I've been getting good accuracy and velocitys with .40cal QT 235 sabots, but while it seems to perform well and creates a viscious wound channel, I don't think it "shocks" the deer enough. My shot this year was a thru-thru that liquified the back half of both lungs and the liver and sent bone fragments into the heart, but the deer still ran over 100 yards before it dropped, and it was a fairly small deer.

The other deer I've shot with a muzzleloader two years ago was much larger, and I hit her with a .50cal 460 grain Hornady FP conical in the same place. She was thrown back 6' and completely flipped over and she died where she landed.

Since a long shot in an Iowa timber is 75 yards, flat shooting isn't a huge concern, so I'm thinking about going back to the heavy conicals.

My question is about the need for a wad over the powder. My dad has used these prelubed Hornady bullets forever without a wad, and so have I and never noticed any problems (good accuracy, etc...). Looking at the Triple 7 load data I see that all the conicals are listed as used with a wad.

My questions are: Are wads under conicals really necessary? What purpose do they serve, since these conicals have an expanding base to seal the bore? The only reason I can think of is to prevent hot gas from melting the bullet, but that would be an issue with any lead bullet firing cartridge guns (which don't have the luxury of using wads).

Thanks for the help,

Mike


Gun control means putting the second bullet through the same hole as the first- Ted Nugent
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