need help on sabots
 

i shoot a .45 caliber cva. i am using 100 grains of pellets with 195 grain aerotip powerbelts. i get great accuracy but the problem is last year i shot a doe at 35 yards, found no blood knew i hit her so i zigzaged back and forth found her. skinned her out shot her behind front shoulder. tonite shot a doe at 25 yards. found a drop of blood i know i hit her behind shoulder. did not find her and i am sick about it. wondering if i need more powder or different bullets, or is it just the 45 caliber. thanks alot

RE: need help on sabots
 

Well the powerbelts are one of those projectiles I read good things and bad things about. The .45 caliber is more then enough to take the deer down. Especially if you put that powerbelt in the right place. 100 grains of pellets and a powderbelt should have been more then enough powder. It would be interesting to know where you actually hit that deer. Maybe try some of the hollow point powerbelts. They might expand more, especially if your shots are close. I am wondering if those aerotips are blowing right through. Especially if you are not shooting into bone. They go in, out and keep on moving. Granted, the deer is mortally wounded, just not stunned.

Some others I am sure can give you much better information. I know the feeling of shooting one and then not finding it.

RE: need help on sabots
 

hunter brad

I am not a good resource here because I hate PowerBelt's and they make em right here in Idaho. There has been lots of stories just as yours about PB's but there also has been a lot of successful stories also. There really is such better and less expensive bullets you can use if you are allowed to shoot sabots & copper. The PowerBelt is built to be an easy loading lead conical. It really is nothing more than an elongated round ball and when you add the AreoTip it really reduces the effectiviness of the bullet at close ranges unless you slow it way down

Were I you I would get a boxof 10mm 200 grain Hornady XTP's and some tan 40/45 MMP sabots and shoot that bullet with your same powder load - actually I would shoot 100 grains of T7-2f loose powder. This bullet is deadly at ranges to 150 yards and if you can place it to 175 yards... If you are shooting ranges greater than that, then the TC 200 grain Shockwave will handle that but is not as a good performer at the closer ranges as the 200 XTP.

Just my opinion - I am sure you will get a lot of other answers... might PM lemoyne he has used both bullets lot on deer and hogs.

RE: need help on sabots
 

thanks guys most of my shots will be less than 100 yards. any more help will be appreceiated

RE: need help on sabots
 

If you were shooting 100 grains and the shot was 25 yards the bullet fragmented. You should switch to another type of bullet like the XTP that Sabotloader spoke of. They hold together at high speed.
Chap Gleason

RE: need help on sabots
 

If you like using bore diameter conicals, and being a .45cal rifle that's probably what I'd use, I'd look into the .45cal 285gr Hornady Great Plains HP conicals. They are all lead so they expand well. I've used them in .50cal and they hit like a freight train. They are also not too hard to load and I've had great accuracy with them in the past. A box of 20 only costs about $7 retail at Walmart last I checked, so trying them won't cost you a lot.

https://www.hornady.com/shop/?ps_session=b55f426125e2fc88dbb3f979daf63380&p age=shop%2Fbrowse&category_id=884508aa2c870cbe f2bdbf70a2869e97

Mike

RE: need help on sabots
 

There are severl sources for 200gr bullets including Shock Waves and the 200gr XTP if any of these sabots will fit your gun well thats what I would use. Thing are what they are PB's shoot well in many guns but are easy to over load I would not recommend more than 90 gr RS or the equivalent,this is what the co that designed them said they were designed before inlines were real popular and since they are easier to use than most they are very popular that does not mean that they are the best for some purposes; if you want long range flat shooting then they are not what you are looking for they do work ok for loads under 100gr RS and close range [up to 100 yds] that were designed with easy loading not long or good balistics or heavy loads in mind. Lee