Any of you guys have any experience with this brand bullet? I was kicking around Gander Mt. yesterday not really intending to buy anything..........$105 later, LOL.

http://www.harvesterbullets.com/sabertooth.htm

Anyway, The 300gr designcaught my eye as a possible contended for replacing my usual 295gr Powerbelt hollowpoints that my T/C "Pa Hunter" flintlock likes so much.
They're within 5grs total weight of them, similar style gas check (although not locked on like a Powebelt, more like a short sabot over the belt of the bullet.
They look like a nasty bullet and by design seem like they should be great for the more modest velocities that my flinter puts out with a 100gr charge.

And if all goes well and they aren't copper plated turds........they're $9.99 a pack for 15. Almost 1/2 the price of regular Powerbelts at $18.99 for 15 of the 295gr Hollowpoints.

I'll drag the camera (and maybe the chronograph) along and document the range session. Hopefully it isn't a case of you get what you pay for, but for $10 a pack I had to grab 2 just for giggles and some range time. (At worst I can load them as "finishers" in a couple loose speedloaders)

Be very very careful with these. I used them one year and they shot Ok. 2" at 100 yards. I was shooting them with i believe 120g RS and on my first day of hunting, i had jumped over a couple smalls creeks and in doing so, the bullet fell right out of the cup and onto the trail without my knowledge. I found out the hard way when i pulled the trigger, 20 minutes into the hunt and then to insult me even more, i found the actual bullet on the trail later that day. These do not have the snap on bases like the powerbelts, The sabertooths require that you have a GOOD snug fit in the bore as the pedals on the plastic cup are what hold to the base of the bullet. I think if you were to use them, it would be wise to some a few drops of super glue into the cup and then put the bullet in. I liked them to at first, But with all the hiking and rough trails i run, i can not depend on the cup nor the superglue to hold the bullet in place.

After that first shot that day, there was no recoil at all, just a ton of smoke and a big mulie haulin ass through the forest. I loaded up a 295g powerbelt right after and put it to use 3 days later on a mulie at 148 yards.

That was my exact initial concern after taking one out of the package. The cup will literally just fall right off some of them.
I took each of them off and bent the "petals" inward a bit and reseated the bullets and they stay in place much better but I will certainly see what sort of bore fit they have and thanks for the heads up. It would kind of suck to have the ol' cartoon bullet roll out the barrel when you really need it huh?

I also thought about the dab of superglue as well but wondered about the gas check staying attached a little too long or maybe not dropping off.......probably would I guess but no real way to know without shooting some sort of medium like gel or sand or something.

I think if the bullet stays seated OK I might be in the chips but I'll keep a close eye on them. Maybe even TRY to make one come out by turning the gun over and trying to shake it loose (Re seating of course before firing to make sure it's not 1/2 way down or anywhere in between)

Accuracy wise they realistically only have to be good to about 75 yards tops for the majority of my hunting with the flintlock here in PA. Probably the longest I've taken is somewhere around 60.

I hope someone has some experience on game........curiousto hearhow they did.

My brother from Penna shooting an encore got this buck last year in Va with that bullet, 3 pyrodex pellets, thickest part of the next where it joins he body DRT. Strong good bullet with 150g of pyrodex. 100g will be fine in a FL if you choose toshoot it. I agree with FG that ya gotta glue the base on or do something so it doesn'tfall out or worse yet unseat and have a barrel obstruction. I shoot a TC Flintlock in PA, I use a 300g Speer Gold Dot with a Crushed Rib sabot with 80g of Goex. Excellent strong bullet, easy loading with the Crushed Rib sabot (even with dirty barrel on 2nd shot if you need it) and the cost of 50 is only $18!!! At 100g they are perfect for FL hunting.
Chap Gleason

I shot them in a number of different rifles. I have yet to see one fall off the sabot. Next time I shoot them I will REALLY TRY to shake one off the sabot. In my Knight rifles they are very accurate. I shoot them with 90 grains of 3f powder. They did very well I thought. Also my impressions of them and the way they reacted downrange was they would have made an excellent hunting load.

Whatmakeof rifle was it that these fell out of?
It sounds like either the bore was loose or it was a defective sabot.
Since the sabot didn't fall out of the barrel, maybe it was just a bad batch of sabots with loose interior cavitytolerances or some other similar defect.
That doesn't necessarily mean that all of them willbe defective though.

Winchester X-150 with a .501" bore. The sabots fit fine, they just dont offer enough grip on the bullet to hold it in place.

Well I'm back........I didn't get everything done that I wanted to accomplish at the range because my sportsmen's club was hosting a school picnic. There were teachers and students running around down by the clubhouse and even though I was a good 100 yards off to the side of them I kinda felt bad shooting my inline first. [:-]

I think I saw 15 people rise up out of their shoes when I touched that first round off. LOL

I'll save the sabertooth testing for a later date but I did find a nice new load for my CVA Magbolt 150:
120grs loose FFg T7 and 300gr T/C Shockwave bullets with those new Easy load sabots they have (The 2 petal yellow ones)

POI was 6" high and 2" left of where 110grs and a 250gr Knight Powerbelt was hitting originally. 2 shots later and a serious overcook on the scope adjustment brought her right into the center.
Last 2 shots were 1/2" high figure 8 right down the middle at 100 yards. At 50 yards it's printing 1" high.

Been a while since I actually shot this gun and I forgot how much whoop these things dish out with that much T7. Yeehaw.

Any of you ballistically gifted individuals have any idea how she'll do as far as POI goes at 150 and 200 yards? I'm hunting PA and realistically even in our regular rifle season a 100 yard shot is a LONG shot in heavy woods but I was curious what the holdover would be at 150 and 200 (ya know....just in case.)

With 120grs FFg T7 and a 300gr Shockwave it's gotta be doing somewhere in the mid 1800fps range off the top of my head right?

Anyway, I think I have whiplash and a mild headache so I'm gonna chill with a cold beverage and I'll save the Sabertooth testing for maybe Monday.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I have shot the Sabor Tooth for years off and on, I think it is the best non sabot bullet made, I had one come apart like he said but with me it was the Power Belt that dropped the bullet out, I slipped in the mud and rapped the barrel into a tree root and seen the bullet setting on the tree root when I got up off my knees.
Conical bullets are more prone to this problem than saboted bullets are, thats one of the reasons that most of us chose to use sabots when we can. Of couse theres people makeing laws that are completely ignorant of our problems and usually could care less so we end up using them in some states. Lee

If you look here: http://www.harvesterbullets.com/loadSaber.htmabout 100g of 777, your exactly right on the 1800 fps. I could NOT find the Ballistic Coefficient of the Harvester in a Google seach and Harvester did not have it on their web site, so I am going to guess that it is about the same as a 300g XTP, which is approximately .230 for the 300g, actually the Hornady Web site had the SST at .251 so the .230 seems high, so lets use .200. So lets drop those figures into here:

http://sav10ml.com/pages/load_data/traj_basic_dat.html

with a 150 yard zero. Here is what you get:


WWW.SAV10ML.COM

So your 3.4" high at 75 yards, the highest point of the arch. Your dead on at 150. 3.5" low at 175 and 8.3" low at 200. The bullet does not have that good a BC, but it is certainly adequate for a ML. Just sight it in 3" high at 75 yards and you should be good out to 150 with your open sights.
Chap Gleason