yeoman

I'm contemplating a ballistic experiment this weekend. I have some 230 SST's which fit loosely in some black sabots I have. The combo fit easily in the muzzle, maybe a bit too easily, but I think they'll stay together. I thought I'd try shooting a few, taper forward as intended, then shoot a few, taper down and see what happens. They won't fill the base of the sabot because of the nose taper obviously. Do you think the sabot base will collapse around the taper of the bullet even though the fit is very loose? Any danger I'm missing here?

Underclocked

yeoman, is this a for the halibut or is there a purpose to this experiment?

cayugad

I've read your post and well I am not getting something here. 230 SST's.. do you mean 250 grain SST's made by Hornady? If you mean you want to turn the SST backward in the sabot.. I would definitely tell you not to do that. Shoot the projectiles only the way the manufacturer intended them to be shot.

Turning the thing backward in the sabot could possibly lead to barrel damage, or who knows what. Just for your own safety, if this is what your intending.. please don't do it.

yeoman

Cayugad, they aren't SST's, sorry, they're Hornady 45 cal flat nose .451. Not that that will change your reply, but it is a far more reasonable shape to invert.

Outdoors, I'm interested in the effect of a tapered trailing edge on bullet flight.

OK. Forget this. Not a good idea. Won't mention it again. Maybe.

dmurphy317

A tapered trailing edge is called a boattail and the effect it has is to lower drag and increase ballistic coefficient. The Buffalo SSB bullets that I've shot have a boattail design and they work quite well. Many premium centerfire bullets also have that basic design. I agree with the others that it probably is not a good idea to shoot a bullet backwards. A flat based bullet shot backwards would probably perform worse ballistically than the same bullet shot forward. Just my 2 cents.

yeoman

Dmurphy, I'm familiar with boat-tails and checked out the SSB's. What I want to try is very much the SSB in reverse. The limitation is the sabot. What I need is a sabot that would support the shape of an inverted SSB. I've considered using epoxy with a waxed inverted round to fill the base of a sabot or several. The problem with boat-tails and less so the SSB's is stability. If you had an SSB the size of a football, would you try to throw it pointed end forward? I don't think so. Same principal.

dmurphy317

I think I see where your going. It's kind of like an arrow, the weight is in the front and the trailing edge helps stabilize the flight. It would also be like a rain drop which has a natural laminar flow characteristic.

In most of my reading and talking to shooters that have been in competition, there seems to be a general rule that bullets with a heavier rear and lighter nose tend to stabilize better and shoot more accurately, hense the popularity of HP bullets in target shooting. There of course are exceptions to this rule but most every target bullet holds to the lighter nose design. The very accurate Ballistic tip style bullets are bassically a HP with a polymer tip incerted.

I don't know that I would use epoxy for the application you mentioned but it might work if you used something along the lines of a silicone rubber. That would at least allow the sabot to flex as needed and still support the inverted nose of the bullet. A piece of properly sized cork might also be a good filler material. The important thing would be to insure the nose was exactly centered in the sabot so it would be properly aligned with the bore, otherwise it would be a wobbling football shot.

Sounds like it could be an interesting experiment. If you decide to persue it, please be careful and double check every detail before you put your face next to the explosive part.

yeoman

Dmurphy, I've never seen a bullet like I envision. Your competition shooters have never had a bullet like this to shoot, I don't believe. The only way to push it cleanly would be by sabot and so far I don't think sabots are being used in brass cartridge bullets. And do not worry, I'd certainly fire a couple by remote string pull technology before sticking my face in there!

dmurphy317

Glad to hear your safety minded.

Actually there have been sabots used in brass CF cartridges for a while. Remington had (may still have) a loading for the 30-06 and some others called the accelerator line that used a sabot to load a 243 bullet and I think a 22 cal bullet into the 06 case for a blazeing fast varmit load. There is also some 50BMG loadings that use a sabot to load smaller bullets for that monster. I think there are some others but I can't recall any right now.

I have thought of trying an elongated patched round ball, round on both ends with a straight shank between, to see how that would work. I don't think anyone makes a bullet like that so I guess I would have to make it myself, I just don't have the time to get that deep into it right now. That would have some of the characteristics you are talking about.

yeoman

Dmurphy,

That round ball "plug" sounds interesting. I've done Google searches on saboted cartridges and couldn't find much. I did see them employed in military cannons. Thanks for the enlightenment. If you see a "backward" facing bullet, let me know.