# Pellets and sabot in old muzzleloader?



## huntingfool (Nov 20, 2008)

My wife decided to get in on the mloader season, so I let her take my inline . I have an old cap and ball .50 muzzleloader can i use pellet powder and a sabot. If so where can i find the amount of pellets for safe use in my model as it says made in italy but i cant find a name. Thanks in advance


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## fishnpbr (Dec 2, 2007)

As far as using a sabot it would depend on the rate of twist in the barrel. Most of the older side locks using a #11 cap were 1 in 60, or 1 in 48 inch rate of twist. Not sure of my analogy there but slower rates of twist in the rifling won't stabilize a bullet in a sabot and you will have poor accuracy. You can always shoot some sabots to check accuracy. Not sure how efficient a pellet will burn in a sidle lock.


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## huntingfool (Nov 20, 2008)

Thanks for the quick response. If i shoot a sabot it shouldnt blow up in my face right?


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## drs (Oct 6, 2008)

fishnpbr is right don't try sabots I did along time ago did not work. if its 1 in 48 it will shoot conicals and round balls. by conicals i mean maxi balls or great plains bullets.


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## Rootsy (Nov 1, 2006)

I wouldn't push it much past 100 gr of FF (RS). Not sure how it'll handle pellets vs loose powder though. You may want to put some loose powder under the nipple just to make sure you get enough flame into the barrel to ignite the pellets. 

Anymore I just toss PRBs from my 1:48 and 1:66 barrels.


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## huntingfool (Nov 20, 2008)

Thanks guys i stick to the loose powder and bullets i used to use was just letting some of the new school laziness set in. Thanks again for the answers.


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## jayzbird (May 19, 2005)

huntingfool said:


> Thanks guys i stick to the loose powder and bullets i used to use was just letting some of the new school laziness set in. Thanks again for the answers.


If your side lock has a #11 primer I would suggest going to the larger musket nipple and primers. You get alot more flame to the powder than the #11's and alot more reliable ignition. I switched to the musket primers quite a few years ago on my Hawken and haven't had a missfire yet. Well worth the investment of a few bucks. Good advice from previous posts with conicals. They seem to be alot more accurate than regular round balls. I shoot Hornady great plains conicals out of my Hawken and get good accuracy out of them.


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## Rootsy (Nov 1, 2006)

jayzbird said:


> If your side lock has a #11 primer I would suggest going to the larger musket nipple and primers. You get alot more flame to the powder than the #11's and alot more reliable ignition. I switched to the musket primers quite a few years ago on my Hawken and haven't had a missfire yet. Well worth the investment of a few bucks. Good advice from previous posts with conicals. They seem to be alot more accurate than regular round balls. I shoot Hornady great plains conicals out of my Hawken and get good accuracy out of them.


I have no issue with PRB accuracy... I consider cloverleafs @ 50 yds through iron sights pretty accurate... PRB's kill just as well too... 

I spent a few years in the latests greatest must be the best thing phase... Then I learned that what had worked for centuries still works today... A whole heckuva lot less expensive also.

PRB's have a terrible BC and therefore don't carry like conicals and modern bullets... But to 100 yds a .490 ball is GTG. 80 grs of pyrodex RS, .490 ball and .018 pillow ticking lubricated with bore butter puts them where I aim from my Lyman GPR. On more than one occasion I have not been able to recover a ball as it was a pass through. They really flatten out if they are soft lead, upon impact also.


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## SuperHunter18 (Oct 23, 2004)

I use loose powder and maxi hunters out of my traditional muzzleloader and I get much more accuracy then when I tried the sabots.


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## Contender (May 18, 2004)

Not sure if they make them any more.

But recall my Hawken liked 90gr of Pyrodex and pre-lubed Buffalo Bullets. They were 385gr hollow pts, if memory is correct.

Deer dropped liked hitting them w a baseball bat in the head.


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## Sib (Jan 8, 2003)

I shot cap & balled patch with a #11 primer for a long time. The info on barrel twist is right on. As for a musket primer or a #11 primer, I used the number 11 primer that came with my TC. In foul weather and high humidity I removed the nipple and put a tiny amount of powder between the nipple and the load. When I say tiny I mean like 5-10 individual granules of powder and put the nipple back on. Then I placed the cap on the nipple and put a little chapstick around where the cap covered the nipple. The extra powder was insurance for ignition and the chapstick kept moisture from getting under the cap. I never feared misfires and never had one.


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