.45 caliber hunters
 

I have a couple older .50 caliber percussion cap rifles, but bought a .45 Traditions Lightning a few years back (10?) and would like opinions from anyone who has experince hunting and taking game with a .45 muzzleloader. I get great accuracy with Powerbelts, but constantly read about their ineffectivness on deer.

I have only taken 2 deer with black power (real black powder, not substitues) and a .490 round ball. Both were close shots and the deer went down quick with a modest charge of 70 grains.

My real interest is to learn about the bullets and sabots that are used with effectiveness from a .45 bore, modern front loader like my Traditions Lighting. Like I said, at the range the gun seems to be flawless, but I've not tried any bullets on deer yet.

All opinions are welcomed, as I'm new to the "modern" front loaders.

I personally like the .400 cal 200 grain XTP with the light blue Harverster Crush Rib sabot. I get excellent accuracy and no complaints on effectiveness on deer.

I use a 460gr Bullshop conical and 70gr of Swiss 3F in my .451 White Super 91. My gun has a fast 1 in 20" twist and shoots big lead great. Never tried PB's or saboted bullets in it.

Same rifle as Nim - I used the 451 488gr Bullshop w/70 grains Swiss for 4 does this year. One at 163 yds.

not much help to you as i have a traditions 45 cal. not to the range yet. i was told with the 45 cal. being a different beast than the 50-s that the 300 grain platinum powerbelts are supposed to perform very well. i have a 44cal. minimum requirement for deer and cant use 40 cal. bullets with sabots. i let you know next year.

Took two does last year with the .40/200 grain XTP in Harvester H4540B sabots over 85 grains GOEX FFFg. Two clean kills. If your gun shoots the XTP well over about that same charge of Pyrodex or Triple Seven, that's what I would recommend.

Thanks for all replies so far.
My Traditions Lightning .45 has a 1:20 twist I believe. I have been using 2 50 gr pellets of Pyrodex, and also using 777. Seems that the 777 is a bunch cleaner and accuracy is the same or better. I've not tried anything loose yet.

I've used only Powerbelts so far just b/c they were easily obtainable, but am perfectly willing to invest in bullets and/or sabots that are known to have good terminal results on animals.

Please keep any and all suggestions coming for what to throw out of the end of a .45 bore muzzleloader for good results on deer and other game.

Here's a bonus for you 8mm/06. If you ever want a great small game load with recoil like a .22 rimfire, check out the load on the target below.

The only thing is - you really need some loose powder (either Pyrodex or T7 will do). I got these groups with 40 grains and 40 grains only. The groups went to hell when I tried a little more and a little less powder. Your gun may like 35 or 45 grains.

I have a Knight Disc Extreme in .45, the best loads are 90-110 grs. The best shooting load is 100 grs. BH-209, 223 gr. platinum power belt and 209-cci magnum primer. The Knight also shoots the SST hornady very well also. Pyrodex RS would be my second choice for powder with Jim Shockey Gold in 3F being my third choice for powder. Shoot and have fun.:patriot:

If i remember correctly those Traditions 45s all had a fast 1in20 twist. Thats likely much too fast for any PRB load. Heavier conicals and mild loads of Pryo or T7 should be ok and 200gr SSTs with a bit more powder. I would try 90gr to start with the SST. That should be plenty if it groups well.

i shoot 90gr Pyro RS pushing a 200gr regular shockwave in my TC .45

Thanks again for all the additional replies. So far the gun groups unbelievably well with 100 grains of 777 from 2 50 grain pellets and pushing the standard 225 Powerbelt Aerotips. Three separate 3 shot groups averaged almost exaclty 1". I don't even get that from some of my centerfires, so it will be interesting to see what happens when I start tweaking the loads with loose propellant to fine tune loads.

But good groups don't always don't bring down game ... good groups from good performing bullets bring down game (as long as I do my part and shoot where I'm supposed to), so I'm perhaps even more interested in terminal performance as I am interested in groups. I'm interested in both and really appreciate everybody's input especially about bullet perfomance on game (in addition to paper punching).

I'll try some loose Pyrodex (have a big bottle unopened so far). I've been going with the convenience of the pellets just to get some experience with the gun.

Semisane, thanks for the tip on the lower powered loads with the 357 bullets. A question for you though. Your target mentions the MMP Blue Sabot identified further as .355/.357. Exactly who makes that Sabot? Where did you obtain it? And how much are they a bag of 50? 100?

I plan to look into the Bullshop bullets (already visited their site) and will pick up some Hornady bullets, both XTP's and SST. They have grouped well in my pistols and I have heard decent results about them in muzzleoaders with sabots.

Thanks again, and anybody with a pet load that has been performing good kills on deer from a .45 muzzleloader, I'd love to hear your load and set-up.

Sounds like you are on the right track. The 225 powerbelts should do okay on game, especially if you keep the powder charges moderate. But there are better choices out there.

I've taken 5 deer with the 200 XTP and 2 deer with the 200 SST/Shockwave. Terminal performance was similar, meaning very good. Based on my limited experiences, I would say the
SST penetrates a little better than the XTP, but the XTP opens up a little faster at lower velocities.

Personally, I think both are very good bullets and all 7 deer have been 1 shot, 1 kills, with all deer except 1 fell within sight. One ran 70 yards with an XTP in it, but that was a liver shot.

This year I took a buck with the 185 Lehigh and was very impressed with it's performance, but they are pricey. They shot about the same as the SSTs and XTPs, 1.5" groups at 100 yards.

I would encourage you to try out a couple different combos. Good luck!

http://lehighbullets.com/products.asp?cat=23

If your 45cal ML has a 1/20 twist, i dont think you will find a better bullet then these. I would use the 200grn for sure.

See the blue sabots here. http://www.mmpsabots.com/

You'll be surprised at how flat shooting that light load is. I did a trajectory study with two shots each at 20, 30, 40, 50 & 60 yards, and got this.

this is the first(and only) deer i've shot with a .45
entrance

exit

this was from a 1/20"knight disc using 110g vol. BH209- 200g sst
in a smooth harvester sabot ignited with win.209 primer........karl

I'm not really sure what the velocity of my Traditions Loads are. if I'm besting 2300 fps then the bullets you linked here should work. Anybody know the veloctiy of my Traditions Loads when using 100 gr of 777 and pushing these 225 Powerbelts? Or with 275 gr Powerbelts? Or 100 gr of Pyro?

You dont need the velocity with a 1/20 twist. 100grns of 777 is just fine.

So the sentence in CAPS on the Lehigh site that refers to using thier 200 grain bulletts only if you are achieving 2300 fps or better won't apply to my gun because the 1:20 twist will stabilize the bullet in flight? AND a velocity under 2300 fps will still allow the bullet to mushroom or perform properly? Good to know, if that is the case.

But just for curiousitiy, since I don't have a chronograph, does anyone know, or know of a link, that spells out common velocities for 100 grains of Pyro pushing a 200 grain Lehigh out of a traditions 28" barrel with a 1:20 twist? A ballpark would be nice to give me a starting idea.

Yes, the faster twist you have should (in theory) stabilize the Lehigh with lower velocities. You can buy a sample pack to try out for sure. With 100 grains Pyro the bullet should still work properly at normal ML ranges.

With 100 grains T7 loose, that bullet should be moving in the 2,000 fps range. Pyro is not as powerful, I'd estimate 1,850 - 1,950 fps with 100 grains loose Pyro. Just an estimate.

oldsmellhound,
Thanks for the info. This gives me more options now for the search for a decenlty accurate round that has a performance history.
Thanks