I was thinking about trying to cast up some bullets for my muzzle loader. To shoot copper clad bullets is very expensive per shot so I was thinking about buying a mould for .44 or .45 bullets. I could size to what ever I needed to fit the sabot. What kind of bullet do you think would work best. I would not need the lube groves so maybe a custom die or maybe a die with the lube groves drilled out. What do you think?

Since almost all commercially offered saboted bullets for muzzleloaders are basically handgun bullets, use any 44 or 45-caliber handgun mould that gives the weight you want.

http://accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=7

A couple of mold designs available from Accurate Molds - the 45-300m and 300s

here's a spitzer cast bullet that I have from a custom mold, it's a 300 gr. bullet and it's .453 dia. it fit nicely in a black mmp .50 cal sabot. Currently I'm using in my .50 cal savage @ 2300 fps.

How far out do you shoot those, smokeeter?

I've had good results out to 250 yrds.

Thanks for the replys. Smokeeter do you use your bullet for hunting or just practice. Do you think for hunting whitetail deer a flat nose would be better or would it not matter much. I went to the link above and would probably get one of those made for sabots.

I've used them primarily for hunting, they have been used on both whitetails and moose.
the flat nose cast bullet are a great choice but I wanted these for extended ranges and they have proven to be more than satisfactory.

Smoke, do you need to hit bone for those bullets to flatten
out? Are they pure lead or an alloy?

It would appear the B.C. is very similar to
the precision rifle bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by DannoBoone:
Smoke, do you need to hit bone for those bullets to flatten
out? Are they pure lead or an alloy?

It would appear the B.C. is very similar to
the precision rifle bullets.

For hunting loads I cast as pure as I can get and that makes a 300 gr. bullet.They deform somewhat in a sand back stop, I haven't been able to recover any from game since have only had pass thru's.
I modeled my mold after precision bullets. at least as close as I could get. I didn't want to mess with plastic tips and these tend to be perfect if I keep my loads under 2300 fps.

smokeeter do you shoot these as cast or do you run them through a sizer first.

there isn't any need for sizing , the sabot allows for some wiggle room. Harvester sabots will permit slightly larger dia. bullets than the mmps.I've used stock .457/8 remington 300 gr. jhp bullets in the plane black harvester sabots.

Smokeeter: I cast nearly the same bullet for the same use..I run them through a .452 sizer.. I got my mold from Veral Smith of LBT.. he suggested placeing a piece of aluminum foil between the mold halves before pouring the bullet.. creates a fault in the bullet that should either fold back or break apart on impact.. I've killed a few whitetails with them. never found a bullet..I love cheating the 'spensive bullet manufacturers out of a dollar each time I shoot... Les

Why use a sabot with a cast bullet if you are wanting to save money? Cast bore size conicals of which you can buy molds for.

Al

there aren't any leading issues with the sabot. I could use these in my .45 cal sabotless but they don't have any grease grooves so I haven't bothered to try. plus the speeds greater than 2300 fps play havock on the lead cast bullets.

I had Veral make my mold with no grease grooves to help aerodynamics, no drag, so I could get long range accuracy.. matches the reticle in my Omega scope out to 200 yds.. not intersted in a flying ash can.. thanks Les

Here's the Accurate 300S mentioned above. The targets are the first groups out of my first muzzleloader, an Omega. The upper left group is at 50 yds to sight the gun in and the rest are at 100. The load is 90 grs of Blackhorn with a Harvestor CR sabot. The bullet weighs 310 gr cast out of wheel weights and drops out of the mould at .452. Primers are CCI209M. The meplat on the bullet is .320. Don't know the velocity because I didn't have my chronograph with me. I don't know if these are good groups or not because I have nothing to compare them to but will try to tighten them up a bit. I'm looking for a muzzle velocity of about 1600 to 1700 fps so hopefully 90 grs will get me in the ballpark.

When I went looking for a mould the only one Tom at Accurate had was the 300M so I emailed asking if he could increase the meplat for me. He said no problem and had the mould cataloged within an hour. Total time from my first email to receiving the mould was 6 days which to me is amazing. He won't make spitzer bullets but if you need something with a meplat of at least .180 diameter he'll have no problem meeting your needs.