traditions pursuit sabot suggestions.

[oakave84]

First post, came to this site to ask the pros! Over the last few years I haven't been real pleased with the mushrooming of my sabots (little to no blood, no knockdown power) Fortunately I haven't lost any deer and have made good shots. I'm looking to switching to a hollow point of some sort. I have shot all of my deer with shockwaves and Hornady sst's. I bought some barnes expanders last year to try but couldn't get them down the barrel, way way too tight. Any help is appreciated. If you are wondering i'm shooting 2 pellets of triple 7 powder and use shotgun primers. Weapon of choice is a Traditions Pursuit

Thanks!

 

[Jackalope]

I'm guessing you're shooting a .50. Try some Hornady XTP's or Speer Gold Dots in a Harvester or MMP sabot. I've been using the 300gr Speer Gold Dots in my T/C Omega with the Harvester Crush Rib Sabot, and love them.

 

[GM54-120]

Off the shelf stuff...Try the Hornady American Whitetail with the red 3 petal sabot.
https://www.cabelas.com/product/sho...il-muzzleloading-sabots/2248850.uts?slotId=14

You can buy the same sabot directly from MMP but its black. Its called the 3P-EZ sabot. Use them with the Barnes you bought. The other option is the Harvester Black Crushrib. Even Cabelas should stock those in 50 packs. Traditions bores are often tight and smaller OD sabots are gunna load much easier. The Barnes Expander MZ comes with the MMP HPH-12 which is larger.
https://mmpsabots.com/store/black-3petal-ez50-pcs/
https://www.cabelas.com/product/sho...sh-rib-caliber-sabots-per/740770.uts?slotId=0

If you want a really good bullet to try. The Barnes 45LC 225gr XPB. It wont beat you up as much as the heavier bullets and will expand great with lower velocity loads. Just match it with one of the sabots i listed.

 

[Busta]

How old are your pellets? Even a brand new box, 2 Triple Se7en pellets is only the equivalent of 80-85 grains loose Triple Se7en it Blackhorn 209. If the pellets are a year old, because nobody wants to throw them out, your charge might be much less in velocity. Pellets start absorbing as soon as they are put in the box, because the box itself is not sealed. They wrap a partial piece of shrink wrap to keep the box closed, but it doesn't seal out moisture. The best thing you can do for pellets, is vacuum seal them as soon as you buy them, and make sure you are getting new stock that was just made. Lots of places have pellets sitting on shelves for years.

How far are you shooting your animals?

I ask, because I have liked in the neighborhood of 40-50 animals with all varieties of Shockwaves, SST's, and FTX's. That includes all the .50 cal saboted 200, 250, & 300 grain Shockwaves and SST's. The .45 cal 200 grain shockwave and SST. 265 grain FTX in Harvester green crush ribbed sabot. 20 ga 250 grain SST, and 250 grain FTX in .450 Bushmaster. Never had one travel over 60 yards, and several DRT. From 15 yards to 115 yards, and never had one that I considered a failure. All showed signs of expansion, none penciled through or grenaded. No deer lost.

Not saying they are the best bullet, but all were through the boiler room with load's to do the job.



All pass throughs, but one 200 grain on a mature whitetail at 115 yards. Black Mag'3 powder. Bullet punched through both shoulders and was found under the hide in the off side shoulder. IIRC, it was 135 grains. Bullet below.







My Optima Pistol even puts them down quick with 80 grains by VOLUME Blackhorn 209 under the 200 grain Shockwave, 1510 FPS @ 10' from the muzzle. Shots kept under 75 yards with clear evidence of expansion on the exits. I documented this one from the first year @ 65 yards. Traveled approximately 25 yards after the shot, and was graveyard dead when he flipped over backwards. One of the quickest kills I've ever witnessed, bow or gun.






Blood trail.



Entrance .40 cal.



Internal damage. Plumbing from the top of the heart pulled into the exit.



Exit is over 2x caliber, .80+ cal.




Works for me!

 

[chubby ninja]

since you didn't specify cal. I'll assume 50 .Try the Hornady XTP. Harvested probably a dozen whitetails with em .
I can't recall a wounding loss or a super long blood trail.animals typically drop in sight. I've started using a high shoulder aiming point. Usually results in a bang flop. { gotta love a 2 ft. blood trail}Btw welcome

 

[oakave84]

yes, sorry .50 cal. Thanks for the input, . Ive harvested 4 bucks and 5 does with that set up and they have all been 60-110 yards, and ya the powder is was pri a year or two old, i'll try the vacuum seal trick, that's a good idea. Since I still have a box of barnes expanders and 4-5 shockwaves ill try that route with the harvesters or other sabots listed, thanks a bunch guys.

 

[ShawnT]

I had an issue wit the SST/Shockwaves and so did my Nephew. Both rifles shot 2 pellet loads (Me Pyro and him 777). Both of us had No expansion issues. Now in reading about the good and bad with these bullets it came down to 2 pellet loads Just does not push the bullet fast enough for reliable expansion. Switch over to loose powder in the 100gn range and all reports were reliable expansion. In some cases the EZload sabots also contributed to the problems. Probably lower velocity due to less friction. I tried to get my Nephew to switch over to loose powder with the bullet but he did not want to, so We switched his load over to the same 2 Pellet 777 load with a Crushrib sabot and 300gn XTP. The Rifle loved it and the deer did not. He got great accuracy, Great expansion on Deer out to 175 yards so he was a Happy camper.

As I think busta already mentioned those Pellets are not in a sealed box, so if those are 1 or 2 years old toss them and get fresh. At the end of the season Vacuum pack them. I have had issue with groups getting way big and old pellets were the issue. I switched to all loose powder several years ago.

I too use the 250gn FTX in a 450 Bushmaster and it really expands in that rifle but velocity is quite a bit more than your 2 pellet load would be.

 

[Neumonic]

My Traditions Pursuit UL likes Barnes 250 grain TE-Z bullets, I can use the expanders but only on the first shot then diff to load unless cleaned in between shots. I have used the Harvester crushed rib with the expanders with good results.
I eventually switched away from the pellets to Blackhorn 209 to help with a cleaner burn to make follow up shots easier to load.

 

[JimG]

I own a Traditions Canyon. It's a 24" barreled Pursuit for all intents and purposes. I get great accuracy from T7 primer, 2 50gr Pyrodex pellets, and either a 240gr XTP or a 250gr XTP, both with the supplied sabots. Expansion out to 100 or so yards is great on deer sized game. I imagine a 150 gr load could stretch that out much farther.

 

[Magoo52_49]

The red sabot as supplied with the sst seems to be the answer for me. Ive tried crushribs abd just cant seem to get consistent accuracy, particularly building up a load for the harvester pt gold 300gr.tryed some red sabotes i robbed off sst with 110gr bh209, 3 shot group immidiately shrunk to 1.5”. That was off a crappy rest. 250 sst’s have ranged from 1.5 to 2 in with 110gr bh209. 3 777 pellets produced sim results.

 

[oakave84]

Thought id check in with what i ended up going with. Bought some harvester crush rib sabots and paired that with my barnes expanders. Went down the barrel like butter and had 1" groups out to 100 yards. I hunted the first day of late muzzleloader in iowa (December 23) and shot this good buck at 125 yards. 2 pellets of triple 7, 250 grain barnes expander with harvester crush rib sabot. Hit him perfect and the buck only went 50 yards and piled up. i saw him go down so didn't need to blood trail him but did it anyway. The expanders put a hurt on him, lots of blood. Way more than any other muzzleloader deer i i have shot with the shockwaves and hornady sst's. Thanks for the info on here, you guys get the assist!