Have you ever wondered why a certain sabot will shoot good with a certain bullet but an other bullet the same weight and diameter will shoot much better with a different sabot but not the same one. By now you may be as confused as I am. So for a litttle project I sliced some with the same petal thickness apart.

In checking my records, I have come up with an idea or two.
Since it appears the short sabot uaually works best with either pointed bullets or short bullets iam inclined two believe the the way air flows off the bullet nose affects which sabot will work best for accuracy. What do you think? Lee

lemoyne

Speaking just for myself I have really never found a remarkable differece between sabots, but I do not shoot pointy bullets and I am certainly not the shot that you are. For me the HPH-24 has worked very well with everything that I shoot. I have experimented with the Harvesters even have them on hand just in case but i rarely use them.

I think there might be two reasons that might make some difference. For some if you are loading a shorter projectile it only makes sense you might want a shorter sabot. The shorter sabot may have to effects, less surface area in the bore is encountered and your reloading jag my not contact the petals of the sabot - which contact might cause petal damage.

I prefer to have as much contact with the bore as the projectile and sabot will allow so I usually go with the longer sabot. The more contact with the lands and grooves the less opportunity for slippage as the combination travels up the bore. I use a Spin-jag for 95% of my loading and it does not contact or cause petal damage.

Then going along with you suggestion Lee - I think since the longer petals are beyond the the thicker paortion of the projectie they actually collect air quicker and open wider than than the short petals - so I feel they strip themselves from the projectile quicker and cleaner in most instances.

The last thing that I feel might affect and be a difference in sabots is the formula for the actuall polymere they are made from. I feel the MMP HPH sabots are more pliable than Harvester and because of that are more acceptible to me for for cold weather hunting... and of course, unfortunately, the opposit of that is true also - heat is their (MMP) enemy warm barrels working on the sabot seem to reduce their accuracy where the Harvester seems to handle a bit more heat before a reduction in accuracy may occur.

Just sharing some thoughts...

While sabots do make a difference, 99% of the time I shoot a Harvester Crushed Rib sabot as they are easy to obtain. They also load in all my rifles and because I am never forced into the long shots, the accuracy is normally more then acceptable.

But that is some excellent information. I did pick up some of the short black Harvester with the last order that I want to start shooting in some of the rifles.

Quote" heat is their (MMP) enemy warm barrels working on the sabot seem to reduce their accuracy where the Harvester seems to handle a bit more heat before a reduction in accuracy may occur.

Due to the fact that I live in AR only during late hunting season is it actually cool, most of my shooting is done in 80 and above degrees.
There is no dought that here the Short Black Harvester is best especally with pointy bullets though the occasions it works with the large hollow point bullets are rare. At least part of it may well be due to the tempaturebut I am coming to believe that the shape of the point and the sharpness of the angle and hiegth of the shoulder is having an effect. Sometimes the differance is apparent and some time it is only a 1/4 or 3/8 of an inch.I will see if I can find an example in my targets.

Dave mentioned a Crush Rib which I like and use in several loads but it did not like the Gold Dots

By the way, I was wishing I knew what every one was using in the TC guns [as in which sabot] with the Lehigh bullets? Lee

Lee

As you can probably guess - I use the 24 as the bullets are long...and the Orange MMP with the .458, and the MMP Blue 40/50..

These all work very well in my Omega, Remington, Knight, and I feel really really forunate - they also load and work well in tne new Triumph.

I have not used very many 'crush rib's' at all because everything else loads very well for me. A few years back i did some sabot testing for MMP and compared the 24 to the 'crush rib' in the velocity test I would loose nearly 200 fps second as compared to the HPH-24 and right @ 100 fps when compared to the 3p. Of course that is for my bore and from a Austin and Halleck.

Here is a pic that I took recently with the Lehighs placed in the sabot...

I would like to fined the right one for the 250 Lehigh and my new Endeavor if I can get it shooting well enough I will take it on a hog hunt as soon as the wife can drive[she is doing well with her second new knee] hope that in a week or two I can get away. I love to get away and go hog hunting after I have been needed at home for a while. Lee

So long as the sabot is atight in my gunsthere isverylittle difference in accuracy, if any, between makes.TheKnight and other tight fitting sabots are more accurate in my guns than the Hornadylow dragsabot and much more accurate than the crush rib sabotswhen using the same bullet.

i do understand that some sabots stand up to very heavy charges somewhat better than others. IMO Consistency in loadingis much more important than the make of the sabot.