sized 45 bullets for sabotless shooting

[Rangeball]

My brother is contemplating an SMI smokeless conversion, and is considering the pro's and con's of .50 or .45 caliber.

What do you consider the be the pro's and con's of each?

Will SMI provide faster twist rates or do they stick with the 1:36 advertised on their website? 1:36 seems kind of slow based on what I read here, right?

I was wondering if there is a ready source of pre-sized .45 bullets for sabot-less shooting if he goes .45? Parker makes them for bad bull, right? Do they also sell them direct to others? If not, .45 is kinda moot as minimum here is .45 which doesn't include the sabot.

Thanks

 

[Joe Name]

I have the first S.M.I. built in 1983 it is an o/u .50 cal with 20" barrles that are 1 in 36 twist. I shot a less than 1" grouat 100 yards at Clints folleys shoot in MI. earlier this year. I have had several other single barrles in different lengths but the same twist and they all shot MOA or better.That is why when I took the 7mm mag barrle off my Ruger#1 that I put a 1 in 36 twist in .50 back on. Dad and Dan will put whatever twist you want since you may know of a better rate. S.M.I. has only been messing around with smokeless muzzleloading for over 20 years.

 

[DW]

SMI recently converted a Ruger #1 to a .45 for me. I have not shot sabotless much so far, been mainly trying to find a load for the 195gr Barnes with not much luck so I decided to take the sabot out of the equation and this is what I got tonight.

There are more components available for the .50, the .45 will offer less recoil if you keep the speeds down, if you push a 200gr bullet over 2600, there is some recoil.
Last I heard, Douglas supplied SMI with their barrels, one guy I talk to said his SMI #1 .45 has a 1:28 twist. When I was looking for a barrel that would shoot the Parkers sabotless, it was tough to get a solid answer from barrel makers on what their land to land dimensions were, Shilen was up front about their dimensions with no problem. I cannot confirm but a guy told me Bad Bull uses the same .457 1:20 twist Shilen barrel that is on my gun, like I said I cannot say for sure but this hand lapped Shilen barrel is perfect for the Parker bullets sabotless and another guy who has the same barrel said they fit his the same.
Traditions sells the Parkers under their logo as does Remington, or you can get them directly from Parker.

 

[Rangeball]

I have the first S.M.I. built in 1983 it is an o/u .50 cal with 20" barrles that are 1 in 36 twist. I shot a less than 1" grouat 100 yards at Clints folleys shoot in MI. earlier this year. I have had several other single barrles in different lengths but the same twist and they all shot MOA or better.That is why when I took the 7mm mag barrle off my Ruger#1 that I put a 1 in 36 twist in .50 back on. Dad and Dan will put whatever twist you want since you may know of a better rate. S.M.I. has only been messing around with smokeless muzzleloading for over 20 years.

Thanks Joe. What range of bullet weights have you been able to shoot MOA in the 1:36 and at what speeds?

 

[Rangeball]

DW, excellent shooting

That was with your SMI conversion? I'm confused, does it have a douglas or shilen barrel?

I to thought SMI used Douglas.

So you were able to use the parker's as is, with no sizing needed? What was that load?

 

[DW]

We ordered 3 Shilen barrels, to get a price break, among 3 guys since Douglas was sketchy on their bore dimensions and we felt the Shilen barrel would work best with the Parkers. The bullets were shot with no sizing. 56gr of H4198 with a vegetable wad under the bullet.

 

[Joe Name]

I mostly shoot 300 grainers at 2350fps and some 250 grain bullets and gettin over 2600fps is the norm for them. I prefer the 300 grain Barnse X bullet wrapped by a harvester sabot on top of 74 grains of 2015. This load has shot many sub MOA at the 200 yard line and harvested more than a truckload of deer for me.

 

[clint]

Joe sold me the barrel for my homemade smokeless 50cal 1/36 if it groups over 2" at200yds the nut on the stock is not working clint

 

[Rangeball]

Thanks fellas.

More food for thought.

Never a shortage of that around here