I' m fairly new to the smoke pole thing but am very curious as to why a lot of folks on this forum prefer the 300+ gr bullets. I admit I don' t know squat about MLers but am pretty up on my centerfire knowledge. So, why is the preference for heavy bullets? I' ve been shooting 240gr XTP sabots and was considering going to the 180gr this season. Please enlighten me on the benefits of using 350gr sabots instead of 240s (besides the obvious more mass=more knockdown energy).

Ozark

It all depends on what your gun & shoulder like & what you' re huntin' .

Most better-name 1-28" twist rifles will shoot a variety of grains well. I prefer a high b.c. spitzer/boattail bullet around 240-275 grains when I' m hunting deer on ridges & open lots & a blunt-nose one around 350 grains when hunting thicker quarters.

I do have heavy boattails (375 Buffalo S.S.Bs) that my Omega likes, but I' m saving them for another day -- on another hunt for bigger game.

My rifle uses the 300 grain conicals because that is what it shoots the best. It also shoots the large conicals very well. I also found in the deer that were shot with the 300 grain conicals, that they dropped where they stood. Although I am a roundball shooter also. The .54 caliber shoots a 230 grain ball I believe, and the .50 shoots a 179 grain.

My new CVA Stalker in .54 caliber shoots roundballs with exceptional accuracy. With it, 50 yards and under are just a ragged hole in the targets in most cases.

The few times I shot sabots, I admit they shot well. I even shot a deer with a sabot a few years back, but for some reason I got no expansion. I got the deer but it ran almost 100+ yards before it died.

I' m not really sure what your question is, but if you operate in the same envelope as the .45-70 Government, similar weights are natural.

Heavier bullets are longer bullets-- higher BC' s as a direct result.