1:48 twist vs sabot and bullet

[MrTom]

Its been about thirty years since I shot a sidelock and my search for a decent gun has finally ended. I'll be acquiring a nice .54 cal soon. My question here is, will a 1:48 barrel handle a sabot and XTP or Barnes style of bullet accurately inside of 100 yards? My experience with bullets in a barrel of that speed was with a full bore buffalo bullet that weighed 435 grains without any sabot. I plan to shoot black powder in this gun and will likely shoot the Hornady bullet similar to the old buffalo bullet if sabots won't cut it in a barrel with that twist rate.

Also, shooting black powder, what is the maximum load for a side lock in .54. Somewhere I recall about 120 grains being used in my old gun but honestly its been so long ago I cannot recall. Any thoughts will be appreciated.

 

[Idaholewis]

Its been about thirty years since I shot a sidelock and my search for a decent gun has finally ended. I'll be acquiring a nice .54 cal soon. My question here is, will a 1:48 barrel handle a sabot and XTP or Barnes style of bullet accurately inside of 100 yards? My experience with bullets in a barrel of that speed was with a full bore buffalo bullet that weighed 435 grains without any sabot. I plan to shoot black powder in this gun and will likely shoot the Hornady bullet similar to the old buffalo bullet if sabots won't cut it in a barrel with that twist rate.

Also, shooting black powder, what is the maximum load for a side lock in .54. Somewhere I recall about 120 grains being used in my old gun but honestly its been so long ago I cannot recall. Any thoughts will be appreciated.

I don’t have any experience with sabot/bullet combos, i know Sabotloader recently tried some Lehigh bullets in Sabots designed for 1:48 twist with good results.

If your rifle is a TC here is load Data from them for .54

 

[MrTom]

Thank you Lewis! Exactly the data I was looking for regarding the loads. Copied and saved. Now maybe Sabotloader will add to this. Hopefully.

 

[dbowling]

Before I had my barrel redone to .54 my .50 Renegade with badly pitted barrel shot 240 gr xtps w/green sabots very well, maybe 2 in. or less at 50 yds..
So I would say yours will shoot good with sabots if you find the right load, I was using 85 gr. of Goex 3f.

 

[Idaholewis]

Here is the thread i was talking about with Sabotloader

viewtopic.php?t=30588

 

[Harleysboss]

I have shot sabots out of my 1-48 twist 54 cal lyman trade rifle before. MMP purple 54x50 sabot. A short bullet in the neighborhood of 300grns, think 50 cal pistol bullets . I was getting 2" 5 shot groups at 75 yards, 90 grns of 2f Goex. They also make a 54x45 sabot also, its red I think and a little smaller in diameter for the load combo of bullet and sabot. They were to loose in my Lyman, slightly over sized bore.

 

[GM54-120]

I would try a MMP purple sabot and the Speer 300gr bullet. I have no idea if its short enough to work in a 1-48 but that is about as short as it gets.

I may have some of each i can spare. Im sure ive got 54x50 sabots and i dont shoot the 300gr 50cals anymore. I think ive still got a few of them around here.

 

[MrTom]

GM54....

If you happen to find something that may work and want to part ways with part or all of it, pm me and we'll work out the cost and shipping. Thanks for looking at this thread and responding.

 

[HC]

I put several deer in the freezer thirty to forty years ago using a 54 cal renegade with patched round balls. Aw yes the good old days.

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