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September 2009 Product Review

Muzzleloader Sabot & Bullet Combos That Don't Come Packaged

Finding that just right combination of a specific powder...charge...sabot...bullet... and the primer used for ignition that shoots the absolute best from one of today's hot modern in-line ignition rifles can take a great deal of experimenting. This is especially true for the shooter who is looking to achieve top end velocity with great accuracy and tremendous big game knockdown power.

Generally speaking, most of today's rifles are fully capable of getting just about any properly sized sabot and bullet combination to shoot well enough at a hundred yards to take big game. However, to really tweak the accuracy and punch that most of these rifles are capable of delivering these days, you just may have to play around with sabot and bullet combinations that do not come pre-packaged. Read more...

Please use this area to post comments or questions about this review.

[tomshack57]

I have a thompson center prohunter 50 caliber muzzeloder, I have tried some different bullets and powder, I bought the gun so I could shoot 200 yards acuratelly. I cant seem to shoot anything acurately. Has anyone found a bullet and powder that thier guns shoot acurately. I know all guns are different, but if anyone could give me some advice on it, I would appreciate it.
I tried shockwaves with a 150 grain triple seven with not much success at even 100 yards.

You can respond to tomshack49@hotmail.com


Thank you!

[saskie]

I had similar results to yours trying to get somemore legs on my M/L at the range and eventually just gave up. One thing I enjoy the most about M/L hunting is "getting close" without the all the extra hassles of a bow so I never tried very hard to extend my range past 50-75yds.

+200 is just plain pushing the envelope for a M/L. Yes "muzzleloaders" can do it, but not all M/L are created equal.

I've also heard that with Triple 7 you might want to switch primers to something that burns hotter (assuming you're using the standard Winchester 209).

I've heard good things about Jim Shockey Gold, but haven't tried it yet.

I went back to pyrodex since I couldn't get Triple 7 to pattern accurately at all and I'm only shooting to 75yds max anyway.

Might want to try that and just accept the extra cleaning.

[rodg04]

[JSmitty]

For me I through the sabot/combos away and went with the powerbelts or other full bore bullets -sabertooth I think, because I could not group past 100 yards.I shoot 2 777 mags and 209 primer behind a 270 - 300 gr bullet in a tc encore. I wrote tc a letter about longer range groups and was told by them to use 300 gr with 90 -120 gr of powder so what I found was the 777 mag worked the best at being consistent pushing the bullet at around 1850 fps. About the jim shockys gold, it is the cleanist powder on the market but I couldent get it to settle down, I would get shots at 1200 - 1900 fps so nothing was ever the same.

Last year october 2008 I shot a 5X5 at 176 yards, had a pass through because all I hit was 2 lungs and no bone but he went 12 yards and that was it.

james