got a question

OK had a day off,got my Knight disc Extreme and headed to my rifle range,shot my normal load 90 grn blackhorn pushing a 200 grn shockwave,best group .75 Outside to outside edge 5 shots.Then I started to play around up the grains to 100 then 110 groups open up greatly,tried 250 grain hornady SSt bullets,groups again opened up went back to my original load,which BTW was given to me by Cayuga,My question is why does this rifle like this load and if I was going to go for a bigger animal like Elk instead of deer would I not Be able to go to bigger grn Bullet and have the accuracy that I'm use too or is 200 grn big enough for all the game here.Im just wondering why one rifle likes one Powder and Bullet combanation better some others

It isn't a surprise that a particular gun likes a particular load combo better then other loads. Imho a 200 grn bullet would be too light for big game such as elk. If you have only tried a few combos with bigger bullets, there are many more to choose from. You might consider something in the 300 grn range.

would I need to slow it down I wonder,mainly use it for deer and coyotes now but never know.With this combo have taken several deer and coyotes with it.Man I love this thing.

You said you used the 250gr SST but did not mention the sabot so im assuming its the red sabot that comes with the SST.

Those red SST sabots are WAY smaller loaded OD than the 50x40 200gr Shockwave sabot. To get a similar loaded OD you would need to use the MMP HPH-12 sabot with the SST bullet or switch to a 458 bullet and the MMP orange 50x458 sabot.

Its very uncommon for a rifle to not shoot a 50x45 but shoot a 50x40 well. Chances are you just have not tried the right 50x45 sabot for your bore and got lucky the 50x40 fit.

You didn't mention the actual group size, just that they increased greatly.
While minute of angle or less is very nice, it isn't necessary in a hunting rifle/load for the big game. Even a 3 inch group will easily kill an elk past 200 yards with no problem. Rarely , if ever, can we shoot any rifle to its potential under field conditions.

You didn't mention the actual group size, just that they increased greatly.
While minute of angle or less is very nice, it isn't necessary in a hunting rifle/load for the big game. Even a 3 inch group will easily kill an elk past 200 yards with no problem. Rarely , if ever, can we shoot any rifle to its potential under field conditions.

OK I can see I need a bit more schooling,how do you know which sabot to use where can I order these different sabots,Here in my small town I'm lucky to get these, normally I need to drive to springfield which is an Hour an 1/2 away,and you guys are talking about crushed rib sabot don't think I've even seen one,even at the basspro,my rifle will shoot about .75 at 100 yards with the load I'm using now but knowledge is the key to almost all Question. thanks Dean

You can order them directly from MMP http://mmpsabots.com/store/black-hph12-sabot/

Look at the sabot chart at the top of this section. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9798

The HPH-12 is close in loaded OD to the 50x40 sabot. It will be much tighter than the red SST sabot. Simply use the 250gr SST in the HPH-12 sabot or order some 250gr FTX bullets.

IMO all of them are a bit light for elk unless you swap to a monolithic bullet like Barnes or Lehigh. Standard cup and core bullets in the 250gr range may work but you can find far better bullets in that weight range. Hornady even offers a 250gr Monoflex that looks just like a 300gr SST. You might also like the 250gr or 275gr Bloodline/Lehighs.

I've found that each muzzle stuffer has its own favorite load combo that will shoot very tight groups. However as was posted, don't get too wrapped up in how small your group is. Three inches is plenty accurate for a hunting group. If you can get a load good enough to humanely take your quarry and still shoot with MOA accuracy so much the better. And its very likely you can. It just takes time and a lot of shooting and changing components to do it.