All lead sabotted load for Washington State

[stratofisher1]

Looking for a longer range load to tackle elk with. I have the 460 No Execuses conical shooting pretty well over 80 grains of 777. I am concerned that this round may drop substantially at 150yds which is about as far as I am interested in shooting open sights. I need a Washington legal all lead. I can shoot sabots as long as the projectile is all lead. Leaning towards the Prescision bullet Elite HP. Any other recommendations.

[Triple Se7en]

Those Precisions may be too loose for you older Knight ML. The former produced Bighorns were slightly wider bores back then. Knight has since gone to a smaller diameter bore.

I would suggest you purchase the 375 gr Buffalo S.S.B instead. They now come with a thicker sabot. Should make a nice fit for your rifle -- plus that S.S.B.bullet is stillused by a couple ofML bookauthors for elk-hunting today & has a pretty darn good co-efficiency.

The Precision bullets are fine & the Elite is similar to the S.S.B. But you may need to swap the Precision plastic sabot for a MMP HPH-12 for a tighter fit.

http://www.shootnhunt.com/catalog/JM/black_powder/bullets_balls_sabots/buffalo_bullet_co/0512935.html

Here's some info on the bullet. The S.S.B discussion is about half-way down the page. Good interview by Wakeman there.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/buffalo_bullet_king.htm

[cayugad]

I shoot the 375 grain Buffalo Bullet SSB's also. They are a great shooting projectile.

[stratofisher1]

Do the buffalo bullets come with a sabot? Or are there preferred sabots to go with the 375?

[cayugad]

ORIGINAL: stratofisher1

Do the buffalo bullets come with a sabot? Or are there preferred sabots to go with the 375?

Yes they come with their own sabot... and they load easy and shoot great in so far three of my four inline rifles.

[dmurphy317]

Theres no reason you can't use the NE load out to 150 yards. Assuming a muzzle velocity of 1250fps, a max point blank range on a 10" target sight in would give you 150 yards with +/- 5". Just sight in at 100 yards with an impact point 3.8" high. Energy at 150 is still above 1100 fp.

[Triple Se7en]

ORIGINAL: cayugad
Yes they come with their own sabot... and they load easy and shoot great in so far three of my four inline rifles.

Over one year ago, Buffalo Bullet Co signed a partial operating agreement with Barnes, Knight& MMP Sabot co.Buffalo no longerdresses the S.S.B bullet withthe Harvester plastic sabots that are inside your olderS.S.B boxes.

I have heard a number of hard-loading/seating complaints with the new MMPs. If that's the case, then it should be a nice fit for the older Big Horn rifles.

[stratofisher1]

I definately like the way the 460 NE shoot. I am just trying a few different loads to see what performs best. I thought I was limited by conicals prior to last weekend at the range and talking with some folks. They recommended trying the sabot thing because of the tendency of conicals to lead the barrell when pushed hard. The Bighorn is a new one with the 26" barrell and 1 in 28 twist. I figure I might as well try what I can. I like the idea of carrying more energy downrange with the saboted 375 grain round. The BC is also better so it is less likely to drift on a windy day. Probably won't be the last bullet that I try. I want the best accuracy I can get in the 150yd range so that if I am presented a shot the elk will be hit with a lethal shot.

[dmurphy317]

It's a stout load but I shoot the NE's with 90gr of 777 in my 26" 1 in 28 rifle. It chrono's at 1470fps and has about 1500fp energy at 150 yards. sighted in at +2.25" at 100 yards puts it down about 3.3" at 150. Point and shoot with no problem out to 150+ at elk size targets. At 200 yards it is down about 15" and still has 1150 fp energy. Off a rest I can group them around 4" at 200 yards. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot an elk out to 150 yards with the NE loaded like that.

Sighted in similar to that the 375, if launched at 1600fps would be about 2.3" down at 150 yards and have 1480fp energy. These numbers are approximate due to the fact I don't know the BC of the 375, I used .320 as a guess. At 200 yards it's down about 12" and has 1317fp energy.

Not much difference in the 2 loads so I would go with which ever one shot best.

Good luck.

[Chris W.]

NE makes a 385 gr. 45 caliber conical. Pickup some of those and some sabots and you're good to go. White rifles makes a 320 gr. saboted round called the power star. http://www.whiterifles.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2