ORIGINAL: Semisane
This is a follow-up to myfour load comparison covered in an earlier post usingHarvester Crush Rib sabots, 300grain Speer Gold Dots, and four different powder charges.
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2337091
Thanks to
sabotloader, I had a sample pack of a number of different sabots. I decided to stick with the same bullets and the best shooting powder charge from that experiment, and try all of the different sabots with thatcombination. The results were interesting. Groups ranges from 5 & 3/4" to 1 & 7/8" at 100 yards. Velocities varied, but not as much as I expected.Targets are posted below (from largest group to smallest)for your viewing pleasure.
This totally fits with my experience in shooting my new Savage and also some things I learned myself and what folks say over on the "Savage Smokeless board". "The tighter the sabot, the tighter the group." Smokeless powder is harder to ignite, in particular 4198 is more difficult to ignite that 5744. I could NOT get 4198 to go off with the supplied sabot from Parker in a Ballistic Extreme. Once I switch to the tighter MMP12 sabot,I could get the 4198 to fire. I also LEARNED that you have to put your weight into smokeless after hitting the bottom and seating the bullet. I was also NOT doing that. I also learned that primers make a big difference, with Winchester 209 being the hottest/best, I was using Remington Kleen bore, and they get "Kleen" by lesseningthe charge in the primer. All these are factors in Smokeless,they are less so forignition in regular inlines, but sabots makes a huge difference as you have found out. Thanks fortaking the time to do this Semisane, your getting saner and saner, at least on this forum, maybe not at home
. Chap gleason