Sabot Question

[nagel_1]

I recently got into the world of Muzzle Loaders, and really enjoy it. I shoot a.50 Traditions Thunderbolt inline, that my GF bought for my birthday. I have been shooting the Hornandy Great Plains bullets in 385gr. These shoot well out to 100 yds, but drop like a rock after that. I use 90gr of pyrodex RS. I tried using the Hornady 250gr SST-ML sabots and I can barely get them down the barrel. I have to actually tap them down with a small hammer to get them to seat. After I noticed how hard they were to load, I did not fire the rifle, but instead pulled out the breach plug and unloaded them from the breach.I cleaned the barrel very well, then applied some bore butter. Tried to load these again, and same thing happend. Do they always load this hard, or am I doing something wrong. And do you think its safe to fire these after I get them down the barrel?

[Indiana SmokePole]

No you are not doing anything wrong, Some guns just have a very tight bore , you can shoot them it's ok they will come out fine.
But if tou are wanting to shoot saboted bullets you may want to look at the 250gr Shockwave with the superglide sabot they should load easyer for you Or get you some harvester crushed rib sabots they work very well.

[lemoyne]

nagel_1, the SST has a MMP 12 which is a sabot that I believe was originally designed for the Knight rifles which tend to larger bore sizes. You might try the Shock Wave which is the same bullet with the MMP-HPH 24 sabot which is designed for a .500 bore.
I have found that it works best for me to keep a number [I believe I have 7] different sizes [petal thickness] of sabots on hand and try them at home for fit before I pack to head for the range, this is easy if you take out the breach plug and push them through. Lee

[cayugad]

The Hornady SST had a thicker sabot. Get some Harvester Crush Rib sabots or MMP HPH-24 sabots,and load the SST's in them and see if it loads a little better for you. It sounds like you just have a tight bore. The bore butter is not going to help you, and should be removed before you shoot the sabots.

[nagel_1]

Thanks a bunch. I'll give the Shockwave Superglide's a try, and I'll also pick up some different sabots. What exactly is a MMP HPH-24? Like I said, Im pretty new the Muzzle Loaders. I understand that it is a Sabot, but is it a different size designation?

[gleason.chapman]

ORIGINAL: nagel_1

Thanks a bunch. I'll give the Shockwave Superglide's a try, and I'll also pick up some different sabots. What exactly is a MMP HPH-24? Like I said, Im pretty new the Muzzle Loaders. I understand that it is a Sabot, but is it a different size designation?

See http://www.mmpsabots.com/ buy the 12, 24, 3Petal ezload here. Get the Crushed Rib sabots here:

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=00072H15045BR

The EasyGlide may work for you with the SST.
Chap Gleason

[sabotloader]

nagel_1

Sabots come in different thicknesses...

MMP and Harvester probably make the bulk of the sabots on the market today...

MMP HPH-12 is the thickest
MMP HPH-24 is the next size down
with the
Harvester regular - short or long sabot being approximaetly the same size..

Then comes the

MMP HPH-3p-EZ load - thinnest of the .415/.452 - 50 cal sabots..

Then the Harvester 'crush rib' which I think is slightly thinner than the 3p

www.mmpsabots.com

www.harvesterbullets.com/