Hello all,

After a month of research and lurking in these forums, I finally decided on and purchased a used White Model 97 off gunbroker.com. I'll be whitetail hunting in Virginia this November, which should give me enough time to become familiar with the rifle as well as hopefully gain some proficiency with it.

I do have a few questions that I was hoping I could get some advice about:
[ol][*]For deer hunting, can anyone recommend a good bullet to get started with? I'll probably be using whatever #11 primers I can get locally to avoid the hazmat fee and 2 50 grain pyrodex pellets. While loose powder is clearly more cost effective, I really don't know what I'm doing (or what equipment I'll need) and the pellets offer at least simplicity for the cost. Also, I believe that everyone in my group will be using those pellets as well. The guys I'm hunting with use 245gr PowerBelt bullets in both a CVA HunterBolt and a T/C Omega, but it seems like most White owners use much heavier bullets. I was thinking about ordering those White PowerPunch conicals, but how do I know what weight is best for my rifle and hunting application?[*]Can someone please educate me about the differences between using sabots and regular bullets? Is one preferred over the other for deer hunting?[*]I believe I read here that the 209 conversion kits often perform worse than the primer the rifle was initially designed for. Would it be safe to assume that this is indeed the case for my M97? Even though I'd be the odd man out with the #11s, I like the idea of not needing to buy a $50 conversion kit.
[/ol] Thanks in advance,
Dave