Recomendation on Sabot Bullet or Other for inline

I have a T/C Impact .50 been using Harvester Black Crush sabot and Harvester PT Gold 260 grain bullet with 100 gr Blackhorn 209.
Accuracy is fantastic. My problem is I have harvested 3 deer but none of them left a blood trail nor did bullet pass thru. 1 Liver shot hit no bones recovered after 200 yards tracking by hoof prints in soil and scuffed leaves then grid search. The other 2 were double lung and heart shots. Both deer went about 100 yards but no pass thru or blood trail. I also have lost 1 deer with hair at impact and drops of blood for 30 yards then nothing. Grid searched for 2 hours into the night then tried again for 2or 3 hours next day. I did wait 2 hours after shot to track. What bullets are you using and are you getting good blood trails? All my shots were 80 to 178 yards on all 4 deer. Let me know you suggetions?

Thank You

Mwal

I shoot the Same Sabot as you. I’m a big fan of the Hornaday XTP. Have had nothing but great results using them. I shoot a 45 cal. but I also used it when I shot a 50 cal. I have several hunting buddies who have had excellent luck with the Barnes Expanders MZ bullets as well. All of us shoot the BH209 as well. We normally load 110gr. That seems to be the setup that works the best for us.

2x barnes expander

If you can find them the .451/.452 Barnes XPB bullet in 250 grain is an excellent bullet. Accurate as all heck, and as a rule will give you all sorts of blood. The .452 XTP Hornady in 250 grain is another great bullet. Both will work good with your 100 grain load, which I am assuming is a measured volume load, not by weight.

The Barnes Expanders are great bullets too but can be pretty hard to find unless you get a package that includes the sabots. I know Rochester’s Fleet Farm and Scheels have some Barnes bullet/sabot packs on hand.

If your shaots are going to be in that range that you’ve mentioned you may want to up the charge to 110 grains by volume to get a bit more energy to the bullets. The longest shot you’ve mentioned is a bit of a reach for the bullets you mentioned either exit or to open up fully.

I shoot 300gr Hornady xtp’s (44 cal with green crushed rib sabot and 70 gr by weight (roughly 100gr vol) bh209)), pass throughs on the 3 I’ve shot with that setup, but I don’t shoot those distances (1 was 35 yards and other two about 75). I was using 240 grain xtp’s and had 2 with no pass through which is why I jumped up to 300 grain. Only deer I’ve shot that I didn’t watch tip over made it just over a hill (75 yards) with the bottom half of his heart gone (picture of bloodtrail). But as mentioned I don’t shoot those distances.

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Opening a can of worms I am. I really like and have good luck with .50 cal 245 gr. Aerotip Powerbelts. Supurb consistent accuracy, easy to load, kills well. I cloverleafed 3 bullets off a rest at 200 yards using 150 grains of Triple 7 pellets. Scope sighted dead on at 100 yards, bullets drop 9 inches at 200 yards. Knight inline rifle. I have killed many deer with this set up from 5 yards to about 200.

I shoot the same bullet and sabot as Poomunk but with 77 grains by weight of Blackhorn 209.
DT

Here’s a Barnes XPB 225 grain that I recovered from one of the does this year. This was shot from my pistol at 35 yards and went from center chest to the left hind quarter just under the hide.

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robby wrote:

Opening a can of worms I am. I really like and have good luck with .50 cal 245 gr. Aerotip Powerbelts. Supurb consistent accuracy, easy to load, kills well. I cloverleafed 3 bullets off a rest at 200 yards using 150 grains of Triple 7 pellets. Scope sighted dead on at 100 yards, bullets drop 9 inches at 200 yards. Knight inline rifle. I have killed many deer with this set up from 5 yards to about 200.

Yes you are. I find blackpowder shooters either love them or hate them. I used them for many years. After to many experiences like the original posters using them I switched. I know others who have had good luck with them. I hope you are at least using the Platinum series. They load easy ( Why most like them ) and shoot decent groups. Its the performance on hit deer where they fall short.

Barnes TEZ. Just as accurate as the tz but still possible to get multiple shots without cleaning. The Barnes yellow sabot doesn’t like going down a dirty barrel. That’s my experience at least with a cva accura.

The powder used wil;l play a big part in how well a second or third shot load without running a damp patch thru the barrel between shots. As I mentioned, T7, any T7, granular or pellet, will leave a crud ring if standard or magnum shotshell primers are used. Not as bad if a muzzleloader specific primer is used. For hunting I use BH209 and it will leave a slick residue in the barrel and does not need any swabbing between shots unless perhaps a super tight sabot is used. I’ve never had the occasion to shoot any of the Barnes boattail bullets or the yellow sabots so I haven’t had a lick of issues. I shoot an Accura V2 50 cal and an Optima pistol, also 50 cal. Standard sabots and XPBs all the way, but the XTPs will load and shoot just like the Barnes in a comparable bullet weight.

I guess I will be off to the range to test some new bullets. Thank you for the great reply’s

Mwal

The MMP and the Harvester sabot get lots of raves. The key is finding a sabot/bullet combination that loads easily and gives good accuracy.

Good reports from the Hornady SST, the Hornady XTP, the PR Bullets QT and Dead Center projectiles, Harvester Scorpion, Barnes Spitfire TMZ….I am an SST and Dead Center fan.

From about 1976 until the middle 90’s most of my ML kills were with a T/C Hawken in 45cal using 90gr of Goex and a 240gr Maxi-Ball. Not sure how many deer that rifle harvested, but it was a bunch. Most shots were inside 50yds and no further than 125yds because I always hunt the woods. I never once recovered a slug. They would blast straight through. No recoveries were over 100yds because I always aimed for a double-pneumothorax shot.

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