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.40 bullets out of a .50?

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Old 02-20-2011 | 05:40 AM
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Default .40 bullets out of a .50?

Any of ya'll tried Harvester's .50 sabots made for the .40 bullets? I have a new in the box .50 Disc Eilte I'll be setting up soon... I thought about making it a long range deer rifle with a heavy load of BH and maybe a 195 Barnes or 200 Lehigh if it will shoot well... any thoughts??

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Old 02-20-2011 | 05:51 AM
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The 40 cal 260 gr dead center bullet with a 50 cal sabot is one of the most accurate bullets my Disc Extreme shoots,. I shoot it with 130 gr 777 or 120 gr Blackhorn
 
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Old 02-20-2011 | 05:55 AM
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The 40 cal. bullets shoot the best groups and the flattest trajectory for me I use them in several of my guns. I use the 200gr and try all of them in each gun. The Lehigh shoots best in my Encore and the 200 gr Shock Wave in my Triumph the 195 Barns does OK but not as well as the other two.
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Old 02-20-2011 | 05:56 AM
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this is only a guess but you will probably have better luck with a mmp sabot in your knight..........karl
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Old 02-20-2011 | 08:08 AM
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I would also think you would get better velocity with 777 out of a 50cal ML and a light 40cal bullet.
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Old 02-20-2011 | 08:30 AM
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I had terrible luck with the Harvester 50x40 sabots in my Extreme 50. Nearly 50% failed with charges of 100grs or more of BH209. 100gr usually key holed with the Lehigh 200gr or my heavy hard casts.

Im going to try it again this year with some MMP 50x40s and a couple of 1-24 twist barrels.
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Old 02-20-2011 | 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by flint head
Any of ya'll tried Harvester's .50 sabots made for the .40 bullets? I have a new in the box .50 Disc Eilte I'll be setting up soon... I thought about making it a long range deer rifle with a heavy load of BH and maybe a 195 Barnes or 200 Lehigh if it will shoot well... any thoughs??
I had the same idea in a way. I kinda don't have a use for my Triumph, so i decided to try them Harvester sabot, and the 200g SST in it. I kinda wanted to pit the V2 against the Triumph, but them sabot are too loose in the V2, so my guess, is the same as Gm54-120 wrote, that the Harvester sabot will be too loose in your Knight.

Yesterday i shot the Triumph, and them .40 SST at 200 yard. The group ended up 3 shots in 3 1/8". There was a little breeze, but not much. Hopefully things will get better with different amounts of powder. I thought i was shooting 115g of BH209, but discussion with Semisane indicated i was shooting somewhere over 120g. What i did was weigh my charge and use the 0.7 weght/volume ratio, and it doesn't seem to be correct. The ratio of weight:volume seems more like 0.68 when using the U-view measure. At any rate whatever amount of BH i was really shooting, it clocks at about 2125 fps at the muzzle. The BH load i was shooting weighs about 80.5g on a balance scale.
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Old 02-20-2011 | 10:27 AM
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The Harvesters were too loose in my Extreme 50 and IMO that is mostly why i had the issues. Some of the 40cals were VERY heavy and/or long for caliber, so im sure that had an effect too. On one of the SML boards, fast 50x40 loads typically don't do well but the few that do are using the MMP at sub speeds from what i can tell.

BTW according to Blackhorn's website, 84gr weighed=120gr by volume. 50x40-200gr fps is in the 2150-2200fps range according to their data.

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Old 02-20-2011 | 11:01 AM
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Originally Posted by Gm54-120
..........................BTW according to Blackhorn's website, 84gr weighed=120gr by volume.
Yup, that's the ratio of 0.7, which doesn't seem to hold true, if one uses the U-view measure. Semisane speeds with the 300g Deep Curl are 200 fps slower using 777 than than mine using BH for the supposedly same volume if one uses the 0.7 ratio. I didn't think BH was that much better than 777, and it wouldn't be if i poured my powder into, and out of a U-view measure set at 115g.

Of course, another possible difference is i shoot my rifles at over 4600 feet above sea level. I think Semisane shoots his rifles under water, because of all them dikes around his place. He claims he lives 12' higher than sea level, and shoots his rifles at over 200' elevation. If what he writes is correct, there a are lot of strange things needing to be explained. Semisane is the one that can plumb us all up, or not.
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Old 02-20-2011 | 11:48 AM
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Ron, it does appear your MV with the 80.5gr weighed charge is about right if compared to BH209s listed data. You are only roughly 30-70fps less and roughly 4gr less powder.

Im at roughly 600ft IIRC and i shoot mostly at temps below 70F but over 30F. I guess i will need to try mine and see what i get through a chrono with weighed charges. It will be in the Savage with a 24" 1-24 barrel. That is what they used to develop their load data if im not mistaken.
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