Got an email from Lehigh Dave today... He got a wild hair and ran a couple of NEW bullets yesterday in his plant. I wish I knew more about CNC lathes - but he set up a program to run two different bullets plugged it in to the CNC and when he came back he had two prototypes for testing,
1. A new .452x245 gr. Controlled Fracturing bullet for muzzleloaders with the sabot of your choice to fit your rifle.
2. A .500x260 gr. Sabotless bullet. It should possible fit the newer tighter bore CVA-Knight-TC. It will probably be to loose in the White 504's or the older Knight rifles.
Benefits of this bullet is that it should open at lower velocities when it contacts a liquid environment. So shooting extended ranges or even reduced powder loads should allow the bullet to open and break off the petals.
The real problem with the sabotless bullets is that there really is not a spec for a 50 cal, barrel that manufactures have to follow, In fact as we are finding out on this forum the barrels can vary in diameter up and down the bore and still pass and qualify as an excellent ML bore. Sabots cover up a lot of the different size bores on the market. So making a universal sabotless becomes somewhat difficult.
I am hoping to get a few of each for testing.
