.357 in a .45 cal

[wayles]

Search did not turn up much on the subject . Has any one had any luck shooting .358 dia 200 gr fxt hornadys in a .45 cal 20 twist?
Wayles

 

[Panhandle]

Wayne...
I remember hearing over the last couple years where several have tried shooting the .358 bullets in their .45's. I don't remember where anyone got them to shoot good in their smokeless ML's. Too much speed with too much plastic doesn't seem to hold up....Someone that has tried will get in this conversation I'm sure.
Zen

 

[GM54-120]

The only post i saw that was pretty good was with a custom inner insert. It was inside a 45x40 sabot, then the bullet inside both. Kinda like the PR but better. He may have needed to washer the sabot too.

Maybe if 40cal SMLs were popular enough someone would make a 40x357 or 358 sabot. That might hold together.

Ive seen a couple people say they got them to shoot pretty good in a fast twist with BH209 and a 180gr 357 using the orange PR sabot. No smokeless success though without a lot of effort.

 

[Mountainam]

The 200 FTX in .358" doesn't have as much bearing surface as it looks and may need to be paper patched. Use a PR Bullet 45x.357 orange Sabot. You'll need to use a slow burning powder-- slower than normal to prevent the bullet from drilling the sabot. I didn't read what rifle or barrel length you're using, but 1/20 should stabilize that bullet. There will be no problems when using BP subs, but then you won't get near the velocities you'd want compared to smokeless.

 

[wayles]

The 200 FTX in .358" doesn't have as much bearing surface as it looks and may need to be paper patched. Use a PR Bullet 45x.357 orange Sabot. You'll need to use a slow burning powder-- slower than normal to prevent the bullet from drilling the sabot. I didn't read what rifle or barrel length you're using, but 1/20 should stabilize that bullet. There will be no problems when using BP subs, but then you won't get near the velocities you'd want compared to smokeless.

M
Its a TC 45/70 smi conversion, 24 in

 

[derfhunter]

Wayles,
I have some of the 45/357 sabots from precissiion rifle if you want to try some. Send me a pm with your address

 

[GM54-120]

Im out of the FTXs and ProHunters but i can send you some 9mm 147gr XTPBTs and some 357s to try out too. If you can get them to shoot, i would really check into the Nosler 357-180gr Partitions or 180gr XTPs or SSPs.

I might have some 357-140gr FTXs around here somewhere too.

 

[wayles]

Stuff

Hey men I appreciate the offer of sabots and bullets. I have a pretty good selection that I will try and if they don't work out I will holler at you. Will be the first time smokeless so I wont't get too far away from what I know to begin with which is the sst 200 gr .40 cal and the 195 barns but I will be recieving some 200 fxt and .357 sabots . If nothing else I will shoot them with BH 209. Any body have a handel on a proper size wad that might protect the sabot when shooting the FXT. One problem with the PR sabots is they are made for the step down boattail DCenter. A card that just fills that step would be good. Too bad a sub base is not available for the .45
Wayles

 

[GM54-120]

I used a 32cal dry felt wad. IMO a fiber/veggie would be better and add two thin ones. I ran into the same issue and it did help with BH209. If you want to try a BT in that sabot the little 147gr XTP has a slight BT but its a bit short. It fits the blue MMP better and shot better.

 

[Mountainam]

Wayles, The PR orange 45x357 sabots that I bought not too long ago were for flat base bullets. As far as I know they didn't make a design change.