just wandering, if i can take any old 45 slug, put it in a sabot, ram it in and go to town as a cheap alternative to say powerbelts? not looking for MOA accuracy but if it is safe, is it too much to ask for baseball-at-50yards-accuracy? is there something im missing here?

If you are talking roughly equal weights and equal diameters then they will work fine.

Cast a little softer and with the correct loading you may find hey do everything you need for paper and meat.

Are you talking .50 caliber guns piero? You can shoot any .451/.452 pistol bullet from 180 grains to 300 grains in a 50/45 sabot, whether the bullet is jacketed or lead or copper or steel. Lead bullets from pure soft lead to hard wheel weights are OK, though it's said that pure soft lead shot at high velocity will sometimes grow "ears" through the slits in the sabot. Regardless, there's no safety concerns at all with any of them. You can shoot .458 bullets made for the 45-70 in 250 grain to 500 grain in MMP orange sabots made for those bullets with no concern. In some guns with loose bores you can load the .458 bullets in 50/45 crush rib sabots.

You may be pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of "any old slug" in your rifle. Assuming the you match the sabot to the bullet and bore diameter, cheap bulk bullets can shoot quite well. I have gotten great results with Remington bulk JHP's and Hornady XTP's in my rifles.

yes, i mean a .50, namely the cva elkhorn. came ※this※ close to buying one before i got my 30-30 for christmas. the only thing that put me off was that it seemed all the bullets that were recommended were like $1-2 per. but after hearing this i think i'll start saving again, which may not be long as they are going for well under $200 here. btw, i don't cast my own - yet, but that's still good advice as i didn't know that a bullet could deform from the sheer g's involves... anyway, thanks a lot, i've wanted to get into muzzleloading since i saw my first t/c - something, i think it was buckmaster or woodsman or huntmaster - some kind of two-part name, ring any bells?