write up and a magazine article I was working on, I just had to punch a group. I first sighted in my.50 caliber PEDERSOLI 2 "Denali" with a few of the standard 250-grain Parker Hydra-Con bullets and a 110-grain (volume measured) charge of FFFg Triple Seven. The rifle and load punched two back to back 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inch hundred yard groups. And when I loaded with the new sharp-pointed polymer-tip bullet ahead of the same powder charge, all three shots impacted on the target about an inch lower. And grouped right at 1 3/8 inches. On the way home from shooting on a close friend's private range, I spotted a groundhog out feeding near a bull-doze pile close to an old abandoned home site. I knew the landowner, and knew I could hunt the place. So, I drove on past the area and pulled onto a field road just over a small hill. I quickly loaded the rifle with one of the three remaining prototype bullets I had. And the stalk was on. Actually, it wasn't much of a stalk. A deep ditch allowed me to stay down out of sight until I had the old farmhouse between me and the woodchuck. I then slipped up to the house and went through the front door. From a broken out window in what was once a bedroom, I saw the chuck still feeding. I took a reading with my laser rangfinder and found the distance to be 138 yards. The rifle had printed about an inch high on the target at the range, so I held "dead on" and eased back on the trigger. The rifle barked and that groundhog flipped upside down and never moved again.I had probably just shot the first head of game with Bob Parker's new bullet. But I can guarantee you that it won't be my last. I can't wait to get a good supply to do some real shooting to see how they perform out at 200 yards. Also, for the record, the black tip of the bullet shown in the photo will more than likely change...possibly to red. When making these pre-production samples, black was all that Bob had on hand. Traditions will also be offering these same bullets as their "T-Shock" bullets, which will be available in 250- and 275-grains. Their website (www.traditionsfirearms.com) offers the bullets for $19.99 for a pack of 15. It may be a month or so before the bullets are acutally available. Oh yes, the Traditions "T-Shock" bullets will come with a yellow polymer tip.Bob Parker also sent me samples of current production run Hydra-Con bullets, which have also been improved - if that's possible. He does not have the new bullets, nor the standard Hydra-Con bullets for that matter, listed on his website. But there is an e-mail address on the site that will allow HIGH PERFORMANCE MUZZLELOADING viewers to e-mail him and inquire about availability and price. Use the link below to go to the company's website. - Toby Bridges, HIGH PERFORMANCE MUZZLELOADING 
The one and only group Toby Bridges shot with the new Parker polymer-tipped spire-point bullet printed this 1 3/8-inch hundred yard group. In fact, this group was shot with the first three shots he took with the bullet. And with the fourth, he took the woodchuck in the preceeding photo.
Updated 8-6-05
"Picture Perfect" is the only way to describe how the Parker Ballistic Exteme expands on deer-sized game.
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