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Just got a call from the receptionist that said I had a package. Hmmm...couldn't be I thought. I just ordered some 250gr Gold Dots and Crush Rib sabots (after reading all the good reviews on here) from MSS night before last. But it was...man that was fast for ground shipping.

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I mailed an order to RMC Sports between X-mas and New Years. Didn't lok for it till next wk, showed up today!! Yahoo!!

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i hear ya, wasn't expecting mine til next week either. Might have to go to the range this weekend.

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Mid South, Midway USA, and Natchez must get your order in the mail the same day as I have had them show up two days later.. that is just good business sense to me.

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I have order stuff from natchez. by the time I got the tracking code to work. it was at my back door under the car port.

I right now have a order on route from cheaper then dirt. it is already in tn. I figure tuesday.

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Nolehoe

I want to make a gentle suggestion, I say gentle because it appears that I have a problem with "crush ribs." They were designed to ease loading in really tight barrels and where you need to use them use 'em, but I would suggest that you try regular Harvesters or MMP 24 to verify that they are "to" tight.

A year ago or so I did some testing for an New MMP sabot, the HPH-3p-EZ load. In taht testing I compared several bullets shot from the same rifle with the same powder charge, changing only the sabots. The test gun was a A&H 320 SN, at the time that was what I was uing for all my testing. One thing that might flaw the testing could be the fact that this gun really did not need either the "crush rib" or the 3p, HPH-24's and regular Harvesters loaded down it just fine with .452 bullets. When I did that testing I did tell Del Ramsey that the gun i was going to use and the possible problem I forsaw.

Well, any way, in that testing I shot 250and 300 grain Speer's at paper. Also remeber these were .452 and the Nosler are .451. The testing showed that both the 3p and the "crush rib" were very accurate, but i would loose anywhere from 100 to 200 fps shooting a "crush rib." Now that really is not much but it is a difference....

Here is one of the test targets...

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It is good to hear about the great service we get from vendors. Sometimes only bad press is all we hear. I have had excellent service from 99.9999% of the vendors I deal with.

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A lot of guys over on the Savage Forum are shooting Crushed Rib with Barnes Origonals and Barnes Flat Point and Barnes X-bullets with Smokeless Powerer anywhere from 2300 to 2500 FPS. Now these are .458 bullets, they have the "power" to grip the edges of the rifling and be loose enough to load. Also they are $3 cheaper per 50 than the MPM, so in my opinion they are better in several ways. #1) they are as accurate as the MMP (your targets show that, I can show that with my Omega, My FL and My Knight),
#2) they are easy to load, even for tight bore and .458 bullets
#3) they work for .451/.452 AND .458 bullets (Can the MMP12 and 24 work with .458 bullets or do you HAVE to get theMMP Orange to shoot them well?)
#4) they work extremely well with high power loads even high pressure of smokeless
#5) they are less costly the MMP
#6) I like them.

#6 is obviously the most important, just kidding. There ya have it, like Forrest Gump said "That is all I know about that.". Chap

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Point well taken Sabotloader.

My reason for the purchase was to try them out and see how they shoot in my gun (every barrel is different and my bore is tight). I've heard nothing but good about the Gold Dots and was looking for something that would load easier for follow up shots. I currently hunt with Barnes 245gr Spitfires which are bear to load but shoot and perform great and I plan to continue hunting with them as my primary load. But in the case that I would need a quick follow up shot I want something that loads a little easier, hence faster. My HOPE is that they will shoot similar enough to the Barnes to be my back up loads. Also at ~$25/24 .vs ~$14/50 the Gold Dots are much easier on the wallet for going to the range and at that price I just had to try em. Another option would have been Powerbelts which load relatively easy and I usually carry one PB load in case I need that really fast reload, but I'm not a big fan of PB's both from personal experience and what I read about them. There are alot of people that have good results with them and wouldn't shoot anything else and good for them, but given the choice between two products one that you can't find any negative comments about and one that has both good and bad reviews, I'll pick the one with no negative comments almost every time (depends on what those negative comments are). Of course I won't be able to make a decision about the crush rib/GD until I go to the range. Like they say "the proof is in the pudding"

Oh, and I want to try the crush rib sabots with some Barnes Expanders too (250's)

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I predict that the Crushed rib will shoot the .452 expanders just fine, and load a lot easier than the supplied Barnes Sabot (MMP12 I believe), in fact as I pointed out above, others shoot .458 Barnes rifle bullets with the .452/.451 Crushed rib, so I think it will do just fine, several shoot it with really hot load, so the 200 fps that Sabotloader is reporting in blowby is not a concern, accuracy is the main concern. I am testing the following .458 bullets with the Crush Rib:

Barnes #45105 275g XPB BC of .141
Barnes Expander MZ 300g #45131 BC .207
Barnes Origonal 300g #457010 Spitzer SP BC .291
Barnes X-bullet 300g XFN 45832 BC .204
Barnes X-bullet 300g FB 45802 BC .235

Now you can see that the Barnes Origonal has the best BC of .291, so that is what I want to try first. They are also the cheapest of the Barnes. Next I want to try the Barnes Flat Base 45802 which is really the Expander in .458 diameter instead of .452, they are cheaper than the expander in lots of 20.
$17.10 for 20 http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0003545843

If they shoot as well as the expander then ya save a few bucks on buying the Flat Nose. The Barnes XPB (X bullet Pistol Bullet) is cheaper, $16.29 for 20, http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0003545105

but they only go up to 275g. I wanna shoot 300 for shoot thru, but maybe that not an issue with Barnes X bullets.

The X bullets are a Spitzer: http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0003545802
and I don't think they will shoot well in a MLer, some folks put an #8 washer at the bottom of the sabot and level out the Spitzer, I think I will give that a try.

Point is, all these Barnes will shoot in a Crushed Rib, so in my opinion the Crushed rib is a more general purpose sabot for both inline BP guns and Smokeless guns.
Chap Gleason

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Me too, but I was really impressed with how fast I got this order, I truly wasn't expecting it until next week. However every once in a while you deal with one that leaves a sour taste in your mouth, for instance: I 've wanted a Benelli SBE for many years, when they came out with the SBE II I said "gotta have it" but I don't like to buy somehting the first year it comes out...I like to give them a couple years to work the kinks out. The SBE II was the same way, I had heard of some things on the 2004 models that were unfavorable and so I waited, come 2006 I went to a gun shop in Southaven and made the purchase (they were quite nice when I made the purchase) of what I thought was a new (as presented and priced) gun. after I got home I was still undecided if I had chosen the right one and called the gun shop to see what there return policy was in case I decided I wanted the other model (before ever shooting it) and was very rudely told they had a no returns no exceptions policy but would buy the gun back at a much lower price than what they sold it to me for. after some further examination of the gun I found powder residue in the action of the gun then I discovered one of the problems that people were having with one of the early models (very stiff safety.my fault for not noticing in the store) I contracted Benelli and was very pleased with their customer service; I shipped them the trigger assembly, they fixed the safety and shipped it back in short order. But while I was in contact with them I had them run the serial number.....2004 model!!! Never again will I grace that store with my presence except to tell them what I think of them and to tell any customers, they may have, what I think of them(the store, not the customers) and they sure won't get any more of my hard earned money. The only regret I have is that I helped their profit margin, love the gun, can't stand the people I bought it from.

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Hey Chap,

I don't have extensive experience with the Barnes but I have shot two.

1) 250g Expander MZ - Doe - entered the brisket and exited at about the last rib on far side leaving a big hole at both ends.
2) 245g Spitfire - Buck in my avatar - broadside about half way between shoulder and last rib and center height wise.

as far as I know both of those bullets are still going:D

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I have not shot an animal with the Barnes, but from what I have read I plan on trying them. I remember seeing that buck in your avatarwhen you posted the picture and I recall it was with the Barnes. Many guys on the Smokeless Forum shoot the barnes, it seems to be between the Barnes, ShockWave and Parker Ballistic Extreme, and several of the new shooters who shot SW are switching to Barnes, as am I IF I CAN GET A ACCURATE LOAD combo. Anyway, I think you will like the Crushed Rib, I have about 6 packages of them, since I just buy 1 every time I order from Mid South, they are only $5 package. Chap

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the Shockwaves shoot great out of my Omega and my Rem700. I've only shot one deer with them, a doe. It was one of the 250's and it passed through but left some evidence of fragmentation, If I get any more I think it will be the bonded variety and I would like to try some with the crush ribs. Of course if the Gold Dots, SW and Expanders all shoot well with them I'll be perplexed about what to hunt with. As far as the lost velocity I'm not really concerned about that when I'll mainly be using them for reloading after shooting a deer, hog whatever. I ALWAYS reload just in case and I'd rather shoot a $0.50 bullet in the dirt versus a $1.00+ bullet.

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Yes, that is where you can use the cheaper bullets. Chap

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"I want to make a gentle suggestion, I say gentle because it appears that I have a problem with "crush ribs.""

It is a fact that my Encore does not like Crush Rib sabots: 100 yard groups are all over the place with the 250 grain SST. The Hornady Low Drag sabots with the same bullet make 2-3" groups with that gun-minute of pig. The tight fitting red and the tight fitting black sabots make groups in the1" to 1.5" range with me doing the shooting: A young Marine i know makes .75" groups at 100 yards withthe Encoreand that load.

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Amen, your gun likes the Low Drag and the black and red sabots (so called "short black"?). That is great you found that out. Every gun is different and some will NOT like the crushed rib, that is a given with bullets, powder, sabots and primers. Good to know about the Encore, do other Encore users have the same problem with the Crushed rib---i.e. big groups at 100 yards? Chap Gleason

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Chap

Going back to one of your earlier posts, I do not think there is any way that I could put a .458 in .451/.452 “crush rib” rib and get it down the barrel… I have never tried it, but that should work well in your tight sabot theory. And as I understand the Savage and the use of smokeless powder you really do have to have a tight sabot to get progressive powder to burn correctly. Lee has tried to explain it to me a couple of times. So yes, I do use the MMP Orange sabot to shoot .458’s, but then your statement about the Savage, the .458, in a “crush rib” really leans me to my thought that the “crush rib” really is to loose/thin for most bores shooting the correct bullet in it.

I have never said that the “crush rib” was inaccurate; my suggestion was that the “crush rib” leaks gas from my ML’s that the 3p did not. The “crush rib” was designed to load in very tight bores and it should be used there but to use them in a bore that does not need them, might cause a loss of velocity. Now then if you are loading them because they are easier to load and they are accurate, gees! that sounds like a Power Belt, then that is your choice. And using them for a second quick shot really might be the place for them. For me, since I shoot a semi-fouled bore it really makes no difference my second load – loads the same way as the first.

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Agreed, these are the sabots for tight bores. If they are accurate, I think that is more important than loss of speed, butI really didn't expect to seea 200 fps loss, that is pretty significant, since most folks shooting another 50g pellet will only get a 400 fps increase in velocity, so this is about 1/2 of that, which is a lot. So in general I agree with you, if you can use an MMP that fits tight, then do so.
Chap