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What are some of the saboted bullet combos that White Rifle shooters are using? I've got my .504 Bison 1/24 twist shooting just fine with 460grn BullShops conicals but would like to hear what others are shooting as far as sabot loads. This is an elk rifle so I'm really interested in the heavy (over 300 grn) bullet combos. Thanks
 
One day for kicks I was shooting 300 grain Speer Deep Curl Gold Dots in a short black harvester sabot over 100 grains of powder in my .504 Bison. And at 75 yards it shot a 3+ inch group. I was pleased since I never shot sabots out of it before. I think if I played with the load, I could have shot a better group.
 
I shoot Barnes 250gr and 300gr MZs with the supplied sabots over 80-90grs of Swiss or Goex black powder with good results. Have not shot any saboted bullet larger than 300gr.
 
A 300 grain 45 cal. XTP or SST shoot very well with 100 grains of Swiss 2F and a BCR sabot. My son uses this load. Three shot groups inside an inch at 100 meters is typical if the barrel is allowed to cool.
 
A 50cal 1-24 twist is best suited for a 300gr or larger bullet. Even a 400gr 458 might do very well in a 1-24.

Personally, i would look at the 458s in the 325-350gr range that are designed for 45/70 MV.
 
Thats kinda what I was thinking. I was kicking around the idea of buying a custom mold and pouring my own,something along the lines of a 400grn flat point bullet. I've had good success shooting bare conicals and even paperpatching bullets. Just like playing around with different loads and bullets. I have a few Harvester hard cast 400grn that I will try. I just want a little softer bullet than hard cast.
 
I can only guess the Harvester hardcasts would do well and a softer alloy may even do better. IIRC there is a company that makes that mold with smooth sides. Its basically the same one than Harvester uses.

http://www.lbtmoulds.com/moulds.shtml

Just specify muzzle loading rifle when you order and they will cut it smooth sided.

MUZZLE LOADER RIFLE BULLETS

Our 44 LFN in weights from 280 to 320 grains, cut with smooth sides and a specially beveled base to slip into sabots, is an extremely popular and effective way to hunt with these guns. Order the weight you want and specify muzzle loader rifle. We can cut moulds of an weight and caliber you need for sabots.

PRICE: 2 Cavity - $125.00 4 - Cavity - $175.00 Shipping - $10.00 for one or more molds to any US address.
 
The MOST accurate saboted bullet in my .504 cal G-Series Whitetail is the original White 435 grain Shooting Star ( now Power Star) Saboted bullet. Pointed lead boatailed bullet that was swadged for white in the White Brand Black sabot. A very close second was the 375 gr Buffalo Bullet SSB that looked nearly Identical to the White.

These bullets were capable of one ragged hole accuracy @ 125 yards in my rifle. The White sabots were premium sabots as well, with petals that dis not go all the way to the base of the bullet like most. This was a big advantage for stabilizing big, long, heavy bullets in faster twist rifles like the 1:24 in the .504 cal, and the 1:20 in the .451 cal.

White Shooting Star (now Power Star) saboted bullets, .451 cal on left, .504 cal on right. Bad pic from the net, but I don't have any of mine handy.

images
 
Harleysboss said:
Are the power stars still available to purchase?

Not sure, but you could check with Steve at White Rifles. He had a bunch of assorted bullets and parts a while back. I am on my phone right now and don't have the contact information handy. You might be able to find it in a search.

Pretty sure http://www.whiterifles.com will get you a page with a contact link for Steve Brown, and I think that e mail address is [email protected]

This will be your best bet at finding anything for White Rifles at this point.

Those 435 gr Shooting Star (Power Star) bullets are worth the trouble to find, and should be perfect for elk.
 
Thanks Dave, GTK.

It's just to bad that you couldn't have gotten the old White Sabot Molds. They were the best sabots for shooting those long heavy 435 gr swaged lead boatailed bullets.

Those Buffalo Bullet 375 gr SSB's were also great shooters.

Glad to hear that you picked up the torch, and are running with it now.

Just checked out your site. The sizing pack, sampler pack, and 420 grain NE all are very nice additions, as well as your new saboted bullets. The Harverster Crush Rib Sabots are also the best the industry has to offer, IMO. The prices on your bullets are also very reasonable, as compared to what else is currently offered. Not to mention, you couldn't ask for better customer service. The last time I ordered two different weights of saboted boatailed bullets from the other guy, I got all the same weight, and that was the LAST Time!

Good luck on your new endeavor!
 
Took my 54 cal Bison out to try with some MMP 50x54 sabots using the Lee Mold S&W 500 bullet, 450 grns. My charge was 85 grns FFG Goex weighed. 50 yards produced a 1 1/4 inc 3 shot group. Took it out to 100 and it opened up to 3 1/4 inch 3 shot group. Didn't do any sight adjustment. Was about 6" low with a 50 yard zero, about what I figured. This combo loaded pretty stiff. Took some rod pressure to seat them. Wondering if the sabots designed for the 45x54 using a .451-452 bullet would preform better? Only one way to find out.. I may switch to 3F 777 and try that for a little more ummf.
 
Baby steps.........I'll see what the demand would be for 45 caliber saboted bullets. Probably somewhere in the 40 cal range? Anybody sitting on a pile of the old White Shooting Star 45 cal saboted bullets? I'd love to have one as a starting point.....
 
bulletbusiness said:
Baby steps.........I'll see what the demand would be for 45 caliber saboted bullets. Probably somewhere in the 40 cal range? Anybody sitting on a pile of the old White Shooting Star 45 cal saboted bullets? I'd love to have one as a starting point.....

I just checked my stash, and I have exactly 11 of the .40 caliber 350 grain for .451 caliber rifles, Shooting Star/Power Star saboted bullets left. If you would like a few, just let me know how many and which address you'd like them sent to.



They shoot real good out of my 1:20 twist rifles (White, Knight, and H&R .45-70 custom conversion).

Here is a group from my White .451 with Blackhorn 209, using the 209 primer conversion, leather breech cover, and safety glasses/goggles.
 

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Harleysboss said:
Are the power stars still available to purchase?

One point to remember - Power Stars were made by MMP sabot and they are made of the older, near older polymere formulation of the time. So with that you can collect some plastic fouling in the barrel.

Several years ago I asked Del to make a new sabot for shooting the longer 40 cal bullets of of today. He did so, and he tolf me he had the original White Star mold which used longer petals. So he used the Power Star mold to create this new experimental sabot. But, he did use the new polymere formulation.

I shot several of these sabots with 40x230 grain brass Lehighs the sabot didn't look that good ofter shooting but they were accurate. They certainly held up better than the White Stars.

You can see from these red sabots that use the Power Star mold there is a weakness in the powder cups with todays powder loads.

Sabot_Composite.jpg


But, they did far better than the original White Power Stars

Torn_Power_Star.jpg
 
That is not the same sabot, and I've never had one of the White sabots melt on me with any black powder sub, even Blackhorn 209.

I've had plenty of Cecil and Dels .45/.357 sabots fry with that orange polymer in the hot weather.
 
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