Chap I can not see a single reason why the hardness of a bullet would have anything to do with a bullet that was shot in a sabot?? I do not get that one. I have shot a lot of cast lead bullets from a MZ. Both saboted, and conicals. I have always used straight WW in all my casting(except for roundballs in my flinter). I am just not sure why you would consider hardness as a factor in a sabot?? Tom.