Testing Sabots in the Traditions Flintlock DeerHunter
In this video, we test the limits of the 1:48 barrel on the Traditions Deer Hunter Flintlock Muzzleloader to see how it performs with sabots and conical projectiles.
Traditions sent me this muzzleloader to test and review.
Traditions Deer Hunter Description
The Deerhunter™ muzzleloader is designed to be lightweight, easy to shoot, and incredibly accurate for a great price. With a 24" octagonal barrel and rugged synthetic wood stock this rifle is well balanced and has superb handling. The Deerhunter™ barrels are designed to shoot full bore bullets, saboted bullets, or patched round balls.
We’ve been testing this flintlock for several months now and have accumulated well over 100 shots with various projectiles. The full review is coming soon.
In this portion of the review, I’m testing 5 popular muzzleloading sabots in the Deer Hunter to see how they perform and get a baseline for future load development.
The five Sabots I’m testing are:
Traditions Smackdown MZX (White labeled Hornady Bore Driver FTX, 295 GR
Traditions Smackdown Carnivore, 170 GR
Traditions Smackdown Bleed, 250 GR
Barnes T-EZ Spitfire, 295 GR
Powerbelt Aerolite 295 GR
For Powder I’m using 75 Grains of New Production GOEX 3F as a baseline based on our roundball ladder tests.
Retail Cost of Today’s Shooting as of November, 2025
Just over 1/4lb of Powder - $6.50
Smackdown MZX - $6.67
Smackdown Bleed - $8
Smackdown Carnivore - $7
Barnes TEZ - $9
Powerbelt Aero - $6.67
Cleaning Supplies
65 Dry Patches - $3.90
Solvent Patches - $2.75
Rust Prevent Patches - $0.28 Foaming Bore cleaner 10% - $1.40