Hey guys, I've been away from the board for a while due to having too many irons in the fire. I still have too many irons, but not as many as the last couple years.
Anyway, muzzleloading season is coming up in my state, and I generally carry a 44cal (actually 45cal) 1858 repro as a backup. My state laws, say any caliber can be carried as a backup, but for "taking game" must fire a 200+ grain conical to be legal.
Past years I've used the molds for my 45 handguns (.452) and cast from dead soft lead. However even with the size of the bullets being smaller than the round balls, it still takes a lot of muscle and puts a TON of stress on the loading lever to load.
All that to say, I've thought of using plastic sabots made for 45cal bp rifles with either 40cal or 9mm/38cal dead soft handgun bullets, to make it easier to load, and still meet the state required 200gr conical requirement. The question I have is anybody have experience with this or know of any issues I might run into? The cylinder gap on my 1858 is actually smaller than the gap on my modern revolvers, so the risk of the sabot hanging or shearing ought to be minimal, if any.
Thanks in advance!
PS Mods please move to the appropriate forum if this isn't it,crosses several areas so not sure.