zmason1002

I'm trying the bloodline bullets this year with supplied sabots. After a fouled barrel they are hard to load. what sabot would be better suited for this bullet. also the doe I shot at 100 yards it didn't look like the bullet expanded but the doe only ran 20 yards, and no blood until she fell and spit it out.

I'm using 90 grains of bh209. I didn't skin the deer or butcher it so I'm not sure what the exit looked like underneath but the hid didn't have a big hole in it. looked like the same size as the entrance.

hunters_life

The bloodlines don't expand, they split off the forward petals leaving the shank of the bullet to plow through. The petals fly off in 4 different directions destroying tissue and severing arteries. So the same hole size exiting is what is expected. Let me correct myself a bit, under very slow moving circumstances, they do expand without the petals sheering off but if it's moving that slow, it's doubtful you will get a pass through. Sounds like the bullet performed flawlessly as designed. As far as sabots go, my sister uses Harvester Crush Rib sabots with hers. She has a Thompson Center Impact and the barrel is a bit on the tight side.

GoexBlackhorn

Yep, switch to the Harvester Crushed Rib sabots.

sabotloader

The problem you have is the 275 is a .458 bullet and there is only one 458 sabot made. The one you were using is a MMP.

The way the bloodline works - is very devastating to the organs in the chest cavity and even the spinal cord. Had you opened your harvest you would have seen the damage.

The bullet is ,458 going in and .458 going out. But if you could see the core of the bullet after the petals separated the leading edge would have been very sharp and the concave cup at the bottom of the petals creates a heck of a lot of hydrostatic shock as the core of the bullet passes through.

Really should have had a heck of a blood trail ifn the animal was able to move away. Probably had a pretty decent blood pool at the harvest site.

zmason1002

I gutted it but was in a hurry I had an hour to get her and get her hung and didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it. I honestly think I left the heart and lungs in. I wasn't sure how that bullet was supposed to perform. She went 20 yards and dropped dead and blew a lot of blood out of her mouth.

I'll use these bullets up and then switch. Which bullets should I go with??

hunters_life

Were I you I would try the Lehigh 265gr .452 controlled fracturing. Lehigh makes the Bloodline bullets. The 220gr that my sister uses are .458 and even with the crush rib sabots they are still a bit stiff loading but they shoot extremely well from her rifle. I think the 265gr .452's would be just what the doctor ordered for you. You will still want to experiment a bit with different sabots to find the best combination for accuracy but with the .452 diameter you will open up a bit broader selection in sabots that you can use. I am currently shooting some of her 220gr .458's sabotless full sized out of my SML with pretty darn good accuracy out to 200 yards but after around 225 yards they start to open up in groups a bit. But 200 and in they stay within MOA. As of this season she has taken 5 whitetail with those Lehigh bullets and all have dropped within a few steps of point of impact if not dropped right there.

sabotloader

You might try the new Lehigh solid copper bullets. He currently has three on the web site. A .452x265CF-HP, .452x240CF-HP, and a .451x230CF-HP.

The new 451-230 is an awesome deer bullet - performs just like a Bloodline, but you have many different sabot options to make them work in your bore.

The 265 is strong enough to use for elk - probably and overkill for deer.

This is the 230... they are really accurate



This is the 265



Here is a link - but you can actually buy them cheaper at MidwayUSA

https://www.lehighdefense.com/collec...s/muzzleloader

zmason1002

Okay, thanks! The bloodline's I'm shooting now are pretty darn accurate, I think it was an 1" group and that's with out a solid bench rest, I was just resting the gun on a coat and my hand. How tight is to tight for a sabot? I have to really force it down with a bullet starter first and then using the ram rod its pretty hard. I can't load it with the ram rod after 3-4 shots I have to use a bullet starter.

hubby11

I'd say that's too tight. Generally you want as tight a load as you can reasonably get down the barrel particularly with BH209, but sounds like you are pushing the risk of damaging the sabot when loading.


I've been using an older Lehigh bullet, .452cal/250gr with 100-110 gr of BH209 depending on which gun I use. And a Harvester crush rip sabot. All pass-throughs, good blood trails, short runs.

sabotloader

What make of rifle are you loading? There are rifles out there with really tight bores...

With a .452 bullet there are different options with sabots that may allow you to load easier.