Sidekick's first time at the reange

[Meatball]

Well after having my Sidekick for over a year and never having time to shoot it I made it to the range with it the other day. I was very impressed with the results. After trying several different loads I actually settled on the one that I used in my old CVA Apollo. At 100 yds I was consistently getting 1" - 1.5" 5 shot groups with 2 groups under .5 inches. I'm shooting 80 grains of loose 777 under a 180 grain .44 cal Hornady XTP in TC break away sabots with federal 209 primers. This gun is also the easiest to clean out of any of the muzzle loaders I have owned. It truly is the best $169 I have ever spent on a gun.

Meatball

[single action]

Congrats, I also bought a sidekick last year and am very happy with it. I use 2- 50 gr pyrodex pellets with a hornady and my groups are similar to yours. I also believe it was money well spent. After 20 years of traditional muzzleoading, my eyes finally got so bad I couldnt see my sights and I needed a scope or fiberoptics. If  i would have realized how much fun the sidekick is, I might have gotten into inlines years ago.

[davey]

meatball  - is that bullet /sabot combo .50 cal  hornady xtp 180 w/ tc mag express sabot (made for .44 cal diameter bullets)   ?             have you tried for accuracy 150+ yds  ?

[Meatball]

davey- it's the almost the same setup however I'm using a different sabot. TC used to make a 3 piece break away sabot (2 side pieces and a felt washer on the bottom that holds them together)that is made for .44 cal bullets. I haven't been able to find them for quite awhile. Fortunately a couple years ago I was at a gun shop that did have some so I bought the last 7 bags. I haven't had time to try it at 150 yards but I have used this load in my old cva and it is very effective on whitetail. I'm planing on trying it at longer ranges next week when I have more time. When I do try it I'll be sure to post results.

[nkhunter]

How did the 180 xtp's perform on deer? good penatration? I'm thinking about loading some up xtp's or cast lead 180's for my kid's huntsman youth model to cut down on recoil.

[Meatball]

The 180's performed incredibly on deer. The first deer I got with one was quartering towards me at about 65 yards. The shot entered just in front of the right shoulder and exited mid ribcage on the left side. Both lungs were completely destroyed along with the heart. The exit hole was truly about the size of a golf ball. I definitely would not want to have a poor hit in an area such as the hind quarter as I feel that the damage to the meat would be incredible. As far as recoil there is a very easily felt difference between the 180's and some 240 gr starfire's that I have. I tend to use the 240's to get the gun sighted in close and then switch to the 180's for fine tuning. I also did find that with the same sabot and powder charge the 240's shoot about 1.5 - 2 inches lower at 100 yards but still well within a 2 inch group. Just kind nice to know in case I run out of my regulars and don't have time to buy some before the next hunt.

[bulzaye]

I have used 200 grain lead cast bullets I mold. They are a flat nose lee bullet in a 44 caliber harvester sabot. In my brother in laws cva bobcat he used them and dropped many deer in their tracks with a total pass through shot. I also used them in my huntsman and they were deadly accurate with 80 grains of 777 in that rifle. Accuracy out to 100 grains was awesome basically clover leaf 5 shot groups. I now use 240 grain lead bullets I mold in my optima. Still working on a load but getting there.