I'm kind of stuck with a 45 caliber Knight muzzleloader for sentimental reasons.

Anyway, in years past, I have used the 200 grain Hornady SST bullet/sabot combination. On paper, they shoot very well, but on whitetails, I got complete penetration but they seem to expand little, if at all. Blood trails were minimal and every time I used them, I had to get my reading glasses out to look for specks of blood. (small exaggeration, there.)

So this year I elected to try the 180 grain Speer Gold Dot in brown Knight sabots. Again, accuracy was good on paper and yesterday, I had a chance to try them out on whitetails.

I shot a couple does, and recovered both, but again blood trails were sparse. Neither bullet penetrated completely and blood trail was non existent

I guess I am still trying to find a bullet that works like I want it to out of a 45 caliber muzzleloader. I'm sure that one of you guys has figured out the 45 issue.

I'd appreciate you letting me know what you use.

Thanks,
CT

Barnes 195 grain ExpanderMZ

My only .45 is a Cherokee that I use with reduced velocity round ball loads for squirrel, but I suggest you try the Hornady XTP bullets in a harvester Crush Rib sabot. I have had excellent results with the 300 grain .45 XTPs in several .50 cal rifles.

I have a knight 45 and a cva firebolt ulti mag they both like the 195gr powerbelt hollow points over 110gr 777 and a win 209 primer . Have taken 8 whitetails between them most fell at the shot 3 made it around 50 yds . Can not complain harvester used to make some bullets with there rib crusher sabot there are some guys around here that shoot a 357 pistol bullet in a sabot with real good success.

Yeppers, there is not a better performing mass made 40cal bullet for the 45cals.

Now if the OP is not shooting them too fast, a 40/200gr XTP is a great bullet for a 45cal ML. I never had a problem with the 200gr SST expanding but i use 110gr of Blackhorn or more when hunting. They are devastating at smokeless speeds too.

Many thanks for the replies.

When I shot the Hornady SST's, I was shooting 2 pellets of 777. Accuracy was good, no complaints there, but the expansion left something to be desired. I may look into upping the charge with loose powder and seeing how that goes. The last irk I have with that bullet was that they were a bastid to load.

I found a place with the Barnes expanders, and am definitely looking at them closely. I told my hunting partner that I would probably retire that rifle, but I may give it a stay of execution if the Barnes will run right.

Thanks again for the replies.

this bullet will give you what you want.
http://www.knightrifles.com/product/bloodline-45-cal-200-grain-muzzleloader-bullets/
and they have it in.
http://www.knightrifles.com/product/bloodline-45-cal-185-grain-muzzleloader-bullets/
this bullet will live you a good blood trail.

Interesting, Blackhorn. Thanks for posting. I'll definitely look into those as well.

If those are the old Knight brown sabots they probably are tight. There is a sabot that is easier to load than the tan or brown. Its made by Harvester and its light blue. They offer them in smooth and Crushrib but both are the same loaded OD.

Just swap sabots and use the same bullets.

Run a lightly damp patch and a dry patch between shots too. It will really help with T7. The fouling from T7 can get really hard near where the bullet seats against the powder.

Try the cheaper 10/200gr XTP too if you only want to shoot a 2 pellet load. FPS from 2 pellets is pretty mild and the XTPs just might work well for you at that FPS.

They are the old Knight sabots. I've had them for several years.

I'll look into the Harvester Sabots.

Harvester Crush Rib sabots are awesome.

Have you tried any full bore size lead conicals? No Excuses makes a 385 grain that should work out of your Knight. You shouldn't have any trouble getting pass-throughs with a moderate 70-90 grain charge. A 300 grain Power Belt Platinum would also do the trick but at $2 apiece, I'd go the No Excuses route at about a third the price.

Crimson tide, a bullet that i dont think was mentioned i use the majority of the time is precision rifle bullets. My personal experience is i have never had a deer move after shooting with one of those.

I have used the sst/shockwaves/ftx bullets as well and all have performed well.

These r all with .40 except the ftx was a .44 in a 50 cal of course.

Just my experiences

ding ding ding

winner winner chicken dinner


punches clean thru em
40 cal going in
and at least 80 cal going out

nasty csi crime scene blood trails

I've good results with .40cal xtp with my optima

plab

Agreed.....

Thanks for the replies, folks. I have been away for a few days, but I'll send off for a few of the Barnes, for sure. Was about to retire the 45, but hopefully, this will do the trick.

Thanks again!

Stop shooting the shoulder and hit them in the lungs. You will find blood that way.

CT knows how to shoot and how to hunt.

I shoot no excuses 460 lead conicals out of my .451

They are accurate and both pass through and expand. lung shot deer run regardless, but the blood trails are typical of movie-set quality.

Anything under 150 yards is a layup.

I see very little difference in performance between 60, 70, and 80 grains of 777 3F.

Since they are so heavy, you dont need to worry about pushing max velocity, or vel loss at distance. They WILL penetrate a deer.

Its not flashy, but if you are looking for boring reliability, I'd at least consider trying something along the lines of a full bore all lead conical.

SHHHH... Crockettnj!



It's amazing how the same basic idea that slayed everything on the continent and the globe still works on whitetails, huh?