Lee 452-230-TC in Muzzleloader

[rtyler8140]

So I decided to try out the Lee 452-230-TC in my muzzleloader this year. I've had good success with 44cal boolits in a sabot, so figured why not give it a whirl. Muzzleloader season opened for us yesterday. I was a little behind the 8ball as our family has been sick for the past 2 weeks. I was feeling well enough Thursday this week to build a blind after work and was able to drop it off and assemble it at my hunting spot on Friday evening. I was able to go to a buddy's range Saturday morning to do some load testing and got extremely lucky. First 2 shots were about a 1" group about an inch low. I felt very confident in the load and accuracy. The load was 80g of 777. No hot rod, but plenty for my hunting conditions. I was able to get out to my blind at about 2:30p and at about 5p the deer started moving. At a out 6p I had a nice doe pop out from my right side at about 30 yards. She presented a nice broadside shot at 20 yards, so I took it. She ran about 40-50 yards before piling up in the woods. Overall I was very happy with the boolit performance and am happy to have some fresh meat.

[lar45]

Looks like it did a great job!
Congrats

[openbook]

Nice blind, nice bullet, nice shot.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Good work! Nice cleanup on those ribs!

[Good Cheer]

Well done!
Thanks for letting us all benefit from your experiment.

[marshall623]

Good shooting , it's good when a plan comes together .

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[rtyler8140]

Thanks guys. It's nice when things fall into place, even if it takes a little luck!

[gumbo333]

rtyler, neat little blind, you need wheels.

[Kosh75287]

ALL very cool! It would be interesting to know at what velocity that projectile left the muzzle. The word "ENOUGH" would certainly describe it, but techno-geeks like myself will always wonder such things.
I didn't catch whether the projectile went "through-and-through", or if you recovered it. Another "techno-geek" curiosity would be to see in what shape the projectile was, after it did its job.
All that aside, WELL DONE on your hunting and marksmanship! It's clear that you brought enough of everything you needed for this to come out very well!
Congrats!

[rtyler8140]

ALL very cool! It would be interesting to know at what velocity that projectile left the muzzle. The word "ENOUGH" would certainly describe it, but techno-geeks like myself will always wonder such things.
I didn't catch whether the projectile went "through-and-through", or if you recovered it. Another "techno-geek" curiosity would be to see in what shape the projectile was, after it did its job.
All that aside, WELL DONE on your hunting and marksmanship! It's clear that you brought enough of everything you needed for this to come out very well!
Congrats!

Hodgdon has some load data for a couple 240g bullets using 80g and they estimate 1600-1700 fps. I would guess I'm in that range. Projectile did go through and through with no recovery of the boolit. Alloy was 50/50 clip on & stick on wheel weights air cooled. Exit hole was about quarter to half dollar sized. Entrance was between 2 ribs, so probably not a ton of distortion upon entry.

[rtyler8140]

I was able to slip in my blind this morning for one last muzzleloader season hunt. Within a few minutes of getting in my blind a doe stepped out at about 20 yards. I was too busy lighting my propane heater and wasn't able to get setup for a shot before she moved along. I saw 3 more does up in the woods, but no shot opportunity. At about 9am I saw a buck up in the woods by himself. I hit the grunt tube a few times and he was curious enough to come out into the clearing. He presented a nice 50 yard broadside shot, so I took it. He jogged about 20 yards uphill towards the fence line. He stopped at the fence, looked back and fell over. Overall, I'm very happy with the effectiveness of this load for my setup. Took out the lungs and just nipped the top of the heart. A quick clean kill.

[SSGOldfart]

congratulations on both deer, did you recover the second boolit ? or did it pass through as well? quick question did you use any wad or patch ? How easy was loading the boolit?? thanks have fun cutting up all that meat

[rtyler8140]

congratulations on both deer, did you recover the second boolit ? or did it pass through as well? quick question did you use any wad or patch ? How easy was loading the boolit?? thanks have fun cutting up all that meat

Thank you. It was a complete pass through so no recovery. I use plastic sabots so the boolit fits inside of that and loads very easily.

[nidrab]

Congrats. Can you post more pics of your stand/blind?

[rtyler8140]

Congrats. Can you post more pics of your stand/blind?

[versa-06]

Nice set up!-06

[Tom_in_AZ]

I never thought to try a cast boolit in a sabot…not sure why not. I may have to give it a whirl. Good job!