Thanks, Sabotloader and Cayugad.

You're right in assuming we bought packaged bullets and sabots. He was still using the ones that were packaged with the gun until our last session, then went to another prepackaged lot, and I think they were Hornady, though I don't have access to them right now to check.

I told him of the info I had received here, and he was going to get some of the Powerbelts to see if they did the trick. Probably have some results tomorrow night if he gets off work in time to get a few shots in. We'll check the barrel for plastic fouling, but he said it loaded about as hard when he first got it, so I really don't think that's the problem.

I've never checked for different thickness sabots at our gun shop. I was delighted to find ANYTHING for my .58, and aparently got lucky when I bought sabots for it, as the fit was perfect. Unfortunately my old H&R Huntsman is a slow-twist (very old model), and didn't spin the sabots enough for good stability. Went back to patched round balls with it.

I'll check around for the availability of sabots of differing thicknesses here. All I've seen so far is the prepackaged combos, but as I say, I never realized there was a need until a couple days ago.

I'll get back on here as soon as I have results. With his work hours, I may need to take the gun and check out the loading, grouping,and impact point changes if any, so we can be ready for this weekend.

Thanks again for the advice.