Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Muzzleloader Hunting => Topic started by: Jburke on July 22, 2012, 06:34:25 PM

Title: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 22, 2012, 06:34:25 PM: So I'm pretty sure I screwed up. It appears I wasn't paying attention well enough when I ordered more bullets/sabots for this year. I will know for sure here in a day or two when they show up but it appears that I just ordered the sabots alone. At first glance the website description said muzzleloader bullets for 50 caliber. But after looking closer and the fact that it does not show what grain they are I'm pretty sure it's only the sabots. So my question is, what is the best place to buy only the bullets? Since I have all of these sabots coming I was thinking I might as well use the sabots and buy my own bullets seperate to use them up. Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 22, 2012, 06:53:24 PM: Or should I scrap them and send them back and start over. Lol, paying attention this time?
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Sabotloader on July 22, 2012, 06:57:31 PM: Lots of places to buy bullets, like White Elephant, Wholesale Sports and etc...

What/which bullet are you looking for?
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 22, 2012, 09:07:11 PM: Well I was intending on buying more of the 300 grain T/C shockwave's. Thats what I was shooting last year and took my cow elk with. If I'm buying the bulletsand sabots seperately then I'm open to suggestions.
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: RG on July 22, 2012, 09:50:13 PM: If those bullets shoot well for you then go online and try to find some. If you change bullets you will have to go through the sight in process again. It's possible your gun won't like the new ones too.
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Sabotloader on July 23, 2012, 08:59:07 PM: Quote from: Jburke on July 22, 2012, 09:07:11 PM
Well I was intending on buying more of the 300 grain T/C shockwave's. Thats what I was shooting last year and took my cow elk with. If I'm buying the bulletsand sabots seperately then I'm open to suggestions.

I do not believe you can purchase shockwaves separately, but they are made by Hornady and they will sale a full line of bullets separately. Other bullets you might consider are several different Barnes bullets, and /or Knight Bloodlines.

Speer also makes a .452/300 grain Deep Curl with a .232 BC - but they are very hard to come by right now. Everyone expects them to make a big run of the bullets shortly.

I do not know which rifle you might be shooting but if it is a quality gun and you have faith in I would bet it will shoot a wide sprectum of bullets. My Knights will shoot almost anything you can put down them and I do not hink it is just because it is a Knight.
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 23, 2012, 10:38:44 PM: I'm shooting a T/C black diamond express. Love the gun and it shoots great. The bore is pretty tight and I had ordered the superglide sabots. Apparently by themselves, unintentionally. I do still have some of the barnes spitfires I believe that I can use with the new sabots. Will using the spitfires and a different sabot than what they are paired with be a problem? Or will they work just fine?
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 23, 2012, 10:45:01 PM: Here's a related question for you sabotloader. You seem to know your stuff better than most. Can I buy a typical rifle bullet meant for modern guns and use them with a ML? If I were to get some that were a big enough diameter?
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: bobcat on July 23, 2012, 10:48:24 PM: It all depends on your rifle and how your bullet/sabot combination fits the bore. It won't hurt anything to try it. Sometimes the sabots that come with the bullets won't be right for your rifle and you'll find that you'll need to buy some other sabots of a different thickness to get the right fit.
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: hillbilli on July 24, 2012, 02:42:25 AM: burke in answer to your question- the 300 deepcurl he mentioned was made for the .454 casull. So yes, as long as it is the right diameter-.451,.458, even .429-for that sabot, and is a bullet made to open at the velocities your gun will produce- it will work..
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Sabotloader on July 24, 2012, 05:47:31 AM: Quote from: Jburke on July 23, 2012, 10:38:44 PM
I'm shooting a T/C black diamond express. Love the gun and it shoots great. The bore is pretty tight and I had ordered the superglide sabots. Apparently by themselves, unintentionally. I do still have some of the barnes spitfires I believe that I can use with the new sabots. Will using the spitfires and a different sabot than what they are paired with be a problem? Or will they work just fine?

Oh shoot! That gun shoots just about anything very well. The Super Glide 'might' be a little loose but I might be surprised, everyonce in awhile TC spits out a tight bore even the older guns. If the Spitfires are boat tails they may not be as accurate. If they flat based thay may work very well in that sabot.
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: RG on July 24, 2012, 06:34:02 AM: Quote from: hillbilli on July 24, 2012, 02:42:25 AM
burke in answer to your question- the 300 deepcurl he mentioned was made for the .454 casull. So yes, as long as it is the right diameter-.451,.458, even .429-for that sabot, and is a bullet made to open at the velocities your gun will produce- it will work..

Hillibilli makes a good point, handgun bullets mushroom at muzzleloader velocities but bullets made for rifles such as the .458 or .460 Weatherby are designed for higher speeds so they may not open up and give a good mushroom.
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 24, 2012, 06:14:31 PM: Hadnt thought about the difference in velocity effecting the performance. That's a good point though.
Quote from: RG on July 24, 2012, 06:34:02 AM
Quote from: hillbilli on July 24, 2012, 02:42:25 AM
burke in answer to your question- the 300 deepcurl he mentioned was made for the .454 casull. So yes, as long as it is the right diameter-.451,.458, even .429-for that sabot, and is a bullet made to open at the velocities your gun will produce- it will work..

Hillibilli makes a good point, handgun bullets mushroom at muzzleloader velocities but bullets made for rifles such as the .458 or .460 Weatherby are designed for higher speeds so they may not open up and give a good mushroom.
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 25, 2012, 12:24:45 AM: Yep sure enough. The package showed up today with just the sabots. Well at least it was a cheap mistake. Now to figure out what to do with all these sabots. So you think the flat based bullets will work better than the boat tail ones?
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Sabotloader on July 25, 2012, 08:59:28 PM: Jburke

99% of the time I am shooting a .458 rifle bullet during Elk Season... From an inline with as little as 100 grains of T&-2f powder - expansion id not a problem, especially with a thick skinned elk. You are shooting at or very near the velocities of a 45-70 rifle.

Here is a good example...

Shot with a .458-300 grain Nosler

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv130%2Fsabotloader%2FCompositCowElk.jpg&hash=c6816124be9de6db239fd879e916e9826f46cb08)

Here is the recovered bullet...

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv130%2Fsabotloader%2FCompositRecov-458-2.jpg&hash=d7743eed1510cba6a236ecc4ca63c2030d7e24c4)
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 26, 2012, 12:59:46 AM: Interesting. I think I'll take a look around and see what I can find that shoots well from my gun. Any suggestions on a good choice to start with? Obviously you have had good results with the nosler partitions. Anything else I should know or be aware of with starting down this route?
Title: Re: Bullet question
Post by: Jburke on July 26, 2012, 02:55:01 PM: Here is the response I got from T/C when I asked their customer service.

Mr. Burke—

Thank you for contacting Thompson/Center. We recommend our Shock-Wave bullets in SuperGlide sabots, but I don’t think you can get the bullets separately (without the sabots already on them). Theoretically, you’ll get the best accuraccy with a boat-tail base and “ballistic” tip, but in reality, experimentation is your best bet. Buy just the smallest number of a few types to try and see what works best for you and your rifle. Thanks very much, and have a great day.

--Kenn, Customer Service Representative

Smith & Wesson, Thompson/Center, Walther

1-800-331-0852