Your preferred sabot?

[Tim the student]

So, I got a new muzzleloader, and have been testing out a couple types of ammo. My shots will be limited to about 120 yards, and will likely be under 70. I used a spit patch (that froze damn quick) followed by a dry one between all shots of the same type sabot. I used 100 grains of 777 (two pellets that is, not loose) with all of them. Our deer are pretty big, but I doubt I'll be shooting at a 300 pounder. I'd prefer to kill a nice big doe actually.

As far as accuracy and ease of loading, I'm really impressed with the TC 200g shockwaves. I haven't read too much negative about their terminal performance. The first shot was with a perfectly clean bore, with a primer fired in it first, and all subsequent rounds were pretty close to that first one. I like this because I know what that first shot will do, and I really don't need a fouling shot to get it to where it will shoot well. I think I'm leaning towards using these.

295g Powerbelts group ok, and load pretty easy too. People either seem to love them or hate their performance. Prior to this group, I took the breech plug out and cleaned the bore pretty well, but it wasn't spotless.

245g XTP's group the worst of all (but not so bad I wouldn't use them - about a 2.5" 3 shot group) and are the toughest to load I've tried. People have pretty positive reviews. I pulled the breech plug and cleaned the bore pretty well for this one too. Not spotless, but not with a ton of crud in it either. To see if it was this bullet, or the bore for the difficulty loading, I fired a TC in it after this group. It loaded much easier than the XTP, which leads me to believe it is the XTPs being difficult to load, as opposed to a dirty bore.

So, of these, what would you choose and why?

Any others I should try out?

 

[627PCFan]

I used to run SST ML's with MMP sabots, ended up ditching the bullets and keeping the sabots. Now I shoot Speer Deep Curls with the MMP's. The reason I switched bullets was I was getting 2 45 cal holes per deer. Now I get one but massive expansion that I wasnt getting before. You simply dont need "controlled expansion/premium bullets" to shoot whitetails if your using the right velocities-

 

[47dodge]

my son uses the tc yellow shockwaves they load easier than the black.

I use 295gr powerbelt hollow points in my 50 sidelock with 90gr pyrodex

I have harvested 4 deer with this load..they never get up..I have shot ironsighted with this gun and that load and cloverleafed 3 shots at 100 yards

when using the powerbelt bullets if you push them too fast they will fragment. but they will do it once they have got deep into the deer...
90 grains of pyrodex is pushing the max for this bullet

Sabots in my opinion are good for the first shot..but a quick follow up ...that is iffy...My friend had a chance at a follow up after a miss this year,,well the saboted bullet just was too hard to get down the pipe, without being spotted

 

[Sauceweed]

I prefer the Barnes XBP 275 gr (45105) with MMP Black HPH 3-petal for my Encore. Another solid choice is the 300 or 250 gr XTP.

Chuck Hawk has some nice information articles on this topic written by Randy Wakeman.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/barnes_275_grain_bullet.htm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/mmp_3-petal_sabot.htm

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

My TC Pro Hunter loves the TC shockwaves (300 grain). At the range I can easily load 5 shots before it gets REALLY difficult to stuff down the pipe. The performance on white tail and elk is ridiculously good. Never had one go out of sight after being hammered with one. I load hot (3 Triple 777 pellets) magnum load since I have a 26 inch barrel. I tried the powerbelts (platinum) and the new FTB from Hornady and both grouped fairly well and did load quite easily but the TC shockwave grouped the best and hit the best out of a clean barrel first shot.

 

[Tim the student]

Has anyone used the 200g Shockwaves?

 

[WalkAbout]

Has anyone used the 200g Shockwaves?

Before I got my Savage 10MLII I used the 250gr Shockwaves with 100gr of Pyrodex pellets and a #11 primer behind them. They shot great to 125 yards and no deer I ever shot with them ever took another step.

b

 

[flipajig]

Im using Harvestor sabots witha 240 xtp JHP with good accurace im useing Blackhorn 209 w/ a CCI mag primer if I remember right im shooting 85 grn of pdr. this works for me dont know about you

 

[wombat13]

I've tried the following in my CVA Accura: Powerbelt Platinum Aerotips, Hornady XTPs (with MMP sabots), and Barnes Expander MZs (with sabots they came with).

The Powerbelts grouped poorly (4 to 5 MOA), the XTPs were acceptable for hunting (2MOA), but the Barnes Expander MZs are amazingly accurate in my rifle.

My first four shots ever fired with the Expander MZs was a clover leaf at 70 yards. They consistently group in the 1" range at 100 yards and have put two consecutive shots through the same hole on several occasions.

The downside: they are expensive and they are tough to load. The crush rib sabots that Barnes sells load easier but they don't give me the same accuracy. I've got an Expander with the original sabot in the pipe and reloads with the crush rib sabot when I head out into the field.

I'll have to try the shockwaves before next season.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Tim I never tried the 200gr Shockwaves but I did try the 250's out and they performed well. I just like the 300gr more. I am in the "Better to have a bit more than needed rather than not enough" group. I would imagine that the 200gr would do the job well on pretty much any game in North America as long as you had enough power behind the pill. 90 to 100 grains FFG (or the equiv. of pyro) would probably be an excellent load base to start with. Sometimes you can over power them and they wont stabilize well. With my setup, magnum loads with the heavier bullets tend to perform the best. But I have a 26 inch barrel. The newest ones are 28 inch I believe.

 

[jbkebert]

I tend to shoot the T/C 250grain shockwave superglides. with 95 grains loose 777 and a winchester 209 primer. My encore shoots them very very well.

 

[alxshml]

I've tried the following in my CVA Accura: Powerbelt Platinum Aerotips, Hornady XTPs (with MMP sabots), and Barnes Expander MZs (with sabots they came with).

The Powerbelts grouped poorly (4 to 5 MOA), the XTPs were acceptable for hunting (2MOA), but the Barnes Expander MZs are amazingly accurate in my rifle.

My first four shots ever fired with the Expander MZs was a clover leaf at 70 yards. They consistently group in the 1" range at 100 yards and have put two consecutive shots through the same hole on several occasions.

The downside: they are expensive and they are tough to load. The crush rib sabots that Barnes sells load easier but they don't give me the same accuracy. I've got an Expander with the original sabot in the pipe and reloads with the crush rib sabot when I head out into the field.

I'll have to try the shockwaves before next season.

I have the same muzzle loader, The Acura, and mine loves the 295 gr aerotip Powerbelts. I use 100 or 150 gr of Triple Seven pellets and can put 3 shots in a 2" circle at 100 yds and probably better if I had a place/time to shoot more (Have only shot the ML about 10-12 times in the past 2 years I have had it). Killed a small doe last year with this setup and was amazed by the damage. Haven't tried anything else simply because I have no reason to.

But this goes to show that every single gun is different.

 

[shaggy430]

I do not like sabots and I DESPISE Powerbelts. I love the Hornady Great Plains Bullet. You should give them a try.

Once again, I would never use Powerbelts. They are highly accurate, but are far to frangible for hunting.

 

[47dodge]

The power belts in my opinion are NOT too frangible for hunting..4 kills on whitetails 1 neck shot..nearly decapitated the deer, just hide holding the head on...2 through the rib shots with no exit ,,but did have a bulge on the hide on the exit side...and 1 quartering away all 1 shot kills and they fell where they were shot....Just 1 rule with the powerbelts,,,dont try to over power them...in a 50cal 90 grains of pyrodex is about max..80 is usually better, this is for the 295 copper hollowpoints.
100 grains will not get you any more distance than you need...

I do not care if the bullet fragments , because it does it deep inside the animal...and dead is dead no matter how you look at it...

The deer i have shot with them have been as close as 30 yards and as far as 75..
But to find out what your gun likes you will need to buy and shoot many different type bullets, be it sabots or not.
That will be the only way...

I have sent more rounds down the pipe on my muzzleloaders than my smokless rifles. to find all the accurate loads..I would bet over 500 rounds through the .50 with different powder and bullet combos

 

[Tim the student]

Shaggy, why don't you like sabots? How much powder were you using behind your powerbelts?

 

[bucktail]

I've had the best luck with MMP's. When I was burning 777, my favorite was the 50/40 shooting 200 grain XTP's. Now that I'm running smokeless, I use the 50/45 with 250 grain XTP's. I may switch to 300's in this setup. They didn't exit on the last 2 deer I took, and one of them shed the core.

 

[IndispensableDestiny]

I use a Savage ML-II and am shooting 300 grain .458 cal Barnes Originals with a Harvester black crushed rib sabots this year. The Orange MMP sabots are also good. For closer in I'm loading 250 grain Barnes MZ in the MMP sabot that comes with it.

I have a bag of .457 300 gr Remington bullets that I will test for next season.

 

[shaggy430]

Shaggy, why don't you like sabots? How much powder were you using behind your powerbelts?

90 grains of 777.

 

[janobles14]

100 gr of pyrodex and 250 gr shockwaves are deadly on a deer. super accurate out of my firebolt ultra mag