Cast hunting bullets for use in sabots?

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  • Last Post 28 December 2010
valk posted this 20 December 2009

Jacketed bullet prices for sabot/muzzleloader loads are insane.

 

Just got back from deer camp on the last day of Indiana's muzzleloader season. No deer with the encore muzzleloader this year but did get two with the cut down .460 during firearms season.

 

Made a run from camp to the local gun store yesterday and was amazed at the cost of the Hornady 240 gr. XTP mags I shoot in sabots from my muzzleloader. They were around $22 bucks per hundred when I last bought them. The gun shop had them for $28 in the old boxes and the newest ones were $32 per box.

 

Is anyone hunting with cast bullets in 50cal. sabots in front of 120 to 150 grains of triple 7? If so what bullet are you using and why? The standard XTP's open too quick with magnum charges so I'm sure I'd have to experiment with alloys. I'd just like to have an idea what .451-.452” dia. or .429 dia. bullets of around  240gr. would group well and still make good hunting bullets.

 

Thanks in advance.

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Adk Mike posted this 20 December 2009

I buy sabots from Cabela's and use speer soft lead pistol bullets in the sabots.You can run the soft lead bullets in the lube sizer if you like. The only reason I use speer is I have 2 boxes of 500 in 45 cal.I think the fancy pistol bullets and the powerbelts are marketing hipe. Lead works fine for me!

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shastaboat posted this 20 December 2009

How about 457406 bullet in a sabot for a .50 cal? Has anyone tried that?

Because I said so!

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JimmyDee posted this 20 December 2009

valk wrote: Jacketed bullet prices for sabot/muzzleloader loads are insane.

Yup.  I used to do that: 44 caliber Hornady XTPs.  Now, 240 gr cast soft lead bullets in sabots.

I've gone to Triple Seven, too.  And gave up on the variable volumetric powder measures -- mostly 'cause I can't see the numbers.  I now simply fill a popped-cap 45-70 case with Triple Seven and dump that down the bore.  The case fits in the bore and the rim keeps it from falling in.  Magic!

I thought I'd have to experiment with charges and bullets so I started out at 25 yards -- and put one right in the center of the target.  Seriously, I'm not making this up.  I've never centered a hit so perfectly before.  I shot again.  Ragged hole.  50 yards: a little bit high.  Good enough for the sort of shooting I do with a muzzle loader.

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Tazman1602 posted this 20 December 2009

Yup, used to do the same thing. Hornady XTP's 265 grain behind two pyrodex pellets in the old Knight muzzie. This year was the first time we'd been able to go muzzie hunting in this neck of the woods in YEARS because of the cold and we're older. We were sighting in the Knight when wife asked me if some of those bullets I spent hours down in the basement making wouldn't work. I had bought a Ranch Dog undersize .430 265 grain mold from Lee:

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/catalog/surplus.html>http://www.leeprecision.com/html/catalog/surplus.html

for $20 and tried them. Grouped unbelievably. She shot a spike three days in and it destroyed the chest cavity.

I'm going hunting with cast in my regular rifles next year.

Use a FLAT POINT. Hell if you email or PM me I'll cast, lube, and send you some .430's to try for FREE.............just pass it on........

Art

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Adk Mike posted this 20 December 2009

It looks like we're all doing the same thing. The only J Bullets I use any more are in my deer rifle for those long range shots I have to take in the farm fields. My muzzle loader works fine with a lead bullet.

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BilWil1 posted this 23 January 2010

Didn't use trip7 but used cast 44mag SWC in speer sabots behind 105 gr of Pyrodex.  The bullet is hard cast and quenched in cold water.  Shot a 130lb 6pt in La. at 43yds.  The shot was from a 21 inch barreled sidelock Whitemountain Carbine.  The buck went down immediately and assummed the dead cochroach position but by the  time I had reloaded the animal recovered and tried to get up.  However his back was broken and I had to administer the final in his neck.  The slug had passed through two ribs and a backbone stopping on the outer skin.   It had smeared itself like it was made of butter but the buck stopped there of about 45 seconds.  I haven't gotten a DRT shot yet but keep trying and just usually have to shoot twice to fininsh the game.

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CB posted this 25 January 2010

I use the mold I have for 405 grain 458 bullet to make bullets for my sabots, I generally buy what ever Wally World has at the end of huntin' season.

I push the .458 bullet thru my Star sizer with my .451 die in it to make it the right size for the sabot.

I get a deer every year with those. Low cost and good accuracy.

 

Jerry

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Screwbolts posted this 26 December 2010

Hello All,

IMHO, Cast bullets in sabots work great in muzzleloaders. I have 2 molds that were cut for smooth sided boolitz. Veral Smith made me the first a double cavity 333 gr LFN .452. .320 meplat. My family and i have hunted 2 seasons with this bullet at 80 to 110 gr equivelent charges. Scores of deer have fallen to it. Most were shoot from Savage ML10IIs , I hunted with a custome Rem #5 Roller that I built.

My secound mold is from BRP Products, it is a 5 cavity version of his 300 gr. This mold I sent back to Bruce for a Mod that I reguested because of using it in smokeless guns. I needed the bevel removed from the base of the boolit so I wasn't blowing sabots. I harvested 6 deer with my 288 gr shortened version of his boolit. .268 meplat. This year I hunted with a my custom built Rem 700ML, converted to smokeless in 50 cal.

We shoot both boolitz as hard cast, water dropped WWs.  I hunted this year with a MV of 1850 this is real close to what 100 gr of BH209 gives out of my knight T-bolt same boolit and sabot.  we use HSB sabots exclusivly. :cba:

 

Ken

Central NY

PS: i had to make a new login, my old puter died yesterday and this blasted thing wouldn't seem to take my old, thought I remembered login. :fire "new computer".

 

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jhalcott posted this 28 December 2010

I found that certain makes of sabots are tighter than others. This makes loading with any old bullet a bit difficult. I size the 458's to 452 and they load a LOT easier.

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Buffalo Bill posted this 28 December 2010

If you are using a .50 caliber muzzle loading (ML) rifle I would recommend a nominal .44 or .45 caliber bullet weighing at least 240 grains. Further, as Tazman1602 partially suggested, use a fairly wide flat point (meplat) if your bullet is made of hardened lead. A wide flat nose assures lots of tissue destruction, which is what you want, even without lots of bullet expansion.  If your bullet is soft lead you can get by with about any shape of nose if the velocity is reasonable. The reasoning behind a minimum bullet weight of 240 grains is to assure the bullet holds together and retains enough energy (or momentum) to penetrate deeply enough into the vitals to assure a clean kill. If the bullet comes out the far side on a broadside shot through the lungs so much the better. It usually makes for relatively short, and easy to follow, blood trails.

This ML season I used a .430 diameter, wide flat nose, hard cast, gas-checked bullet in a Hornady green sabot. It was pushed by 100 grains of GOI FFFG real black powder. Of course, the quartering to me shot at a button buck at 10 yards was not much of a challenge.  I may try to see if I can recover the bullet from the dirt where it impacted after going through the deer.

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