After trying sabots from every manufacturer I could find I settled on the Harvester Crush Rib. This sabot and the Barnes 350 gr. Triple Shock bullet creates a very accurate combination at either short, or long range. I spent many days at the range and shot in excess of 300 rounds with this combination. The accuracy and energy was there, and I was confident of a humane kill out to 400 yards when I left for my elk hunt in the Gila country of New Mexico.
On the first morning of the hunt we found a good sized herd with several bulls leaving a water hole, but were late and the elk were headed for the timber. Out of range for a shot that I was confident would be a humane kill. Before we left that morning my guide and I built a make shift shooting stand that I felt would give me the support I needed to make the 350 yd shot, should a good bull present himself at the water hole in the future. On the fourth morning of the hunt the elk herd came back and this bull presented himself at 349 yds.
At the Boom of the muzzle loader my guide said "he's down", and he never got up. There are many ingredients that go into making an elk hunt successful as we all know. The bottom line to making a long shot with a muzzle loader is a sabot that stabilizes the bullet with enough velocity to retain long range energy sufficient for a clean kill. The Crush Rib is the only sabot I found that meets my criteria. --- Nick from Farmington, NM
