Caliber and bullet change

[daddus1]

Well I guess after much thought and deliberation I will quit hunting deer with my 45 cal muzzleloader this year. Although it groups very nicely and shoots like a dream the bullets don't seem to have enough mass to do the correct penetration. Four deer killed no exit wounds and deer that should have dropped over in 30 or 40 yds have gone forever because the 200 grain bullets go in and if they hit anything they just go where they want. I have been shooting 200gr hornady sabots with 110 gr of blackhorn. Time to switch to my 50 cal barrel and 300 gr sabots, no more messing around, i'm very lucky that one of the deer wasn't a monster,to possibly have him run off and not be recovered. Anybody else run into similar situations?
Only 4.5 months to muzzleloader season!!
daddus

[turner]

I agree with your thinking and thought process.... except, I would recommend you drop the sabot idea and simply use something like a Powerbelt bullet. I have found them to be accurate and very deadly. I know it's luck, but I believe I am something like 4 shots and 4 harvests of bucks with them in the last 5 years. All mature, 8 point bucks. There was also one doe killed, a 5th deer, that dressed at 148.

November 2010 here:

[Hunting Man]

I'm not a powerbelt user but can say Barnes or TC shockwaves do work. I have no problems with sabots, in fact they are very accurate. My son's Ohio buck went over the 200lb mark and fell to a 250 gr TC shockwave bullet. All said I can't see why the 45 cal was a problem? Using a quality bullet should have done the job quite well. I think in the 45 I would opt for the Barnes if they make one for 45 cal. 110 gr of blackhorn in a 45 was pretty stout.

[daddus1]

Yea with the 200gr Hornady they chrono"ed at 2204 fps but like I said if you hit bone going in they had a mind of their own. I'm sure they would do a close range good job on a chuck, they are pretty explosive. Well this year we will see if a 250 gr shockwave with 110 gr blackhorn makes a difference.