New Bullet; Breechplug

ronlaughlin · 08-07-2011, 09:30 AM

Omega45 sent me some bullet and sabot to try in the Knight 45 disc elite.

They weigh 250g; they are 40 caliber. The range was 99 yard, and it was cool this morning, never was warmer than 65 whilst shooting. The load was 105g BH, SST primer. The tan sabot was used for the first three shots, which are dyed green; blue Harvester sabot were used for the last 3 shots.

Also tried out a new breech plug that was made by modifying the breech plug that came with the rifle. The breech plug i purchased from Knight, is on the left.

There were no issues removing the spent primer; they fell out. There was zero blow by. The plug was sized to give the STS primer a slight crush when the bolt is closed. The diameter of the primer pocket is some larger than the purchased plug, so i imagine the seal is made at the bottom of the primer.

builder459 · 08-07-2011, 10:07 AM

Appears the rifle likes the harvester sabots. nice work on the BP as usual..Ray

Gm54-120 · 08-07-2011, 10:32 AM

Ive shot quite a few of those bullets and they shoot "ok" upto about 2150fps. I could only manage about 1950fps to make it come close to my best shooting loads. I wish PR would add a copper plating like the Speers and test them. It might help getting them a few more fps accurately and be worth the premium price if it did.

I think Cabelas has them on sale atm for $9.99 for 15. Fairly expensive but they are interesting bullets. I want to try the 215gr and 235gr versions sometime. A 250gr 40cal in a 1-30 twist isnt ideal but it isn't terrible either. A review in a 50x40 with a 1-28 or faster twist might be interesting.

I will add that to my "to do list" since i have a even faster twist for testing them.

BTW one thing i have seen posted is....if they are left loaded in a bore for a long time, they compress a little. They are fairly soft lead so it is possible and its possible that can effect accuracy.

I love the nice holes they cut.

Omega45 · 08-07-2011, 01:08 PM

GM54-120,
These are the 215 QT's in Harvester smooths at 100yds out of the Encore Bergara barrel. 4 shots total I believe. A little softer on the shoulder then the 250's

Ron,
Nice work on the plug

Gm54-120 · 08-07-2011, 02:47 PM

The 250s do start to thump at about 100gr or more.

105gr of BH209 and the 250gr should be close to 2000fps. Not bad IMO but i would like to see the results on game. It should be fine with the high SD.

The modded plug does look really cool. Ive got a older Knight NFPJ plug i would like to try modded like that in the 45cals. The big 50cal pocket on the Lehigh plug can grab a patch occasionally if you run it down into the BP vent pocket. Im more curious though about performance differences (if any) in the 45cal.

Omega45 · 08-07-2011, 03:28 PM

I believe the 215-250's would do well on game. They were IIRC designed to not exit but expel all their energy inside the animal. The 250's should be in the neighborhood of 1900fps with a 100gr charge of BH209. I never did chrono them.

I bought a good supply of the 250's from Cabelas. They are still on sale but still not considered an economical bullet to shoot all the time.