I know this is gonna sound weird...

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Recently I noticed that I was getting carbon smudges on my targets, around the edges of the bullet holes. I thought this meant I was getting gas blowby around the sabot.
I was shooting an older box of 250 grain 45 cal XTP's and they were a little dirty.
So. I cleaned them with rubbing alcohol and the smudging went away AND accuracy improved!
I tried the same thing with my 45 shooting 200 grain 40 cals. They were clean, but accuracy was improved. Put 6 into an inch at 50 yards. Was zeroing an aperture sight.
It seems that a dirty bullet or one with some oily substance on it, does have a negative effect on accuracy. The improvement was about a half inch at 100 yards and about the same from the 45 at 50.
I also index my sabots so I have one land solid on each petal.
Little things do make a difference!
 
Interesting concept about indexing your sabots so one land is solid on each petal. Never heard that before.
 
Well thats odd if you have a 8 land barrel and a 4 petal sabot. Why not 2 lands per petal as is normally recommended?
 
Well thats odd if you have a 8 land barrel and a 4 petal sabot. Why not 2 lands per petal as is normally recommended?

I have some Clear looking Sabots sitting here beside me as i type this (.54 Cal, Hornady I believe?) With XTP Bullets in them. I have been wanting to try them, but always end up doing other things
 
I get about a land and a half per petal if I center a land.
Cleaned some 300 grain XTP's and shot my smallest 10 shot 100 yard group. 1 &13/16 ths. Previous best was 2 inches. This is with an aperture sight.
I've found indexing worth the effort. Cleaning apparently too. Its a small effort to make.
 
Im kind of new to muzzleloader hunting, could someone please explain indexing sabots?
 
Basically, indexing a sabot involves centering at least 1 land on one sabot petal. Doing so will maximize support of the sabot as well as maintaining consistent load tension.
Doing this has improved both accuracy and consistency in every rifle I've tried.
 
Thank you for explaining that for me. Ill have to give that a try. My groups aren't bad at about 2" at 100 yards but better is always an option.
3 shot groops.
 
The easiest way for me to get two lands on each petal is to align the sabot slot exactly on a groove. I put a black mark on the crown of barrel on a groove and align the slot to it
 
Does a bullet rotate as it slides down the barrel keeping petals and lands concentric?
 
The bullet should lock into the sabot when the sabot/bullet combo is first inserted in the barrel. The sabot will be engraved by the rifling and will twist as you shove it down the bore. When I use a non-spinning jag to load with, it will usually unscrew on the ramrod, it won't come all the way off but it will loosen up some. The sabot, bullet, and loading jag all become one locked together piece and will twist and follow the rifling to the powder.
 
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