I've heard some that love the Harvester Crushed Rib and say their groups improved. Others don't care for them.

I'm shooting a new Omega .50 cal - 60 shots through the barrel with various sabots.

I'd like to eventually shoot:
—— .429 x 240 Hornady HP-XTP or Nosler .429 x 240 JHP. for Deer.

—— Nosler .429 x 300 JHP or Hornady .429 x 300 HP-XTP for Elk.

**I'm now testing the Hornady .50 Cal Sabot Low Drag with 45 Cal 250 SST Bullet.
Can I improve the 250 SST accuracy by changing the supplied Hornady sabot to the Harvester Crush Rib?

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What's your take?

Thom2
It is not that simple. There is a wide tolerance on bore diameters in muzzleloaders,they run from .497 or even .496 in rare cases and up to .505 just using .500 caliber as an example. The .496 to .498 is what the crush rib is designed for and works good with. The next one up in size is the MMP HPH24 and the black Harvesters which are the same thickness of petals, after that the next thicker one is the MPP 12 then the short black MMP. What you need is the one that makes every thing fit right to your barrel. Lee

Depending on which rifle I shoot, in many of the tight bore rifles like Thompson Centers and some CVA the harvester crushed rib work wonderful. The Knights like a different sabot. All you can do is try them in your rifle and decide for yourself.

What they said.
BTW: I like your Avatar

thom2

I personally do not like the 'crush rib' but I personally do not need to use it in any of my ML's.

If the 'crush rib' is the only sabot available that will allow you to load your selected projectile then use it, but if you can find a sabot that fits like either of the Havester solid sabots or the MMP sabots use them.

MMP also makes a thin 45/50 cal sabot a HPH-3p-EZ load that I have used on occasion and I do prefer that to the 'crush rib' - but in the end you rifle bore will tell you.

60 rounds especiall sabotted rounds through a barrel is not enough to know what your barrel is really going to like once it is broken in.

I have the older t/c thunderhawk in 50 cal. I use the crush rib sabot with the hornady 300 xtp mag: bullets,I think they mic: in the ballpark .500
I like them and using 80 to 85 grains of T7 they shoot outstanding.
I can shoot the factory hornady black sabot but only if the barrel is clean otherwise they are a nitemare to get down the bore for a second shot if needed.
I also like the bufffalo 375 HPBT they also are undersized .459 another great shooting bullet in my t/c bore
I will tell you the hornady SST will not group at all in my barrel so it someting to play with to find the right bullet/sabot for each gun

As with all things in muzzleloading, you will have to try it and see. lemoyne is correct in that fit has a lot to do with how well a load shoots. However, I have had loose fitting sabots shoot very well. Muzzleloaders are a lot like the English language, they don't always follow the rules.

As for Harvester products, I have nothing bad to say about them. I have shot every MMP sabot except for the Red (smokeless) and Harvesters have almost always outshot them. That goes for both the Crush Rib and the Non Crush Rib. That being said, your results may vary. The only way to know is to give it a try.

Here's a target with the Hornady 250 SST - 100 grains T7.
Others on the forum have said I may have a loose scope base mount. I pulled off the scope today and the mount is torqued to specs. I think it's the Simmons Whitetail scope because the previous groups were too wide spread. Shot one from another 4 shots, same load same loading procedure was 10 inches left of the target center.

I order a Leupold VX-I 3-9x40 today. We'll see what happens.

For what it's worth, POI never changed for me, but the CR did load a touch easier in my Encore. Backing my charge down is what made the difference. Tite group's.

it could be you I would have someone else shoothr rifle for a few shots and see what comes out of it