40cal out of 50 cal

[Saxtonyoung]

I too have cut off pedals to use under full bore bullets but being being frugal I would do that with sabots I've already used which are really easy to find when practicing over snow.

 

[LBAhunter]

What's appealing to me about shooting a smaller caliber bullet out of large caliber muzzleloader is for the accuracy and less recoil to handle the required job. In my case a 225gn bullet started at 1900fps in a scoped rifle zeroed at 150yrd .The bullet travel is never higher or lower than 3" out to 175yrds and still has over 1300lbs of when it arrives at that distance which worked out good for me since I was deer hunting over farm fields when I had my bullet mold made. I picked the 40 caliber instead of 45 so I could have a less stubby bullet for the intended weight which I believed would travel better at those distances. As mentioned earlier I also wanted a bullet to work in more than one caliber and fortunately they make both 50/40 and 45/40 sabots. I also bought sabots before I had the mold made to get measurements on the pedal lengths to see how much would be holding onto the bullet. Looking back now I probably could have made a longer heavier bullet and still had success.

I agree, a 40 cal 225gr bullet has a better B.C. than 45 cal 225gr bullet. In my experience, the recoil was about same because 225gr is 225gr, no matter what caliber it is. Recoil is subjective, though. In my case, the better B.C. of 40 cal bullet really didn't come into play because the accuracy were horrible.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

I had forgot that I used the 50/40 combination in other muzzleloaders. The past few years I've had a fascination with TC White Mountain Carbines shooting several bullets through them. In case some don't know the early WMC were 1-20 twist while the latter ones were 1:38. Anyway my notes tell me in January 2019 I was shooting both twist side by side using my 225gn bullets with 70gn of 777 2F. Range was 25,50,and 75 yards and both muzzleloaders proved to very accurate with this combination.

 

[BadgerRidge]

Usually the thicker the petal, the worse the groups size when it comes to sabots...

 

[jsteurrys]

I had MOA accuracy out to 200 yards with both the 200 gr SST and 195 gr Barnes Expander using the MMP .50/.40 sabot with 120 gr of BH 209 in my old Knight DISC Original that was upgraded with a DISC Extreme Bolt and bare primer conversion. Never tried these combos in any other .50s. I might have gotten lucky.

 

[bronko220002]

. I do know I never got 50/44s to shoot all that well. But who knows.

Wow Diablo that's really hard to believe. I don't doubt you but I've had a bunch of rifles with a 1:28 twist that shot lights out with a 300 gr .430" XTP in a Harvester green CR sabot.

 

[ElDiablo]

Wow Diablo that's really hard to believe. I don't doubt you but I've had a bunch of rifles with a 1:28 twist that shot lights out with a 300 gr .430" XTP in a Harvester green CR sabot.

What’s your definition of lights out?

 

[bronko220002]

At 50 yards it will stack them and at 100 will keep them right around 1" plus or minus. This is what my Accura V2 gets a steady diet of. With 80 gr of Alliant Black MZ.
Also noteworthy is that the .452" 300 gr XTP and black CR sabot will shoot very close to same POI as the .430s and green CR sabots.
The XTP is a pretty hard bullet to beat for deer from 100 yards and in.

 

[white eagle]

why not a 40 out of a 40?

 

[MrTom]

In my Accura V2 I have to use black sabots and .451ish bullets as the green and a lighter Barnes won't cut it for accuracy. I can shoot a .451, 225 grain Barnes XPB in the black sabot like a darn if I like and very accurate....1" or less at 100 yards, but I hunt with a 250 grain Barnes Expander or an XPB of the same weight in black sabots.

The Optima V2 pistol likes the green sabot and a 225 grain, .429 XPB. The accuracy drops of when using .451/.452 bullets/ black sabots.

Different guns and they all have different likes and dislikes in what one feeds them.

 

[Ninering62]

why not a 40 out of a 40?

I love the .40 cal. either in sabots or bullet to bore. I'll have my second .40 cal very soon, this one is a SML. I'm stocked up on bullets & powder for it already.

 

[Decay]

Another bullet I had excellent success with is the Lyman 403169 sized to .400. With the same dose of powder. The mold is rated at 240gn but mine was producing 250gn.

 

[Decay]

Which sabot in 45/40 worked best for you? What rifling twist rate?

 

[ronlaughlin]

Harvester H4540B worked good in a 45 caliber Omega. Bullet was a 200g 40 caliber SST. Killed a pronghorn at 314 yard; was very accurate. Twist is 1: 28.

 

[Decay]

Thank you