ORIGINAL: sabotloader
vadeer
I would tend to agree with you that the Optima is considered a tight bore. I have no forst hand evidence of that other discussions with other owners trying to find the right sabot.
It would be my suggstion to start with those sabots you listed, if they both go down the bore OK then choose the tighter of the two. If they go down with less than two hand pressure on the rod - then I would suggest you try a Harvester Short Black or a MMP HPH-24.
+1. Excellent advice to use the tighter of the two. Many folks take the breech plug out of their gun andthen push a bullet thru the bore with different sabots. In this way you can figure out what sabot works best in your gun with your particular bullet of choice. You must figure out what is "just right tight".Justright tight is not so tight that you have to pound thesabot and bullet down the barrel or notso loose that you can push it down with 1 hand.Just right tight is two hand with about 30 to50 lbs of force to get the bullet down the barrel. Can't tell30 to 50 lbs of force? Place your gun butt on a bathroom scale, push a bullet down with your sabot, watch the scale, when your pushing itdown it should peak somewhere, that should be between 30 and 50 lbs.
Chap