ORIGINAL: smokeblower
Hey folks,
I'm new to the site here and haven't been hunting with a muzzleloader too long, so it seems like I'm learning something new about this stuff all the time. I wanted to check to see what you all think about using 45-70 government sierra pro hunter bullets with black high pressure crushed rib sabots (harvester). The bullets are 300 grain .458 bullets and I would be using 2-50 grain pyrodex pellets. I probably didn't need the high pressure sabots, but thats all our local shop had. I was told by sierra that the bullet should expand down to just below 1200 fps. The rifle it would be used in isa Knight Shadow. Thanks for the input.
Amen yes. I am shooting .458 45/70 bullets in my Savage, the Barnes Origonal Semi Spitzer, with the same sabot your using, the .452 Harvester Crushed Rib. I am shooting it out to 200 yards, with a 3" high sight in at 100 yards. I am very confident out to 150yards, 200 I can hit but it is not as accurate as 100. I have also shot the Barnes TSX 45/70 Rifle Bullet, Barnes Part Number 45843, I got excellent accuracy with it at BP speeds of about 2000 fps. This 45/70 FlatNose (that is what they call it) has the huge cavity of the Barnes MZ and expands down to 1000 fps, and there is 100% wight retention and shoot thru, so in my mind this is one excellent bullet for aMLer. Here is my group with that bullet and the same Harvester sabot your using (I was using 44g of 5744 powder, which is about the same velocity as 100g of Blackhorn 209). I believe, Bryce Towsley uses that Sierra bullet in one of his MLers, he talks about 458 45/70 bullets in his MLing section in Rifle Bullets for the Hunter, A Definitive Approach. Get the book, it is a good read. 45/70 bullets are excellent in a MLer.
Chap
