sabotloader

As most know Lehigh has started producing all copper bullets (no lead). The first one was the .452x265 CF - it has proven to work very well and shoots really accurately.


Another bullet in the works is a .451x230 grain CF. I was hoping that this bullet might serve 3 purposes for the deer hunters spread out across the US.


1. Initially suggested by Grouse the .451 bullet was to load in his tight bore NULA or any of the new rifles out there with a tight bores. Those of you that have a tough time loading a .452 this bullet this bullet would possibly offer a you an option and the ability to shoot a bullet with very good Terminal Performance.


2. Probably one of the biggest selling bullet to ML shooters is the Hornady 45x240 pistol bullet. It is very in expensive and it will shoot accurately from about any twist bore. I/we are hoping the new 230 might appeal to some of those shooters and allow them to move from a pistol bullet to a rifle bullet. Within that group of shooters, and a lot of us inline shooters do not think of this, but across the nation there are still a lot of people shooting 1-48 twist rifles either older sidelocks - rock sparkers and even the new TC Northwest Explorer. Lehigh built this rifle bullet to be shot from them as well as the more modern 1/28 or 1/24 twist rifles


3. Was the possibility of shooting these true hunting bullets sabotless in a 45 cal. ML.


Recently I received a sample selection of the of the new 451x230 prototype bullets. So today with a little spare time on my hands I headed for the Rock Pit to give them a try.


I can not tell you the last time I shot this rifle - it has been in the safe for at least three years. It is my PRB shooter for local Rhondy shoots around this area.




At one time I was really fond of these Renegades - think I still have 4 of them. I really thought this would be a good rifle to use for test the 230's ability to shoot from a 1-48 twist.
Got to the rock pit and set up my work area on the tail gate of the pick up... and the chrono set out in front of the bench











I did pop a few caps on an empty bore - and then a couple of shots to clear the boil of most of the Montana Extreme Bore Conditioner. The 451's actually loaded a little tighter than I expected - easy enough to load with a HPH-24 but not what I expected. After I got home and talked to Lehigh Dave he explained why.... he increased the depth of the knurling to get a positive grip on the sabot. Once the sabot was through the crown the bullet went down as I expected.


This is a 75 yard target which I thought was really good for me and my eyes with open sights... #4 was me - I forget sometimes when I use the set trigger. The average velocity created by the T7-3f - 100 grain load was 1951 fps





I did adjust the peep after shots 1 & 2 to bring the POI down - again the rifle was sighted in for a PRB with 70 grains of T7.
Ron has also just posted of a 50 grain test of the bullet and it did shed pellets and performed as expected.


I hope to get out and try the sabotless shooting next with one of the Super DISC's

sabotloader

One of my suggested 3-fer's does not appear that it will work that easily. I was really hoping that I could use the bullet as a sabotless projectile from my 45 rifles... but...


With this new bullet you can see the base is a true 451.





but the knurling is lifted to .454 to provide a positive grip on the sabot. It should be possible with a short starter to get it through - As that turns out it will not happen in my case.





I have not even tried to resize one yet... sooo...


I just resized a couple.





The bullet on the left is resized to .451... I have 3 Knight 45's - the 451 drops right down one, would be just right for the second, and will not even start in the new Mountaineer. The one on the right is resized to .452 and works well in one and will not work in the other two.


As hard as this copper is it does not re-size easily. If you resize to .452 and then to .451 it is manageable. So at this point one of my 3-fers may not come to pass. It just might not be worth the effort.

Gm54-120

That 230gr looks like just the ticket for my NULA.

What is the length?

cayugad

That is some real good shooting out of a Renegade. What sabot were you shooting? And that is really pushing that traditional rifle. That would make a good hunting load for sure.

sabotloader

That was a really bad pic I sent via email - this is better



Grouse loaded one through his NULA with a Harvester - said it loaded fine

And I know it will shoot

sabotloader

I have always enjoyed shooting Renegades - they are awesome. All of my Renegades have pre-TC barrels.


It would be a great hunting load - kinda makes me think I really should hunt with it just for old-time-sake

Gm54-120

Excellent. Using that length and weight mine is plenty stable from 2000fps to 2300fps according to several calculators. Probably even less but that is the fps range i would be using.

The JBM stability rating ends up almost right smack in the middle between 1.3 and 2.0 for any speed i would be shooting.