Anyone try...

[jonk]

I have a rather cheap inline .50 made (or at least imported) by Navy Arms in the early 90s. 1:32 twist.

I've put the gun through its paces for a few hundred rounds (more than I care to shoot a muzzleloader I gotta say) and can report that it hates the Lee .50 REAL bullet (damn!), does ok for plinking with roundballs but not really well- no surprise given the twist rate- but really likes sabot rounds. 100 gr of anything- pellets, Pyrodex, FFG, it will shoot about 2" to POA all day long.

Now in practice this is ok as at my range I can recover the spent sabots and reuse them a few times. However I'm loath to buy the loaded sabot rounds (powebelt or what have you) for $15 /20. I have bought some sabots, just the sabots, no bullets; I'm thinking of trying a few .45 cast lead bullets in them in place of the j-word bullets; specifically a 200 gr SWC, 230 gr RN, and 350 gr FN.

Anyone every try loading their own bullets into these sabots?

[IcerUSA]

I think that if you look at the pakage the sabots come in they will say to use a 44 cal. boolit , with that being said I wouldn't hesitate to load a few and try them out as there are tons of 44 designs that would make good hunting and target boolits .

Keith

[jonk]

Well the ones I bought said to use .45s. I specifically ordered those as I have .45s on hand. Though I also saw the .44 ones.

[missionary5155]

I do not have an inline and am inclined to patched things... But why can´t you use soft cast boolits instead of EXPENSIVE J thangs...?

[jonk]

My question exactly!

Straight cast just doesn't shoot well is all I'm saying. At least not with the mold I have on hand. The sabots and a cast bullet seemed the next in between step.

[Maven]

jonk, My .50cal. Knight Bighorn came with 5 black sabots and 5 nominally .45cal. cast or swaged lead flatpoints. I don't see why you couldn't use home brewed ~.45cal. boolits as well.

[Underclocked]

You can go to MMPsabots and order sabots galore. Midsouth carries Harvester brand sabots and those are also excellent. You can get sabots to shoot .40, .429, .451, .452, or .457/8 in that .50.

You can even duplex sabots, using a sabot intended to shoot a .357 bullet in a .45 caliber, then fit that combo into a .451/.50 sabot. But that's a little crazy IMHO. :)

[mooman76]

You might want to try some of the T/C or Lyman conicals. I've never shot them but here thay shoot better. They have a little more meat to them instead of the reals with a small rimmed edge.

[ihunts2much]

I have an early 90's CVA with a 1 in 32 twist. Lee REAL bullets were terrible as were their trash can minie. It shoots patched 490 round balls very well on 70 grains of pyrodex RS. With a fast twist you have to slow the ball down a bit to get accuracy. It also shoots the TC Maxi-hunters very well on 90 grains. Never tried sabots or powerbelts.

[frontier gander]

Try a 295gr Aerotip Powerbelt, Those shoot under an inch in my brothers cva mountain rifle with 1:32 twist and 80gr pyrodex rs!

[Underclocked]

He's trying to get away from expensive bullets - not shoot even more expensive bullets.

[mikenbarb]

I use the Hornady Magnum and M&P sabots with a .452 and a .451 cast boolit with great results. The molds I use are Lyman 452460 and Lee 90347. The Lyman is a heavier boolit and im good with it out to 175yds in a M&P sabot or 200yds with the Hornady shooting it with 100gr. Pyrodex Select. Either of these are costing me around .25 per shot.