Hardcast sabot or barnes Buster for big game.

[Thebear_78]

I have been using barnes xpander 250gr sabots in my encore for a few years now.  They have worked very well on whitetails and even did a very good job on a cow moose last year.   I had my doubts about penetration but after going thru the shoulder nuckle it exited out the far size ribs,  the moose didn't go 15 steps before it was down.  This year I have been carrying my encore while bear baiting.  I have not doubt that the barnes 250 is more than the match for any black bear I will run across but unfortunatly I have been plagued by brown bears this year.  I don't doubt that on a well placed broadside shot the 250gr barnes would work just fine but I wonder about its penetration if I had to hit one head on. 

I was thinking that a good hard cast WFN would be a good way to go but I'm not sure how they would shoot out of plastic sabots because of the lube rings?  ANhtoer option was the barnes buster 325gr.  I would ideally like a little bit more meplat than the buster but It should penetrate really well.

What are you guys using on big game?

[1sourdough]

 I bought some 265 grn .452 Cast Performance WFN bullets to load up some heavy 45 Colt loads. My secondary use for the same bullets are to put them in a proper fitting sabot & use them in my 50 cal Knight M-L. There is no reason why they shouldn't work superbly, just a little range testing 1st.

  I have even used a home case 44 cal pistol bullet in my M-L that did the job. A WFN hardcast out of a M-L would have to do great. Just compare the FPS out of your M-L to that of a 6" handgun barrel. You could easily be up near 1800 fps, compared to down near 1100 or so. My 120 grn charge of Blackhorn 209 gives a steady 1950fps with a 250 grn SST. That would offer some serious penetration, the WFN opening up a good channel along the way.

[bubba]

I use a 250 grain round nose cast .429 sized in  harvestor crush rib sabot in all my mlers.  I cast my own.  I have not used one on a bear, but on white tails they are more than deadly.  I have no problems with the lube rings in the sabots.  I also sometime suse Hornady xtp's in the same sabot. I usually stick to the lead because I get ww for free, so it cuts down cost tremendously.

[luckydawg13]

I use a 250 grain round nose cast .429 sized in  harvestor crush rib sabot in all my mlers.  I cast my own.  I have not used one on a bear, but on white tails they are more than deadly.  I have no problems with the lube rings in the sabots.  I also sometime suse Hornady xtp's in the same sabot. I usually stick to the lead because I get ww for free, so it cuts down cost tremendously.

 
i do the same thing i also use 452 cast boolits