Shooting Trip to the Rock Pit

[sabotloader]

Finally!!! the weather here changed enough I could finally get out to do some shooting. We have a have a terribly dry and hot summer, yesterday the temperature drop into the 70's, actually 66* when I left the house and made the drive to the pit.

Well anyway finally grabbed the 45 Knight Super DISC (FT) and all the stuff I needed and headed out. I was really worried because of my late start that someone else might be there and have the pit tied up... but luck was with me nobody...

Nothing really important to report but thought I would provide my shooting attempt.

This was more or less a trip to check the rifle for the upcoming rifle season here in Idaho. So the trip wasn't to do a lot of shooting just to see if the rifle would hit where it was pointed.

Set up 5 clays on the basalt wall, set up the shooting bench and began shooting! This pic shows a composite of the event.

After this trip I will not be able to blame the rifle if I were to miss.

 

[Pike40]

Finally!!! the weather here changed enough I could finally get out to do some shooting. We have a have a terribly dry and hot summer, yesterday the temperature drop into the 70's, actually 66* when I left the house and made the drive to the pit.

Well anyway finally grabbed the 45 Knight Super DISC (FT) and all the stuff I needed and headed out. I was really worried because of my late start that someone else might be there and have the pit tied up... but luck was with me nobody...

Nothing really important to report but thought I would provide my shooting attempt.

This was more or less a trip to check the rifle for the upcoming rifle season here in Idaho. So the trip wasn't to do a lot of shooting just to see if the rifle would hit where it was pointed.

Set up 5 clays on the basalt wall, set up the shooting bench and began shooting! This pic shows a composite of the event.

After this trip I will not be able to blame the rifle if I were to miss.

Great post. I totally get the concern and frustration with the hot dry summer and shooting. I was getting pretty worried about getting sighted in. As I write this it is raining and it is going to be a very wet weekend., that appears to be behind us. My elk season starts in a couple of weeks! A couple of comments, I would love to break away at some point from the sabots. I am always interested to see what you are using and I am curious what you use in your .50's? I have also learned a lot from your posts, so I also just wanted to say thanks.

Pike

 

[sabotloader]

Great post. I totally get the concern and frustration with the hot dry summer and shooting. I was getting pretty worried about getting sighted in. As I write this it is raining and it is going to be a very wet weekend., that appears to be behind us. My elk season starts in a couple of weeks! A couple of comments, I would love to break away at some point from the sabots. I am always interested to see what you are using and I am curious what you use in your .50's? I have also learned a lot from your posts, so I also just wanted to say thanks.

Pike

Well I do use a couple of different sabotless bullets in the 50's. One is a true sabotless and other are 50 cal bullets that I have cut raised barbs in. These barbs cat the lands and become a bore rider. I use a MMP Sub Bridge to contain the gas behind the bullet.

Several years ago Lehigh Dave built these 50 cal. sabotless brass bullets. They are no longer in production but I still have some that I use during our rifle seasons.

Another option is to find a 50 cal. hollow point that you can insert into a pipe cutter and cut grooves.

This is an example using some Barnes .500 x 275 HP using the tubing cutter to cut grooves

This pic shows the cut grooves...

This pic shows a 50 cal. Lehigh knurled with a file - which I REALLY do not advise. The point of the picture is to show the MMP Ballistic sub bridge install in the bore.

Ask additional questions of you have them.

mike

 

[Pike40]

Thank you for the informative post sabotloader. Mixed feelings about physically modifying the bullet. I would need some more discussion on that. I appreciate the information on the subbase, makes complete sense. I am curious if the subbase always loads true?

 

[Pike40]

Thank you for the informative post sabotloader. Mixed feelings about physically modifying the bullet. I would need some more discussion on that. I appreciate the information on the subbase, makes complete sense. I am curious if the subbase always loads true?

A follow up question on the subbases, In doing some reading I see that some folks use them with Sabots. In this case I can see how they insert in the sabot and would create an additional seal, the one sight I read suggested no loss in accuracy and in many cases an increase with sabots. I am still not getting the picture on how these would be as consistent when seating a normal bullet. Maybe I am overthinking this.

 

[sabotloader]

A follow up question on the subbases, In doing some reading I see that some folks use them with Sabots. In this case I can see how they insert in the sabot and would create an additional seal, the one sight I read suggested no loss in accuracy and in many cases an increase with sabots. I am still not getting the picture on how these would be as consistent when seating a normal bullet. Maybe I am overthinking this.

Originally they were built to fit inside the powder cup of a sabot when shooting smokeless powder. Smokeless would burn right threw a normal sabot base so the sub-base provided extra protection. And really that is still their mission today.

But, a lot of us have found they work very well as a wad also when shooting full bore bullets.

You are correct when you seat the bullet normally. You press the bullet and sub-base down onto the powder together. When you ignite the load the pressure will cause the the top of the sub- base to flatten against the base of the bullet. The gas will be sealed behind the base. When you look at a recovered base that has been shot you will see it will be some what deformed. But they work great.