sabotless pistol bullets..in a .50?

josh...just josh · 09-09-2010, 11:03 AM

I don't that any of you have tried this, but I wonder how well a jacketed .50 pistol bullet would work sabotless in a muzzleloader. I know that this is a fairly common thing with the smokeless guys with .45's, but i cant find much to do with .50's. I read where a guy tried a .50 300gr ftx bullet and got it to fire, but it was too loose to be accurate. He never did try to knurl the bullet to tighten it up though.
I'm just kind of curious if anyone ever has knurled a jacketed .50 pistol bullet or maybe even paper patched it and got it to shoot well. It would be a nice/ cheaper alt. to the thors, powerbelts, and pfb's.
I'm thinking that I might just have to try it...

Johnmorris · 09-09-2010, 02:52 PM

Yes I have tried it 350 gr 50 remington bullet in my encore groups were inconsistent. I even tried an under wad. They work great in my Lyman 54 1x48 with a 54/50 wad.

cayugad · 09-09-2010, 03:51 PM

I am not sure how it would do. I guess a lot would depend on the bullet and what it was made out of. If it was a .502 diameter we would call that a conical bullet. But a pistol bullet? How about trying a Thor or a Hornady instead. Unless your doing this to save money.

josh...just josh · 09-09-2010, 04:18 PM

saving money was the plan, but I did some more research and found that there isn't a whole lot that you can do to make them consistent. They will shoot in a tight bore, but a .001 difference in knurl diameter can change you groups a lot. Not worth it. I'm going to order some thors when hunting season is over