LaneNebraska

Got some results for all you 45cal Disc Elite shooters, especially those of you who bought from the recent BassPro sale. I own/have access to 3 of these guns all purchased from BassPros.

My setup uses the 45 Disc Elite SS in the Black synth stock, topped with a 3-9 x 42 Simmons Atec scope. CCI 209 primers, APP, Shokey’s Gold, and Pinnacle loose powders all in 3Fg (And a one-time usage of 2Fg Trip7).. Ranging from 80-150grains. Pushing 225grn Powerbelts, 225grn PR Bullet LBT’s, 195grn Dead Centers, 195 QT’s, Hornady 147grn 9mm boat tail XTP,s, 200grn ShockWaves, 175grn RedHots and 36cal round balls in sabots.

My usual range is 30, 50 and 80 yards, with a 112 yard slightly uphill max range (I shoot mostly in a sandy-clay pit). Shooting off a card table with 2 sand bags. So if you've got a serious bench rest, expect even better results

I’ve been using the three different breech plugs:

Standard – works great with small amount of blowback.

Domed – about 25% of the standard blowback, but detonates/blows-off the tops of most of the primers. This causes the primer tops to lodge inside the bolt spring assembly, and will foul up the firing pin movement. I plan to do some precision measurements and possibly some modifications to this plug in the near future.

Power Stem – Less blowback than standard using 120grn by volume powder charges. Burns the powder charge about 3x more efficiently! Leaving only 25% of the standard/domed plug residual barrel fouling!! It shocked me to only use 1 wet patch and 1-2 dry patches[:@] I was worried that the 2 inch breech area used up by the stem would get real cruddy. But after 50 shots of Pinnacle the breech area looked great, and was cleaned with 1 wet patch

Overall assessment with above combinations:

This is an awesome rifle Has one of the strongest barrels I know of, and handles 150grn by volume loose powder charges with up to 225 grain projectiles. The bore is very tight, and limits consecutive shots without swabbing to only PowerBelts. You can get up to 2 shots with MOST sabots, but you better have a lot of time and upper body strength and a good short starter…or you can bring a 1-2 pound ball peen hammer[&:] (Pyrodex Shooters will probably have a better time with consecutive shots given the soft fouling left behind, but I can’t say for certain cause I haven’t used it with my rifles.) APP products tend to leave slightly more fouling at the muzzle end of the barrel. This makes the first inch of reloading on a dirty barrel the toughest. Once you get past that inch, the bullet slides home twice as easy as a clean barrel.

BTW, the 150grn charges I fired, kicked like a mule! I settled on the 120grn charge with the PowerStem to be my experimental long-range charge! And the Trip7 crudded up my gun so bad with the FIRST shot, that I could'nt even reload a PowerBelt[:@][:'(]I hate the stuff![:-]

My best load is the 195QT with Pinnacle 120grns by volume-using the Power Stem plug, Sub 1 inch groups at 80yards(will try 200 yards with this combo next!) The QT loads the easiest of all the sabot bullets. All the rest shoot 1-2 inch groups to 80 yards. Our family harvested 6 deer with 225grn PowerBelts this season. Longest shot was 50 yards.

bigcountry

I saw the powerstem work pretty well in my disc elite 50cal. I thought the barrel was alot more cleaner than without the powerstem. But I swab between shots. Good report.

cayugad

Excellent report as usual Lane.

I still can not figure why some people have such a terrible time with Triple Se7en. I was shooting it the other day and what crud was in the barrel swabbed right out. It has to be the climate, temperature, humidity, something... to make it act that way. I was shooting my Knight Disc that day.

lemoyne

LaneNebraska,Good report,If you ever find out why 777 acts that way post it for me. I have tried it in 5 of my 14 muzzle loaders and from time to time I am temted to throw the last two cans in the trash, If it was not for the fact some people I respect don't seem to have any problems with it I would give up on it. I have had excellent results with APP also. Lee

Underclocked

Nice report Lane.

My first attempt with my Disc Elite .45:



Love to get results like that with my homemade bullets.

LaneNebraska

Great shooting UC!!

Just a note ta let everyone know, I've got a cool load to try next time at the range....

A 200grn .348Hornady rifle bullet in a MMP Blue 357cal sabot

Pushed a few thru the Elite barreland it grips well and loads with moderate pressure! Can't wait to seehow 120grns of Pinnacle will spit this combo out!

This could be THE all time coolest hunting/long range load!!

LaneNebraska

Bad news first. The .348 Win bullet was not tight enough to stabilize

Good news:

Got very good results using 120gBV Pinnacle and the Powerstem Breech plug with the following projectiles:

PR Bullet QT 195/40cal

Hornady 9mm 147g Boat Tail XTP(.355cal)

And fit 2each .36cal round balls into the PR .357 Sabot

See Pics:











OK,

LaneNebraska

More pics:

LaneNebraska

The cool part was the Round Ball Express I was hoping for a birdshot effect....but all I could see was 1 hole every time. So I shot some into the cliff side and dug them out. The pic next to the PR sabot is2 roundballs merged into one! Thats the way it works with that much powder behind them. They stay squished together even 112yards down range.

I loaded the sabot first and compressed the powder very firmly. Then I dropped the first RB down the barrel and seated it with the bare end of the ramrod, push easy and you can feel it seat to the bottom of the sabot. Then drop the second ball down and seat it, it will only go a smidge, but you can feel it seat as well. Now you got a 140g of RB stacked and ready to fire

I put 2 roundballs in the holes of the target above to show the impact of two successive shots. I hope you can make them out, on the right hand side of the Bull by the writing.


Also shot some 225g power belts, the recovered bullet on the far left is max 120g powder charge, the one to the right of it is 80g charge. I doun't care who ya are that's A LOT of expansion!

For those who wiegh their powder, this session I used exactly 110.5 grains Actual Wieght of Pinnacle 3Fg as measured by my RCBS 501 balance beam scales



Well, I had a Bunch of fun yesterday! Still gotta get to a 200 yard range some day.