Bullets for my .45 ACP in .50 muzzle loaders

[atomd]

I have a variety of bullets sitting around for .45 acp pistol shooting that I was thinking of using in my muzzle loader. I also have a bunch of spare .45 sabots as well. I would normally use a different bullet I have on hand...but how would for example, some saboted .451 230 grain hornady xtp bullets fare? The 240 and 300 grain xtps are pretty popular.

Heck, Hornady even sells packs of their 180 grain bullets in sabots ready to go..but they skip over the 230 grain. There's not even 1 mention of the 230 grain bullets when it comes to muzzle loaders anywhere that I can find. Why is that?

 

[BlackNet]

can always use a thick enough patch to fill the gap.

 

[RSVP2RIP]

because if you look in the Hornady catalog, the velocity range that will work for the 230gr. XTP is 800 to about 1250fps. The 250gr XTP is 800 to 1600fps. The 180gr bullet (which is .430" diameter same for the 200gr in the sabots) is 750 to 1400fps. If you shot the 230gr. bullet which was designed for the 45acp it would give poor performance on an animal shot at close range where your gun is shooting over 2000fps. At the other end, the 300gr. XTPMAG is 1100 to 2100fps. So if you're shooting big stuff at close range this would be appropriate. If you are willing to load your gun to shoot less than 1300 fps you can use the 230gr. for hunting I suppose, if shots are close. For plinking or varmints it would be OK though. Buy the way looks like the 180 and 200 gr saboted XTP bullets are not in the catalog for 2009.

 

[atomd]

Doh! That makes sense. I should have checked myself. I wasn't thinking hunting for the bullet anyways but it's too slow regardless. Thanks!

 

[Bezoar]

no offense but that would be great 50 yard bullet. hell, it would be good to a hundred if you could hit with it. The muzzleloader will always be putting more veloity on that bullet then the handgun would. simple.

 

[arcticap]

Buffalo Bullets makes a saboted 225 grain pure lead HP bullet that's slightly boat tailed and I use them for hunting.
My rifle shoots them well enough that I bought some 225 grain .44 Speer JHP's that I found at a gunshow.
There's not much of a weight difference between a 225, 230 and a 240 grain bullet.
And I'm not sure how a jacketed HP could be any worse than a pure lead hollow point.
For comparison, a .530 lead round ball weighs 223 grains and performs great .

 

[RSVP2RIP]

The hollow point on the 230gr 45acp bullets are absolutely cavernous! I don't have an XTP bullet in front of me but a 230 gr. Speer Gold Dot is .220" at the mouth and .280" deep. The hollow point on all the lead BP saboted .451" bullets I've seen are nowhere near as large. I don't think "bullet blowup" is an issue here like shooting a hornet bullet out of a 220 swift. It's an on target performance thing. If you're shooting paper, the bullet's expansion characteristics don't matter.