Well my Green Mountain Barrel came today. It's a .45 caliber stainless steel barrel with a 1-30 twist. I cleaned it up real good, but it is too windy to shoot.
Also I want to pick some projectiles for this rifle but have no idea what to ORDER from some lucky on line store. So I am asking all you .45 caliber shooters to tell me what sabot, make, model, and what kind of bullets you are shooting out of yours that is working. Also mention your powder and loads. Once this wind stops I will hit the range.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
cayugad
I gues I am assuming you will get some 10mil/200 grain XTP's to try???? With the open sights - think the XTP's would be an outstanding projectile from that barrel..... OH! and some Bull Shop Conicals - call Dan and have him send you a short selection to try...
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Keep on Shooting Muzzleloaders they are a Blast
I have Bull Shop conicals in .451 for my White Model 97 so.. yes I will be trying them. Now I kind of wish I had not sold all Barnes to someone. But no problem. I have the 200 grain XTP's in 10mm all I need is some sabots for them. I wonder if the tan or the light blue are going to work best?
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
I've played around with both the tan MMP sabots and the Harvestor light blue sabots with the 10mm XTP. (By the way, this is probably a good bullet to start with) With the XTP, I've found the Harvestors to be more accurate, at least with higher powder charges- 90 - 100 grains T7 FFFG. On the tan MMP package, they recommend a max powder charge of 80 grains, if I'm not mistaken - I don't know if this means they were designed for a lower velocity, or if they are just covering their butts so they don't get sued when a rifle explodes.
I've never done a comparison between the tan & light blue sabots at lower powder charges.
I'd recommend using FFFG powder with the .45, but you can use FFG too- I've just had better accuracy with the FFFG. I'd start with 80 grains and work your way up from there in 5 grain increments if you're shooting sabots. If you're shooting heavy conicals, I'd probably start at 70 grains. Another bullet to try is the 200 grain SST/Shockwave- these tend to be very accurate in many rifles.
Unfortunately, there are not a huge number of options with sabotted rounds when you're shooting the .45. You basically have the 10mm XTP's (200 & 180 grain), Gold Dot (180 grain), Barnes Expanders, SST/Shockwaves and a few others. I think the 200 grain XTP is the most commonly used, and seems to have the best track record - that's why I use it. Looking forward to a range report!
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oldsmellhound.. thanks for the information. I was planning on using Triple Seven 3f or Pyrodex P as the powder.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Got to admit - that stainless barrel sure looks good on the Hawkins. I'm looking forward to your reports to compare to my experience with the GM1:30 blue barrel on my Renegade.
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Hawkins .45 caliber
