LAbushman
Shooting a 44 with a sabot from a muzzleloader is quite common. Really depends what the twist rate of your barrel is.

.429-.430 - 44 cal bullets normally have the higher BC - therefor fly a little better
.451-.452 - 45 cal bullets probably the most common sabot bullet combination
.458 - 45/70 cal bullets and sabots are also available

I am shooting the .458/sabot combination from all of my 50 cals. fast twist inlines and 1/48 twist sidelocks.

Plastic build-up can be a problem - but so far, 6 years now, I really have not seen a problem in my barrels. I think it all depends on how you clean and treat your barrel.

The plastic liner - (sabot) made by different companies can be different thicknesses so you need to find the one that best fits the bore of your rifle.

If you want to step up in easy steps you might want to try a PowerBelt bullet, easy loading, accurate but not as effective on game as I want - but really east to load and shoot.

http://www.powerbeltbullets.com/products.htm

Here is some information on sabots

http://www.sav10ml.com/pages/sabots.htm

Information about Hornady Products

http://www.hornady.com/shop/?page=sh...dc029782da9a07

Hope some of this helps