bullet weight choice

[furchaser]

what's the lightest bullet weight would you use in a .50 cal for deer? drury brothers say they use the smackdown bleed sabot at 170 grains with great results.looks like 250grains is the normal size for using.

[Cabin Fever]

When I was trying to decide on a muzzleloader or had questions about loads, scopes, etc... I went to to https://www.modernmuzzleloader.com/  These guys are a wealth of knowledge. 

Edited December 22, 2019 by Cabin Fever

[furchaser]

thanks,i checked them out and there's a lot of info there.i added them to my favorites.

[Bolt action]

Here's another good resource:

https://www.chuckhawks.com/index2h.muzzleloader.htm

[sbuff]

I use 460grain lead  conical in my white muzzleloaders and a 300gr spear deep curl or 300gr xtp in crush rib sabot in my omega and NEF muzzle loader . As for lightest 300gr is the lightest I use . Drury brother I like but they get paid to endorse products ,I'd be surprised if they use that light a bullet if not on tv taping .

Can't beat MML forum, great site with no BS. 

Edited December 22, 2019 by sbuff

[airedale]

On 12/21/2019 at 2:27 PM, furchaser said:

drury brothers say they use the smackdown bleed sabot at 170 grains with great results.looks

I am not familiar with that particular brand of bullet so I had to look up the manufacturers lowdown on it, what is very apparent because of it's construction it is an explosive bullet and I can see it could be deadly.

There are varmint bullets like Barnes "Varmint Grenades" made in a similar way, I have the 35 gr 22 cal bullets, they are light for their length and I can load them to go well over 4000 fps easily. I think they are best used on varmints like Chucks, Crows because on impact they literally explode and so does the target hence the term "Red Mist".  Animals like Fox and Coyotes will sustain a lot of hide damage rendering their pelts useless.

The construction concept is not new, 40 or so years ago an outfit called Safety Glaser marketed a jacketed bullet that used compressed shot for it's core. It was mainly for law enforcement, especially for Air Marshalls that may have to use their weapon on a plane as there is no pass throughs.

I and a friend of mine experimented and made up our own Glaser type 44 mag bullets by using a propane torch to melt the lead out of factory bullets and packing number 9 shot the best we could into the empty jacket capped by some silicone on the tip. Ours turned out to be very inaccurate but the milk jugs and cans we did hit were devastated and I do not think anyone would survive a torso hit from one of those things.

Back to the Smackdowns shot from sabots, the 170 gr weight is no problem if the bullet is accurate and performs, like I said I think they could be very deadly but wonder how well that compressed core holds up and about their ability to get penetration, a hit on a deer's shoulder might be a problem. As time goes on and they get used by hunters the results of their performance will start coming in. Personally I would stick with something with a long proven track record.

Al

 

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by airedale