WPD4323

looking for some ideas from those of you who shoot sabots on a reg. basis...my huntin partnerand i were shooting wed. and he noticed that my sabots, the orange ones on260 pr bullet extreme elites, were broken.
looking at many of them we found that most had 2 broken offpedals while the remaining 2 were still straight and appeared to be unbent durring firing, no melting or damaged bases found. this odd sabot performance was occuring from 80 gr FFG, 777 loose to 120 gr. FFG777 loose, 777 209 primers, winchester reg. 209 primers and winchester small rifle primers / vari flame. accuracy was all over, frustration mounting. the same powder range, trying t/c txp 250's showed opened intact sabot but accuracy was short of my expectations. i'm hoping to find groups well under 2'' at 100. MANY MORE LOADS TO TRY.
i'm guessing the broken pedals on the extreme elites equal the crappy groups i was getting with them, any ideas whythe sabots could bedoing this? i washoping this sabot/ bullet would show well so i could ring out the distance/accuracy these encores andbulletare claimed to give.

i've beenscrubbing with alc. wet patch or 1/2 alc. and1/2 wswfand 2 dry after each shot, durring initial load developement, promising loads are thentried firing the fist shot from clean boreand loading the next without cleaning in order to simulate possibilities of hunting use, firing a 6 round group 2 shots at a time this way. so far the point of aim and point of impact are at least in the same zip code but thats about all i can say for the combos attempted in this manner so far. scope mounts/rings were found tight when i cleaned rifles. i was hoping to find something loose just so the crappy accuracy would have a simple cause/fix.

i'm about to follow my buddies example and hunt patched rb and black out ofmy t/c renegade or a sabot and pyro from my t/c white mtn carbine. his renegade was pounding out 5 shot groups into 1 ragged hole at 50 and fist sized groups at 100, these shot with hunters peep and no cleaning between shots, my wht mtn carb pretty good as well. i'm sure his smug grin will be followed by some comment soon if i don't get this scoped pro hunter to perform. right now it's getting it tail kicked by both of our sidelocks.

i've got blue mmp sabots and180 /200 gr 10mm, somemore precision rifle bullets, 215gr qt's and some240 gr deadcenters and some 200 gr and 250 grshockwaves to try today. propellants will be ffg pyro rs and 777, fffg 777 and pyro and 777 pellets.

the quest continues.

Triple Se7en

Nothing wrong with those broken petal-sabots. That is common with those 40/50s. Supposedly, the newer ones don't break off, but outstanding accuracy still occurs with the broken ones. I shot Percisions that broke off for two years. Accuracy remained.

Your accuracy woes can likely be blamed on the 260s. That particular bullet is too thin &long for sub 150 gr.muzzleloader speeds. Cecil Epp (Precision owner) designed that bullet specifically for the Savage smokeless ML-10. You will likely find better accuracy shooting the 180-240 grain offerings in 40/50 -- with the ones around 200-220 grains giving you the best accuracy. Sometimes, adding a ballistic bridge base or a wonderwad between the powder & bullet gets 3" groups touching. So you may want to try one of those options. Cabelas and prbulet.com sell the ballistic bridge bases.

cayugad

Keep with the swabbing routine.. it sounds like that is going to help you. Some times rifles just do not like certain projectiles, no matter what. All you can do is change them out to something else. I think I would start with 100 grains and the 250 grain Shockwaves. I think this will give you the kind of accuracy you need. Owning the rifle you do, I really think you could push them to 150 grains of pellets or even 120 grains of loose and still keep the accuracy.

After you have an established load, then when you have time, go out and try everything and anything that draws your fancy and see what you can make it do. As for the broken sabots, it happens all the time. I never had a problem with accuracy from it. Although like you I can remember questioning members on the forum about it also.

lemoyne

cayugad, is right most find a load between 90 and 150 that will shoot Shock Waves; neither of my TC's will shoot Precision bullets,but I know some have good luck with them. the XTP or Gold Dot with the sabot from MMP or Harvestor that fits the best are also good in most TC'sand you need to shoot them and let the gun show you what it likes. Good luck Lee

WPD4323

thanks guys for your advise, just got back from range. i'm happy!
100gr of ffg 777/250 shockwave, cloverleaf
110gr ffg 777/240 deadcenters one ragged hole, strung vert.
2 50gr pyro pellets 250 shockwave 1 1/2''
3 50 gr pyro pellets 250 shockwave 2 1/2 '' 2 shots under 1''and unexplained flyer
110 ffg 777 215 qt 40/50, 21/2'' nice round group
all groups shot with 777 primers, wiped bore with 50/50 wswf and alc. 2 wet 2 dry. off bagged rest.
thanks again!

lemoyne

You might try 2 X50 and one 30 in pyrodex pellets as thats one of my favorite loads my fried likes 4x30 for 120 gr pyrodex pellets. But loose is more economical especally in 777. Lee