Which cast boolit would you pick for whitetail in a muzzle loader?

[Barry54]

Lee C452-300-RF
Lee 452-255-RF
Lee C430-310-RF
NOE 452-232 (cup point 245gr or flat point 250gr)
Lyman 457191 HV

I’ve got some freshly cast Lee 300 and 310 I’ll accuracy and penetration test here soon. I’m assuming penetration will be more than adequate with any of these. I’m casting hot with a soft alloy that’s pretty lean on tin.

Do you think any of these listed will have better performance on game?

Have you gotten better accuracy with with one diameter over others with plastic sabots?

Does the gas check shank hinder or benefit use in sabots?

Less than seven weeks until muzzle loader season...
Thanks in advance!

[versa-06]

Sounds like you are shooting a 50 cal. They will all do the trick. But I prefer the 452 boolits. The 452-255 is a real stomper so the others are even more penetrating. I have also found the 300 grain boolit to fill the sabot & be more accurate. Just my 2-cents. -06

[ttd444]

my two favorite sabots are the 255gr Kieth-type SWC and 280gr WFN in .429-.430" in my 50cal inline. the 255gr is a COWW with a skosh of tin and 280gr is a Lyman #2 with a skosh of tin. 70gr of Goex FFg is the charge for both.

[MT Gianni]

50 cal rb will shoot through any whitetail. 90 gr FF and a decent cap and your set.

[quilbilly]

I have found over the last 30 year of ML mule deer, and blacktail deer hunting that if your ranges are under 100 yards, ye olde patched round ball works the best overall. That may be sacrilege to some, of course. If I need more range, I switch to sabot plus a 255 gr .429 swc. My load for either is 75 gr of FFF Goex black powder. The twist rate of your rifle will determine if PRB will work well.

[Barry54]

This is a smokeless unit I bought for hunting. I hunt the perimeter of bean fields and appreciate the extra range. I especially appreciate not having to clean it after cleaning a deer and before going to bed.

The molds I listed above are ones I already have and thought might be effective. If not, I’ll keep using the Hornady SSTs I’ve been using for years. Since I came into a supply of soft lead cable sheathing, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try some on game.

It’s been fully dependable with most all loads to 150 yards. The SSTs are accurate enough for 200 yards.

[versa-06]

Take that alloy for a test drive! You've killed deer before. Put the Ka-Boom on them. They will drop. -06

[Castaway]

My go-to is the Lee 255 gr RNFP. Shot my share of deer and pigs with it in my 50 cal muzzle loader and 92 Winchester

[35 Rem]

My current muzzle loader bullet is the Lee C430-310-RF in a NEF 50 caliber. It gives plenty of accuracy for as far as I'm willing to try a deer which is no more than 150 yards at most. So far have only shot one deer. Circumstances led to no blood trail and had to track it into a 100 acre standing soybean field, lots of fun there. It ran maybe 60 or 70 yards? Problem was that I didn't know which direction since it was on the opposite side of a fencerow when I shot it. Range was no more than 40 yards but went through rear of shoulder and out other shoulder real low so armpits covered up both bullet holes in the chest cavity and stopped blood leak. That's the best I could interpret the lack of a blood trail. I don't know what velocity I'm getting but using two Hodgdon 777 pellets (50 grains each). Alloy is 50/50 CoWW/pure Pb. Expansion tests with milk jugs of water at 100 yards showed expansion but not a full roll back. As a friend of mine who follows this board stated, the bullets looked more like a banana had been mashed up against a wall and flattened somewhat. Probably should cast up a bunch with pure lead and just barely enough Tin to get fill out but even without a lot of expansion, they will obviously kill deer well.

If I had the Lee C452-300-RF as you do, I'd probably give it a try 1st simply for the larger diameter.

I also have the Lee 452-255-RF, but didn't consider it because it doesn't seem right to hunt with a pistol bullet in a rifle. I'm sure it would kill deer perfectly well.

[Delkal]

I don't see what shooting a .45 cal 300 gr+ lead bullet with a sabot would that a Lee 50 cal. 320 gr real bullet wouldn't do. Did you try one? I took numerous deer with it and they went right thru. I only found one bullet. It was when I hit a button buck that was facing me in the breast and the bullet penetrated all the way thru and I found it behind the ham right under the skin. Four feet of penetration will get the job done no matter what you are shooting.

[waksupi]

Round ball works fine. Why shoot a load more suitable to buffalo?

[Barry54]

Why not read what I wrote? Those are the molds I have without buying something extra.

Plus I don’t recall there being load data in the owner’s manual for anything other than sabot loads with smokeless powder.

And why hamstring the tool I bought specifically to put meat in the freezer with a shorter range load when I hunt bean fields?

[Barry54]

I selected the hunting with cast boolits section for this thread. The “meatgetters” section. Not the black powder nostalgia section. I have less land available I can hunt this year and less time to hunt, due to having to work out of state.

I appreciate traditional methods, but it’s not priority at the moment. I’ve had this rifle over 15 years and have only shot smokeless in it. And I never intended to use anything but smokeless with it.

And yes I do have another muzzle loader. And I bought some genuine black powder this summer for the first time in my life. After the freezer is almost full, I may give that a whirl?

[Delkal]

Plus I don’t recall there being load data in the owner’s manual for anything other than sabot loads with smokeless powder.

I assumed you were shooting a standard 50 cal muzzleloader with black powder......So please disregard my comment.

[Barry54]

Sorry y’all. I asked about assembling tungsten loads before turkey season and got replies that tungsten isn’t needed if you are a decent hunter and so forth.

Here I listed the molds I have and would consider for hunting whitetail. I appreciate all the answers, but I don’t plan to or see the need to buy a different mold to use for this application.

I cast some 300 grain and 310 grain this past weekend. The wide flat nose seems like it would work. The reply saying that the longer boolit has more contact with the sabot and is better for accuracy is an example of what I was looking for.

I’ve read Keith style semi-wadcutters are effective on game. The additional conformation of that is helpful.

Do the Lee wide flat nose become unstable past xxx yards?

Is there a chance 0.458” boolits from the Lyman mold in the thinnest sabot is more accurate?

[Barry54]

I don't see what shooting a .45 cal 300 gr+ lead bullet with a sabot would that a Lee 50 cal. 320 gr real bullet wouldn't do. Did you try one? I took numerous deer with it and they went right thru. I only found one bullet. It was when I hit a button buck that was facing me in the breast and the bullet penetrated all the way thru and I found it behind the ham right under the skin. Four feet of penetration will get the job done no matter what you are shooting.

I used a T/C maxi ball? Conical on a wild hog in Texas. It was a smashing success! Over the years the lube dried up. The lead turned white, and the plastic package crumbled. The lead went in the mystery metal pile and I haven’t shot full bore lead in a muzzle loader since.

[Screwbolts]

Barry54, being you are using a wonderful Smokeless ML, I would suggest you choose any one of you listed boolitz that does not have a GC shank. It has been my experience that a beveled base Boolit or one w/ a GC shank less the GC, will allow the sabot to blow/fail in a Smokeless ML.

There are 9 smokeless MLs in my family and group of ML hunters that I cast for.

I have two smooth sided molds for use in sabots in MLs. Verel Smith of LBT made me my first, a BC ,320 gr LFN smooth sided. The very same boolit that Harvester sells with their sabots. Verel told me and I agree that anything over 1500 FPS is not needed. I water drop my boolitz and don't want or need any expansion. Even at 1500 FPS it will travel lengthwise of a deer at 200+ yards.

My second smooth mold was 5 cavity 300gr FN from BRP and is what I usually hunt with. This mold was made with a bevel base boolit and I found that even with moderate charges no sabot would hold up. I sent the mold back to Bruce and he shortened the blocks to remove the beveled base and it now drops a 288 gr boolit that is perfect.

I recommend Harvester short black sabots for all smokeless shooting.

Verel recommended Hard cast and 1500 fps, I agree completely with that.

We routinely shoot our guns for fun out to 330+ yards and know where they hit out to there. The longest shoot I have is on a big doe that was standing at 257 yards. Complete pentation of both front shoulders and eat right up to the boolit hole.

Good luck!

[quilbilly]

Now that I know more, I would use that Lee 255 RF with a sabot. It is similar to my elk load and longer range mule deer load since the twist rate of your rifle is probably similar to my ML T/C carbine. My rifle is certainly accurate on deer to 200 yards or a little beyond if the deer aren't moving, I have a very good rest, and a lot of time to think about the shot with my old eyes using the required iron sights. I use soft pure lead for my boolit and that boolit with sabot has been devastating on elk at 80 yards at an MV of 1500 fps. Some like hard cast but I am on the other side of the field. There are no degrees of dead.

[Delkal]

Just use the bullet that is the most accurate in your rifle...........

[Sam Sackett]

54 cal round ball in my TC Renegade Hunter. Dumps them down in good order. Never needed anything else.

Sam Sackett