Well, finally got out to do shooting today... I had a couple of objectives for this trip... I wanted to check the Knight shooting the .458's - it will be the elk gun this year. Also I wanted to shoot both T7-2f and BH-209 to compare velocities and POI... PLUS I really wanted just to shoot a bunch of shots at clay pigeons just for recreation and relaxation. I realy thought it was going to be a great day to get a bunch of shooting in... but it just kept getting hotter and hotter - so the recreation shooting went by the way side....

I did get the first two objectives in. Shooting through the chrono and checking the POI @ 100 yards. In the the testing phase I do think I learned something also. When you look at the target you will see that I am a bit right of center for the most part - but I refuse to adjust the scope until the weather cools into at least the mid 40's. I was sighted in last winter and was shooting really well so I'll wait for cooler weather to make any moves.

For myself I am pretty happy with this target although I guarantee there are better shooters out there than I and in the hands of the right person I know the gun would perform better. But all in all with a hunting load and a hunting charge - and somewhat unstable shooting bench - I think I'll take what I got.



First off - shot number 3 and 6 are operator error.... I can clearly remember thinking AH! dang it should not have gone off right then.

But as you look at the target and the veloities you can see there is about 100 fps boost with BH-209 but the POI remains close to the same. The loads were thrown on site with the same volume loader.

The next pictures even show ME more about the particular shooting trip....



I collected some of the sabots to visually inspect them... The missing petals are not a problem at all - as you can see the sabots had exited the projectile prior the petals coming off.

I should mention do not put to much stock in the condition of the FPJ's thay have been shot more than a couple of times....

Next look at the bottom cups - tht is really what I was interested in... The sabots shot with BH- the cups definitely look a little more taxed than the T7 cups.

Then look atthe primers... The primers shot with 120 gains of BH-209 were starting to push themselves out of the battery cups, while the primers shot with 120 grains of T7 remained as they when I pushed them in. My deduction, from what I am seeing here 120 grains of BH produces
greater pressure, heat, and pressure (velocity) than does a simular amount of T7. Each time I have shot BH - I had always felt that the barrels heated more than the heat of a simular load of T7. I am not sure that 100 fps is worth the added stress to the mechanical parts as the POI really does not move that much. I also now wonder if I increased the T7 to 130 grains would I pick up that extra 100 fps but - not burn up the stress the bottom of the sabot or push primers out of the battery cups. I think it is important to see that the whole 209 primer was not coming out of the FPJ - just the primer out of the battery cup.

Thinking to myself right now... do I really need to even worry about shooting a 120 grains of BH or that extra 100 fps. I have been shooting 110 grains in the Omega and Remington forever and it has worked very well even at extended ranges.

Here is a picture of the setup in the rock pit - not quite like a good solid bench - but it works for what I do... We do not have shooting ranges around here - nobody wants to pay the liability insurance...



It really was a good day - course any day you get out and shoot is good day....

mike