Magnum Roundball Loads
 

I tried some high performance roundball loads today. Using the .440 Hornady lead roundball, and seating it in a MMP.50 caliber sabot made for .429/.430 bullets (as described a couple of weeks back by LaneNebraska); I tried loading this ahead of 110 grains of fffg T7, 120 grains of ffg T7, and 130 gr. of Pyrodex pellets.

Not too impressive. At 60 yards, using a 12X Leupold, all loads shot around 2" to 2.5". I guess roundballs were never meant to be pushed at 2,000 fps!

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

That's kind of pushing them hard there Roskoe :D . I guess a person just has to try though...

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

Actually that's not the case all.......I push my .440's and .490's over 2000fps all the time with my hunting loads and they're extremely accurate...the difference is probably because ofblack powder,pillow ticking patches,and1:48"+ 1:66" twist barrels

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

Not out of an ill fitting sabot, but my 54 likes 135FFF and a patched ball.

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

I thought about this on the way home . . . . The sabot is shaped to provide an optimum fit with a flat base spitzer bullet. Maybe under all that heat and pressure the sabot is trying to mold itself to the round ball shape, losing its integrity in the process. Of the 12 shots fired, I never found a single fired sabot between the bench and the target.

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

It was a fast twist that probabally got ya. Round balls will spin out of control at high speeds when the twist is to fast.

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

Roskoe - Wow, that's smokin' fast. I take it you were shooting them out of a 1:28 twist rifle. Correct? I was speaking to a fella at TC today about the Black Diamond today about what kind of performance I could expect from various loads. I had a pretty good idea just from the other MLs I've owned and reading this forum of late, but I wanted to see how he would respond. In sum, he basically said that the 1:28 twist rifles are designed to primarily shoot various sabot loads. If one happens to find a conicle that shoots well in a 1:28 twist rifle...well, they should consider themselves lucky because most conicles or RB loads won't hit squat out of that fast of a twist.

Interestingly, he said that TC is strongly considering dropping the Black Diamond (both barrel versions) model next year and replacing it solely with the Omega. He GUESSED TC is basing their decision on stronger public demand for the Omega coupled with the fact that their profit margin is greater with the Omega (fewer moving parts than with the Black Diamond). Told him that I still shoot my Firehawk that I purchased 10 years ago (now cleaner than ever thanks to the suggestions from this board:D) and felt that it handles conicles, RBs, and sabots overall much better than my Encore due to the fact that it has a 1:38 twist.

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

These loads were out of my newstainlessOmega. It appears to have the same 1:28 twist barrel as my Black Diamonds. I have read, but not experienced personally, that round balls shoot pretty well out of fast twist guns with very low charges - like 50 grains or less. This thing with the .50/.430 sabot was on this board a couple of weeks ago. It is my understanding that they were also using fairly moderate charges - like 70 grains - and getting great accuracy. Couldn't resist trying to warm it up a bit . . . .

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

I would have to disagree with the T/C fella you spoke to about shooting conicals out of a 1:28 twist. Many of the folks on this board, including me, have had very good results shooting heavy conicals out of 1:28 T/C rifles. I use a 410 gr. Hornady Great Plains with excellent results. A number of folks rave about the 460 Gr. No Excuses concicals. And the Powerbelts are technically a conical - they shoot great in quite a few fast twist guns. Maybe the 1:48 twist is optimum, but the 1:28 can produce great groups with the heavy slugs.

RE: Magnum Roundball Loads
 

When I was talking on the phone one afternoon with a Thompson Center representative, he told me the same thing. That the Thompson Center inline rifles were more inclined to shoot the sabot projectiles then the conicals. I then told him about some of my experiences shooting No Excuse Conicals, R.E.A.L. conicals, and some Maxiball I had around the house. He then agreed that, yes they will shoot conical projectiles well in some cases, but they really shine when shooting the sabot loads.

So far out of all my inlines, I have not found one yet that will not hold an exceptional group with conicals. I ordered some of those sub bases that Roskoe talked about and I am going to give them a try with some of the different loads. I also ordered some of the crush rib sabots, and some 410 Great Plains Conicals. I really like trying different loads. I am not so sure I want to push the Great Plains as hard as Roskoe did, but time will tell...