I have sighted in both of my new inlines with 245 grain Powerbelts.There are just too many bad vibes connected with these bullets even though they shoot really well.I have always used a 370 grain Maxi Ball in my TC Hawkins and I don't know if they hold together or not because they always blew through both sides and terminated anything I shot,so it really never mattered.I would shoot them out of my inlines but I have been hoping to find a lighter bullet in a conical,because I don't trust sabots.The reason is to get longer shots as I won't shoot the 370 grainer farther than 75 yards.I think they make Maxi Balls as light as 275 grains so if they do I think I will switch to them.Noone ever talks about Maxi Balls and I don't understand why.Any thoughts on this matter will be listened too and considered.

used the maxi balls once my first year of hunting and switched to powerbelts. Switched one year to great plains conicals and the next year i switched back to powerbelts.

Now i am using Thors but havent shot anything with them yet

I dont like the maxiballs performance at all

I have killed a bunch of deer with the 370 grain bullets out to 75 yards and closer.I was just checking the Thompson Center web site and it appears the lightest they offer in 50 cal. is 320 grains and I would like to find something about 50 grains lighter in a full bore sized bullet.Any sugestions?

They drop to the ground like a led zepplin after only a short range.I've thought about trying the Thor but it's a little too heavy.They weigh in at 300 grains right?Or do they make them lighter in a .50 cal.?

Thor makes them in both 250 and 300. With a 100gr BH209 charge, the thor only drops 7" low at 200 yards in my Optima.

I've shot lots of deer with Maxiballs, including the 370 gr/50 cal and the 435 gr/54 cal, both with 100 gr loose Pyrodex. My guns were Renegades with peep sights. Those bullets did exactly what I wanted, passthroughs on all but end to end shots. The deer went down quick and blood trails were always good. I don't know what anyone could find lacking in their performance on deer. I kept shots at less than 100, I think about 80-85 yds was my longest shot.

The 300 gr FPB may be worth a try. They hold together better than PowerBelts from what I hear. I've killed 5 deer with the 350 gr version, all passthroughs with good performance.

I'm just curious, what about the sabot do you not trust?

I shoot a TC thunderhawk carbine and have shot probably 70 or more sabot rounds without incident. But when I experimented, buffalo ballets, patched balls, maxi balls, all seemed to do poorly. All but the patched balls weren't tight enough in the bore (.50 cal), even with a wad back of the ballets. Mostly Pyrodex pellets but also played with FFg, various loads and combinations, having been spoiled by starting out my muzzleloading experience with a particularly nice Hawkin gun using Bp w/ patched balls.

Mine is 1:38, and 21" so I needed to drop down to 80g Pyro, versus 100 (2, 50g pellets). This helped burn all the powder but mostly helped with accuracy. I shot green sabots and Nosler .429 (.44 mag) 300g hollow points. With a 4x scope it groups about 2" at 100 yards.

I haven't needed a follow up shot, and usually have a cleaning routine with practicing anyway, where I always shoot from a clean bore. Maybe that's the trouble folks have with sabots. I have loaded 'em back to back w/out cleaning and not had any trouble I can recall.

What sort of trouble do folks have with the sabots?

None in my rifles.

DCM


Modern day sabots do not present the plastic fouling that the oldersabots did. The ne w polymere formulation has about eliminated that problem.

If you read the orignal post he ementions he was shooting vey old 'green' 44 cal sabots. Sabots that old were not meant for much of charge and certainly not the heat that T7 or BH would generate. That alone would start the plastic melting and the deposit of fouling - then include the velocity of the sabot up the barrel creating more heat in the petals - plastic fouling is going to occur. The best way and the quickest in the world is boil it out - pore boiling water done the barrel that will melt and dislodge the plastic.

Todays sabot is made of a much different polymere designed for the higher heat, higher pressure of the loads being shot today + the are more accurate than those of the past...

So shoot the heck out of your newer sabots if you got 'em..