How are they loaded? Do you lube that plastic wad? I always used Powerbelts so I don't know diddley about these. Are they like loading a round ball?

I only use Powerbelts. I have heard that you gotta just about hammer the shockwaves down the bore. Does NOT sound fun or worth it to me. The plastic leaves a residue the builds up too.

I hope I understand your question right?? After dumping your powder charge down the barrel of course.

You match the sabot diameter to the bullet diameter. For instance. A 300 grain .45 caliber Shockwave in .452 diameter would then be placed in a black high pressure sabot which is made to handle the .452 diameter bullet of 300 grains or less. Since your using Shockwaves instead of Hornady SST's, you already have the correct sabot included with the purchase. Some people do change the sabots out....

I use my thumb and push the plastic sabot with the bullet inside it into the throat of the muzzle. Then using a short starter with a special Shockwave tip which will do less damage to the poly cone head, you start the sabot and bullet down the barrel using the longer end of the short starter. Then finish seating the sabot with the ramrod of course.

You do not lube the sabot at all. I will sometimes wet it with spit but that is as far as it goes. This is the reason you keep reading that everyone swabs between shots. That is because many of the bullet sabot combinations are such a tight fit that without swabbing they in some cases can be next to impossible to load.

If the bullet/sabot combination you are loading seems really hard to load. As in break my ramrod hard. Then you need to check some of the different makes of sabots out there. Knight, T/C, MMP, and Harvester among some and they are all different degrees of thickness. I find the best sabot for the CVA and the T/C are the T/C mag express sabots.

The first time I loaded a Hornady SST in my Black Diamond XR, I was using the wrong sabot and broke the head off my short starter. Sabots do make a difference. You might need to experiment.

The sabot should not be real easy to load like a powerbelt, yet you should not have to pound it down the barrel (which I have done) in order to seat it. Good luck they are normally great shooting projectiles.

Very well said (as usual) Cayugad!

What rifle ya' uzin' Mike?.... each manufacturer uses a slightly different bore size.. a couple manufacturers make "more than slightly" larger bores in 45 & 50 caliber.

CVA Hunterbolt, 50 cal. And sorry, they are TC Mag-Sabots in 50 cal, 245 grain.
It seemed way to hard to get down the barrel.

How old are the sabots because in 2003 T/C changed sabot manufacturers for their bullets?? Did you buy them from a small hometown store or a big outlet like Bass Pro, Gander or Cabelas??

Also, what's in your bore when you load your first bullet.... ie... lubes, oils, solvents... etc??

Bought them last month at Cabelas. My barrel is clean when I load.

If they are the T/C mag express sabots and still load hard, then I would try the Harvester Black High pressure. That just goes to show you how crazy some of these rifles are. My Staghorn loads like a dream with the shockwaves and shoots them fantastic....

Mike

The bullets you bought are of the new, easy-loading variety. Your bore should not load these bullets with grunt force. You say the barrel is clean -- but is it dry as a bone? The reason I ask is because some cleaners have lubes in them that get tacky when the weather is warm... making it more difficult to load sabots. Some bore oils like Ballistol do the same thing. Did you swab the bore with rubbing (isoprophyl alcohol before loading to remove remnants of storing oils and/or solvents/lubes?

I broke my T-handle while trying to load Shockwaves in my Encore, they loaded so hard. Then I got smart and ordered some Dead Center bullets and am very pleased with the way they load and shoot. Jim