New Guy Question, Bullets for muzzleloaders
 

Am I right or wrong in thinking I don't need to spend $17 or more on 10 or 15 "muzzleloader bullets" in (or with) sabots in the pack?

I have a .50 caliber Knight Bighorn.

Can't I just buy .451 or .452 caliber projectiles from Hornady, Speer, etc. and "sleeve" (is there a a more widely used term I should know) them myself in some .50 cal sabots bought in bags of 50 or whatever for $7?

Any help, information, or direction greatly appreciated.

thanks!
john

I buy all bullets and sabots in bulk. Its a lot cheaper unless you luck out on after season sales.

Any favorites? I see you have "a bunch of Knights".

One of my favorites you cant get prepackaged with sabots is the Barnes 45-225gr XPB made for 45 Long Colt. You can get it in a 250gr also which is the same bullet as the Barnes 250gr Expander MZ.

Another bullet i really like is the Parker 275gr Ballistic Extreme but its far more fragile. Its best if kept in the boiler room and avoid high shoulder shots.

I dont own any more Knight 50cals though. Mine are 45cal. I shoot those bullets in my Ultra Light Arms 50cal or the BE without a sabot in my 45s. I should probably update my sig line since im down to just 2 Knights now and one is just a barreled action.

Get some cheap bullets like the 250gr XTP first. No sense in buying premium priced bullets right off the bat. Get in some practice with something that wont cost you a fortune to shoot. The XTP will work just fine for deer too.

The answer to your question is definitely a big old YES. And the same with powders. Don't fall into the pellet trap with powder. Get loose powder and a measurer. That way you can fine tune your charges to what your muzzleloader likes.
As for the bullets, and I'm assuming you have a .50 cal rifle, you can buy either .44 (.429") or 45 (.451") bullets with the proper sabots separately. For sabot selections you can go to the MMP site or Harvester site. I prefer the Harvesters but MMPs are also very good. Depending on the tightness of your bore you can use the regular (smooth) Harvester sabots or if your bore is tight and you have trouble loading your bullet of choice you can use their crush rib sabots (vertically serrated surface).
I like bullets in the 240 - 300 grain range and my favorite bulk bullet is the Hornady XTP. I've been trying to get my hands on some Speer Gold Dots but can never find them.

Buy your bullets here: https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...categoryId/551

And your sabots here: https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...ategoryId/3402

In my LK Knight Rifles where are a lot like your Bighorn I shoot Hornady XTP. Now they are not a real expensive bullet but they shoot well out of my rifles and I see no reason why they would not take game. There are expensive bullets out there, yes. But if your shooting 100 yards or less and don't need the big dollar bullets, many cheaper ones will do the trick. The Hornady 240 and 300 grain XTPs are great bullets.

so glad I asked this question here. Now I get to shoot more often for the same price. thankya thankya

I hunted exclusively with the 240 gr XTP's in 2012. That year I took three good bucks with the XTP's between 70-127 yards. As for performance they work very well. I still use XTP's just because they work.

For several years i used the 240 grain .430 XTP exclusively on hogs and deer: That bullet performed very well for me. The 300 grain .430 and the two 300 grain .452 XTP bullets are excellent on deer and big hogs.