which bullet for whitetail
 

I've been reading and watching you guys on bullets. When I first bought my Mountaineer I bought some bullets and stuff but have only shot about 20 rnds using 3 different bullets. I bought a box of:

Hornady FTX 225 Grain and I have the TC yellow sabots. I mainly got those for just messing around.

Hornady SST 300 grains with the supplied sabot.

Hornady XTP 240 grains with supplied sabot.

my questions are.

Is there much of a difference between the sabots? should I buy harvesters or use the supplied?

Which of those three would you take hunting?? which ever one shoots best?

How tight do you seat the bullet on the powder?

I'm shooting BH209 at 75 grains in weight, I think I'm going to start volume measuring since its faster. I also have 777 fffg powder I can use also. I don't need a tack drive (would be nice) but I want something better than my shotgun.

Any of those listed will do the job nicely. I say shoot whatever shoots the best out of your rifle. As for the sabots. The only reason I use Harvester is my rifles' bores are tight and some of the sabots supplied with some bullets I cannot load. I use the crush rib sabots.
Pick a bullet and play with the charge amounts and find your rifles sweet spot for that bullet.

Myself, I prefer bullets of at least 250grs, so of your choices, the 300gr SST. The Harvester H5045LB with that bullet is what I shoot currently. Your rifle may differ.

Repeatable accuracy for groups does matter. It builds confidence. A good thing.

As far as the BH, hands down I would prefer that over T7. However again, that's me.

Unless shooting pellets, where you don't want to crush them, I've always seated bullets HARD on BH. Two handed hard and with a "thump". I seated the bullet in an extremely accurate Pro Hunter at 106# average, measured with a force gauge.

Just get out and keep shoot'n. It builds confidence

seeing how this is the inline thread, you should not use any of the above. You will need at least a 20mm FMJ anti tank weapon to take down todays deer!

:D

Shoot what is most accurate and one that you've had experience with.

I would not use the 240gr XTP unless its the 44cal. The .452 240gr XTP is a MAG and the jacket is super thick. They will be ok at high velocity and close range. Once the range increases they might not expand at all.

Out of the ones you listed i would use the 300gr SST and whatever sabot fits your bore best and shoots the best.

Harvester Smooth Black sabot for 45cal bullets 300gr and under might be a good one to try with the 300gr SST. The sabots they come with are MMP 3p-EZ and are probably pretty loose in that bore. MMP HPH-24 is close to the HSB sabot in loaded OD but slightly longer.

That was so very helpful. Im sure the OP gained a wealth of knowledge from your post.

Of those three bullets, i would take the 240g XTP hunting, if it shot accurate enough to suit me.

Measuring powder by volume is probably 'good enough'. However, i weigh all my loads at home, and carry them out in vials.

I seat the bullets with a 'thunk'.

If the sabot you have work, use them.










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Pretty much what Ron said. As far as seating pressure for BH. They recommend a fairly heavy seating pressure. If memory serves, they say at minimum 70 pounds. One thing you will want to consider for repeatable performance is to get into a routine on your seating pressure. A couple of ways to do this is mark your rod with each pressure adjustment until you find the one that is most accurate for you. Another is a muscle memory sorta deal. I "rock" onto mine but I am very tall and some can't get that repeatable motion to memorize. It's whatever you can accomplish to get repeatable pressures. You would be shocked at how much of a difference just 5 pounds variance can make in your shots. With BH, it can mean the difference between a "poof" and a "bang".

I forgot to say this is a .50 cal. Is the MMP- numbers a standard sabot labeling? I'm pretty new to actually trying to get an accurate muzzleloader. A couple years ago was the first year I got into it and I didn't get to go last year so I don't have much experience. Is there a place that list the specs of each sabot and part numbers??

The bullet we use in our T/C Pro Hunter is the 250 grain T/C Shockwave with three 777 pellets. If I had to choose from the three choices you posted, I'd go with the 300 grain SST. Although, depending on your powder charge, you might want to choose the 240 grain XTP.

I guess the best answer is to try out all three and see what shoots best out of your gun.