p_ham
Well-known member
Has anybody shot/taken game with hardcast bullets out of their muzzy? I have some 300gr and 405gr .458" bullets I am going to try out at the range. They work out of my 45-70 so I don't see why they wouldn't work.
hardcast bullets?
- Thread starter p_ham
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MThuntr
Well-known member
If you're using the right sized sabot I don't see why it wouldn't work. The .458 bullet with a thick sabot will likely be next to impossible to load. A company called MMP Sabots makes an orange sabot for .458 bullets. You'll also want to confirm the bullets are, in fact, .458 diameter. Since most cast bullets are .001 or bigger than copper bullets the orange sabots may still be tough to load.
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Lefty315
Active member
I haven't but I've been tempted to pick up some sabots and try some. I think they would be quite the hammer on elk.
p_ham
Well-known member
Velocity I am not really concerned with, I have a self imposed 200yd limit with my muzzleloader. As far as expansion, not being a pointed bullet, the wide flat nose is how the energy transfer is made, rather than by expanding. Not to mention the (basically) 1/2" hole it leaves behind. I am open to suggestion of pointed bullets to use also, I am trying to find something better than the powerbelts that were suggested to me.
Deputyhunter
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I've used both .44 and .45 flex tip bullets with T/C magnum sabots. Very accurate.
pre6422hornet
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I have not used .458 hard cast, but I only use .458 bullets in my muzzleloader ( except for Colorado).
I run an MMP Orange sabot and either one of three bullets. 350gr Kodiak, 350gr Speer, or 350gr Hornady. I did some pretty intense comparisons side by side in 2015 before elk hunting in New Mexico. With 115gr of Blackhorn 209, sighted in dead on at 100, the bullet would arrive at 200 yards about 8 inches low. I ran Kodiaks on the elk hunt and shot my bull at 30 yards as he stood looking at me. He turned, stumbled 40 yards and hit the dirt. As I took one of the front shoulders off, I accidentally poked a hole into the chest cavity and it drained blood for a good 5 minutes at a rate you would have thought the heart was still pumping. The internal devastation had to be intense. I boned out via the gutless method so I never saw any of the damage.
I then took the same load, except used a Speer 350gr this past fall in Missouri and took a very big whitetail. 45 yards broadside and she only made it 30 yards before piling up. Golf ball sized entry and exit and the damage was just as massive. I will never use anything else but a .458 and an orange MMP. Except when law does not allow it.
I run an MMP Orange sabot and either one of three bullets. 350gr Kodiak, 350gr Speer, or 350gr Hornady. I did some pretty intense comparisons side by side in 2015 before elk hunting in New Mexico. With 115gr of Blackhorn 209, sighted in dead on at 100, the bullet would arrive at 200 yards about 8 inches low. I ran Kodiaks on the elk hunt and shot my bull at 30 yards as he stood looking at me. He turned, stumbled 40 yards and hit the dirt. As I took one of the front shoulders off, I accidentally poked a hole into the chest cavity and it drained blood for a good 5 minutes at a rate you would have thought the heart was still pumping. The internal devastation had to be intense. I boned out via the gutless method so I never saw any of the damage.
I then took the same load, except used a Speer 350gr this past fall in Missouri and took a very big whitetail. 45 yards broadside and she only made it 30 yards before piling up. Golf ball sized entry and exit and the damage was just as massive. I will never use anything else but a .458 and an orange MMP. Except when law does not allow it.
p_ham
Well-known member
Picked up some Barnes 290gr. Tmz bullets/sabots today. Will give report sometime this weekend. I'm ordering some harvester crush rib sabots for the .458 bullets.
I am not sure that they understand your question about hard cast bullets. Back when I cast my own pistol bullets and before you could by sabot bullet combos, I did shoot a few whitetails with a .44 hardcast out of my .50 Hawken. Never did recover any bullets, but killed every deer through & through. Considering getting back into casting my own for my .357 to use on whitetails. Your bullets should work fine on elk.
