bullets for sidekick

[kawie]

hi everyone im trying to cut some corners here by not buying a bunch of bullets to find what works.i was looking at the harvester scorpions(pt gold or funnel points) ive used the hornady sst in 250 grain with great succes in 3 other muzzel loaders.if there is certain bullet that works well in these rifles in general i would like to here about them.and for the record i dont want to hear about the power belts,i know some love them an some hate them i just dont care for them(really accurate but still dont care for them for hunting)i will be shooting between 70-90 grains of either tripple7 3f or american pionneer 3f.i really would like to here from people who have used the havester products .thanks

[OBXPilgrim]

Unless you just have a bunch of money to blow, why not try some of the .44/.45 sabots with cast bullets? 

They don't have the OOOhh/Oooww factor, but they can handle the velocity you're shooting and will expand at that velocity, won't lead your barrel (the sabot), and your barrel twist is just right for them.

They shoot great in my sidekick & huntsman - much better than the powerbelts.  I have not tried the harvester brand stuff - don't think I will.

A $20 Lee mold, a coleman stove, a cast iron pot, & some wheelweights & you have all the ML you need for life.  Hard to beat that.

[kawie]

do u have a link to the lee mold that u are talking about,plus ive never messed with making bullets so were would i find the weel weights to make the bullets.thanks for youre imput

[OBXPilgrim]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you in a few days - Been busy with some bow hunting.

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1160322704.2891=/html/catalog/bullmol2.html
The bullet I used that shot great from the sabot was from the 90299 mold.  Just a standard 240gr .44 SWC design - nothing fancy at all.

Some folks like heavier slugs in ML and I bet the 310 RF would probably work, but I don't have that mold, yet.

I didn't use standard wheelweights for these (like the clip on kind), I used 50/50 mix of soft lead & wheelweights.  The stick on wheel weight are usually pure (soft) lead.

Try a tire store, some parts of the country they are a give away in small quantities, it's getting to be more common to pay around $30 for a 5 gallon bucket full.  If you have a metal recycler near you, they usually will have both.

If you want to try roundball or full size slug, be sure to use pure (soft) lead only.

There are lots of good folks that can help at Cast Boolits forum - if you don't mind reading a bit, you can search there & find all you need to know about pouring you own.

[kawie]

thanks for the link ,im been tied up with getting into bow hunting this last mounth or so too.i went and bought 50 rounds of 300grain hornady xtp with sabots to try out.figured that 26 bucks for fifty rounds with sabots was a great deal.ill try them with 60-90 grains of 3f 777 or 3ff shockies gold an see what happens.if they dont work in side kick then ill put them through my traditions pursuit it seems to shoot everything well.and thanks again

[bubba]

I went the route of the lee molds myself. I use the 90339 240 grain round nose with a harvestor crush rib sabot along with 100 grains of loose triple 7 3f.  This is in my huntsman.  Loads well shoots great and kills whitetails.  I do them in large bunches and have the production pot from lee. I also weigh them all on my scales because there is some variance. I doubt it is enough to make a big difference like maybe a 5 to 10 grain difference, but I am very particular about it. If they arent within the specs, they go back in the pot. My most expensive part is the sabots.