sabotloader

Well, another morning in the Rock Pit with the new Knight, granted this is only a 50 yard target but shooting this new gun is really becoming Ho-Hum?.... No - just kidding... but it sure is a good shooter so far... it is like one of those cheap cameras that I can use -> point-aim-click -- uall know what I mean.

The mission today was to get some velocities... I couldn't stand it the other night so I did re-work the crown a little bit with a round hone... it made a ton of difference in loading this morning. It went really smooth. I only used HPH-24 sabots but did not distort any of them loading as I did the other day.

I am thinking this gun will become my elk gun for regular rifle season hunting, so I really wanted to try different powder levels to check possible shif in POI and velocity. From the information that I have collected in this particular shoot - it looks to me like I will be using 120 grain powder loads.It felt good going off and it appears it will hold a pattern.

Side Note: While shooting in the pit this morning I was joined by a gentleman that wanted to shoot some rifles he had just inherited. One of them was a single shot 45/70. I was really curious to see what that would time at through the chrono so I invited him to shoot it through the chrono. I beleive he said it was a 405 grain Remington... Anyway you can see where he hit and the velocity. I do not know much about a 45/70's but when he gave me the case... if you put a handle on it you could use it for a coffee cup... I thought my 300 Win Mag shells were a bit large but I think you could drop one of them right inside the 45/70 case...

Well anyway here is the target and the velocities.... Next trip to the pit (middle of next week) I am going to shoot PRB's from a 54 cal Renegade - I gotta learn how to do that accurately. I took it with this morning but spent the ahole time with Knight... Wednesday, I am only going to take the Renegade...

Semisane

Wow! Those suckers are really moving out with 130 grains. Chrono readings look about right. A five shot group of 300 GDs and 80 grains weight (103 grains volume) gives me an average of 1755 fps over my ProChrono (with Harvester short sabots).

Funny thing is I've been looking through my records and find I've never gone over 110 grains volume with T-7 and 300 grain GD's. Guess I have more homework to do.

cayugad

Very nice shooting there.. that is some excellent groups. I checked my supply and I have no Gold Dot 300 grain hollow points left. All I have is some flat nose 270 grain so maybe I will try them and see what happens..

wabi

Very good shooting! That rifle sure looks impressive so far.

The 45/70 is a fun cartrige to shoot. I've owned several over the years including a T/C Contender pistol in 45/70. You didn't have to look at the primer to see if the firing pin hadhit itwhen you pulled the trigger.

Chasam60

Semi-I just bought a digital powder scale.Never tried one before. I measured 10/100gr loads with my TC measure,weighed each load and used the average. Do you round up your weight? Looks like it with a 103gr load. I divided the weighed grainnumber by 100 and used the result to calculate other loads. Am I doing this right?

Charlie

Chris W.

Yeah, the 45/70 is a great old cartridge that'll still lay down the thump. My father has a Ruger #1 chambered for it. With 48 gr. of Hodgdon H4198, it'll push a 300 gr bullet over 2100 fps. It'll push a 405 gr. bullet pretty darn close to 1900 fps, using Hodgdon H322. You definately feel those when you shoot'em . Those are decently hot loads for that cartridge, but you can get'em a touch hotter than that. Remington's 405 gr. factory load is around 1400 fps, I believe.

sabotloader

Semisane

I think we are using the same Chrono... it certainly has been a good one for me. My only problem shooting over my chrono is I am more concerned about it that the group at the target - I worry about the sabot hitting something that I do not want it to hit... and I only place the chrono about 10 ft. from the muzzle- hence, that is why I set the target at 50 yards instead of a 100.

I think the 120 grain load is going to be my load for this rifle and that bullet... I had been shooting 110 grains but I get a pretty good velocity boost with 120 and do not seem to loose accuracy. And since this is going to be the elk gun for regular rifle season - I like the extra velocity and the energy that it brings with it. The law of "Deminishing Returns" seems to take ahold at 130 grains do not get near as good a boost...

Speaking of homework that were mylast words to my wife as I went out the door this morning - told her I was on the way to the "rock pit" to do some homework assigned by a guy named Semisane - u should have seen the look on her face... then came the Irish comeback... she says "oh what the heck yournuts anyway,so I guess all is OK." Actually since we both are retired teachers I thought the homework idea was a good thought...

Dave

I bought a box of those 270's the last trip to Sportsman with the full intention of shooting them this spring but I have not got them out yet.... good more homework... but I am going to shoot PRB's from the 54 Renegade next trip to the pit...... I have promised myself... wish you lived closer I would end up your place and let you teach me...

I really like the looks of the 270 - it remeinds me of an old Remington soft point 30-30 bullet - used to shoot them a bunch and they worked great on deer...

cayugad

Sabotloader.. who made the Nosler long petal black high pressure sabots? I was looking through my standard sabots and that is about all I have left other then crushed rib. I thought I would try the Nosler tomorrow in the Disc Extremem...

sabotloader

cayugad

Harvester made the orginal Nosler... if it is a harvester it will have smooth pressure cup and shorter petals than the HPH-12/24. Then MMP started making them and on there first run they were HPH-12's (to tight) then then theyswitched to the HPH-24 - and of course MMP will have the stair stepped pressure cup.

If the Noslers you have are 24 they should work well and go down just right once you get them by the crown. I resorted to a UC trick the other night and honed my crown out just a bit - it made a difference in loading today. It took me awhile to work up the courage to do it, because, I feared I could ruin the crown, but I turned the hone by hand and applied very little pressure - just need to take the steepness of the lands off just a bit.

One thing I did not say in the the original post, was after I finished testing velocity - I placed a bunch of clay pigeons out on the rock wall (100 yards - give or take a few), loaded up 120 grains of T7 and went to work shooting them. I figured if I messed the crown up it would show up there. I did miss the very first one, I tought about the shot - a no-no for me.... I computed thatI sighted the gun in the other day with 250's - and with that in mind thinking about the 50 yard target - I felt my hole should have been higher on the target - then I calculated the 300 grain bullet into the factor and decided I need to put the X-hairs on the top of the bird to break it. All of thse calculations made sense to me but I missed the pigeon - couple of inches high. So I recalculated - told my self quit thinking put the X-hairs on the bottom of the birs as you would normally do @ 100 - all the rest were easily destroyed. Now I know that I can not be shooting the bullet flat - but from 50 to 100 there sure is not much change in elevation...

cayugad

the Noslers I have are really long in the petal department. I will see how they shoot.