soft lead at 1500 fps???????

[jbtazgrabber]

ok guys i got a problem....im going to load soft lead <plumpers lead>bullets and fire out of my black powder gun in a sabot.......anyone done this???how is the killing power on deer??do the bullets expand???i use hornady xtps now and deer die in there tracks......just wanting to play with something else..i used round balls  for years and never had any expansion..and few blood trails .lost alot of deer .is there any advandage to using pure soft over hard in this case????jb

[Castaway]

I think I'd go 50% wheel weights and 50% lead.  You'll get some expansion, the bullet is soft enough to not shatter and hard enough not to expand too much, allowing more penetration than a pure lead bullet alone.

[Awf Hand]

You're loading soft lead into a sabot?  What diameter is the bullet that goes inside and what weight?

[jbtazgrabber]

i just got the bullets made the other day........cause of the ice storm here in ok.....im going to try them ..240 gr. 44 cal  cast of soft lead in a hornady sabot with 80 starting charges of pryo. in a 20 in. barrel huntsman ......i was asking if anyone has allready tried this ?jb

[jhalcott]

 not EXACTLY, but I have shot pure lead in several guns using sabots. I have also shot some paper patched pure lead bullets in a 30-06. You can get around 2000 fps with little trouble as long as the sabots are the correct size. You need to clean the plastic fouling out more often. You can cast those lead bullets your self and save some $$$.

[dubber123]

I would also harden thm a little, as I have shot only pure lead out of my .54 cal, (no sabot) and I feel they expand too much, limiting penetration.  This is with a 450 gr. solid lead slug.  I would guess your saboted bullet will be going even faster, and will likely mushroom out like a silver dollar in the first few inches.  My .54's look like half dollars, and I bet they won't penetrate well.  Good luck.

[**oneshot**]

I cast soft lead for my muzzleloader.  Get great mushrooms on the deer I've shot.

[wgr]

i shoot 45calxtp  bullets in one of my 50 cal. tried the soft lead and sabot   couldnt get it to shoot   went to stright wheel weight. and get great groupsdont think the soft lead will grip the sabot  like hard lead.  if you get a bullet with a big wide nose dont worry about the bullet expanding . you put a 44  are 45 cal hole through a deer are even and elk  hit the heart lung area and they will go down fast the mold i use is a 255 grain bullet made for the long colt. i think thats the reason you dont see soft lead bullets and sabots for sale  but you can get hard cast ones  just mu dimes worth  hope it helps

[jbtazgrabber]

thanks guys that helps ill try the soft if they dont shoot good ill know.........i shot soft lead round balls for years the only one i ever got even close to expanding was a 58 cal found it on the back quarter of a deer.it was kinda flatten but more oval than flat........never had good luck with round balls till i started  shooting the 72 cal. then and only then did i get results from a blackpowder gun that i liked..........but in my neck of the woods a deer can get lost in 50 yards .hit behind the shoulder with no blood............i know i lost a few.......thank god 4 sabots and quick twist barrels .......have not lost one yet.......matter of fact havent had but 2 run off they went less than 20 yards...........thanks again jb......

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive taken that one step furture. Ive shot almost pure (5percent tin) in mine using the lyman devestator hp mold. I shot a doe with that bullet and 100 grains of 777 in  a sabot. Deer dropped in her tracks the was an exit hole about the size of your fist and massive internal dammage. So does it work. Hell ya it does! I think that if i was going to do it again i would use an lfn or swc cast of pure or go with the devestator with a 5050 mix of pure and ww though. Just a little to much bloodshot meat for me like it was. Ruined the hole offside shoulder. But to be fair im used to hunting with hardcast handguns and it probably did no more damage then a 243 or 270 would have.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

1500 fps is well within the limits of soft lead performance.  I wouldn't harden it at all.

I've shot plenty with roundballs too.  For whitetail I can't understand any concern for poor penetration.  A .54 roundball has gone from stem to stern just fine.

I've recovered roundballs that look like silver dollars too.  So they expand just fine.

But keep in mind, my roundballs are starting out at 1800 fps.  Although I'm sure by 50 yards or so the impact velocity is much less.

Whenever the roundballs don't mushroom, I have long tracking jobs.  This I learned when I cast a batch from telephone cable sheathing instead of plumbers lead.  They were just a tad harder. 

There is a company that makes muzzle loader bullet of pure lead specifically for use in sabots - just as you are thinking.  Dead Center I think they're called.  They even have little plastic tips in an attempt to increase B.C.  I've heard nothing but good reviews on them.

Thompson Center offered a hollowpoint making devise that you put on the end of your ramrod.  Then when you seated your maxiball the ramrod pressure would impress a hollowpoint.  It came with .45, .50, and .54 caliber centering guides, and about 4 different hollowpoint style tips.

[jbtazgrabber]

my bullets i molded were 430 semi.wad cutter keith design.......240 grain.......i dont get much range time so i was testeing the site here.........looks like its a 50 /50 chance............i always water drop all my bullets so i bet it made my round balls to hard to expand...........i hit deer from 12 feet to 120 yards with 54, cal over 100 gr. pryo and never had a expanded ball.......most shots were 50 or under.......never had a problem with penatration just expanion.....and no blood trails.........this is the reason i sold all my slow twist guns ...except the 72 cal....never know when i might need to shoot a bullet proof vest wearing deer..the 72 will knock him down so hard he will get a concussion from the fall and never move......lol......jb