newman1

i was shooting the 200 grain shockwaves saturday with only 85 gr. t7 and i shot 30 shots that day and every single sabot had one petal missing.does any one know why this would happen? i find it hard to believe that i was overstressing the sabots with that small amount of powder.I am not complaing the gun was shooting 1-1/4 inch groups at 100 yards...i was just a bit curious.thanks in advance

Mark whiz

Has any other type of sabot done that out of that rifle??

If it happens with more than just this load, I'd say you may have a tight spot or a slight burr somewhere in the rifling. If it's just this particular bullet, I'd advise trying a different brand sabot with those bullets to see if things improve.

I shoot the 300gr SSTs with 80gr of 777 and have not seen that sort of problem out of my Knight. Sometimes the petals ARE peeled back at a full 90deg angle to the base, but not ripped completely off.

cayugad

Like Mark said, it could be a burr in the barrel. If I were shooting those kind of groups at 100 yards I would not care what the sabot looked like.

If the sabot thing is really bothering you, try some other sabots and see if the same thing happens. If it does, it is probably a burr. Get some J-B Bore Paste and scrub the barrel of your rifle real good if you're that concerned. If it is a burr that Bore Paste will smooth that right out while at the same time take the lead, copper and plastic fowling out of the barrel. Be sure and oil the barrel good afterward.

sabotloader

newman1,

The last time I talked to Del Ramsey at MMP, he indicated it was not a problem if the sabot-petals broke off the the sabot as long as occurs after separation. If it occurs during separation you groups - well, you won't have groups.

All of my .458 MMP sabots break petals - but are not effecting accuracy and often the the thicker .451 sabots will break - especially the new polymere sabots...

cayugad

sabotloader... your the expert on this. Does the cold weather have anything to do with sabot performance? I have noticed shooting in the cold that the sabots do not open as much as they do in the warmer weather. When its hot, the petals will be wide open. When it is cold they will be hardly stretched open. In fact it looks like you could almost reuse them sometimes.....

At least I have never had them breaking off, but now I know it is nothing to get concerned about....

MOTurkeyTamer

I have used Dead Center sabots (orange) and Shockwave sabots (blue) in .50 caliber using .40 caliber bullets. The heavier petals of the .40/.50 sabots are designed to break away from the base. Sometimes, all four petals will be missing and other times only 2 or 3 petals will be missing. It definitely doesn't hinder accuracy as the .40/.50 Shockwave 200 grainers are extremely accurate out of my Omega.

herman

You didn't say which caliber you were shooting,if it was the 200 gr bullet for the 50 cal.I was told that some of the pedals would break off .and was no problem for the accuracy.They are 40 caliber bullets in a 40 to 50 cal sabot.I shoot them in my 50 cal encore and one or 2 pedals break off every shot but it shoots less than an inch @100 yds.
If you were shooting them in a 45 cal rifle,I would go along with the rest of these fellows and think you have a burr or something in the barrel,have never seen the pedals break off the 40 to 45 caliber sabots used for the 45 cal rifle.

sabotloader

cayugad,

It is my opinion that temperature has a lot to do with sabot performance. The warmer the outside ambient temperature the greater chance you will have of getting your group to open up. Even repeated rapid shooting in cold weather and the heating of your barrel will effect sabot and group performance.

I really prefer sighting in and shooting cool weather - something below 45 degrees.

The colder the sabot the tougher it is. i must say that I do get broken petals in cold weather also but I am shooting 100/110 grain of loose t7, with a very thin .458 Orange MMP sabot. At first the broken petals were a real concern to me, hince my conversation with Del several months back. I also once shot a sabot through a chrono - it was traveling 660 fps at 12 yards - the chrono didn't see the bullet but did see the sabot (I did not have the screens in place) - catching the air at that speed will certainly cause it to open and possible break petals if the petals are folded back far enough.

Tahquamenon

Possibly a burr in your barrel, could also be a minute tolerance devaition with the mfg run of sabots.

With those groups, I would not worry if the sabot disintegrated entirely.

Shooting an Omega 50 cal with 120gr BM3 and the 300gr SST. Sometimes a petal comes off, often not.

Temperature for sure has an effect on grouping with sabots. When shooting sabots, all my ML's like a cooler barrel. Loading is much easier with a cool barrel.

newman1

sorry herman i was shooting the .50 caliber.how is life down in N.C.? i used to live there my self quite a few years ago.