Loading tube ?

[geraldbergeron]

Hi everybody,

Is there any advantage to use a loading tube to pour smokeless powder to make sure that all powder is at the bottom of the bore ?

........................................................G?rald..................................../

 

[getonit]

A friend of mine has continued to give his gun a light 'bump' after pouring the powder in- We always did it with the sidelocks to insure the powder goes to the flashhole- but I see no advantage in the mlII as the sabot would clean any loose grains from the rifling- Rick

 

[Tar-12]

A friend of mine has continued to give his gun a light 'bump' after pouring the powder in- We always did it with the sidelocks to insure the powder goes to the flashhole- but I see no advantage in the mlII as the sabot would clean any loose grains from the rifling- Rick

I am with you on this one Rick,I follow the same loading procedure as you do. Paper and game performance is outstanding.I must admit,I still occasionaly tap the barrel out of habit.A throw back to the "old" days.

 

[getonit]

I've caught myself a time or two also- old habits are hard to break :lol: Rick

 

[jims]

I cannot say it actually helps but I use a copper loading tube so no powder can stick to the barrel.

 

[Nic_58]

Is there any advantage to use a loading tube to pour smokeless powder to make sure that all powder is at the bottom of the bore ?

I don't know if there is an advantage or not, but I use a drop tube for loading loose powder at the range, be it smokeless or non-smokeless. I make my own using aluminum arrow shafts and small plastic funnnels epoxied to the end. Just cut the shaft to make it ride a little higher than the powder column when the funnel rests on the barrel's crown. Using the drop tube, I know EVERY granule of my precisely weighed powder charges makes it down to the breechplug!

 

[Mountain Man]

A friend of mine has continued to give his gun a light 'bump' after pouring the powder in- We always did it with the sidelocks to insure the powder goes to the flashhole- but I see no advantage in the mlII as the sabot would clean any loose grains from the rifling- Rick

No offense, but I definitely do not believe that the sabot reliably acts as a wiper when loaded. Or a BBSB, for that matter.

They both are designed for the cup or bottom flange to be approximately the diameter of the lands, and sometimes they're not even THAT tight against them. And it certainly does not fit down into the valleys of the rifling. It's only when the powder ignitites that the sudden pressure flares the cup or flange out and presses it down into the rifling.

The petals, which do press down into the rifling when loaded, have slots in them, so they won't necessarily wipe all the powder, either. The most likely spot to wipe all of the powder would be on sidewall of the sabot at the height of the base/floor of bullet cavity. However, that means you'll have powder granules between the flange/cup of the sabot and the barrel wall.

Granted, it's probably not enough to matter, and I don't use a drop tube, but I do hold my rifle near the muzzle and tap/bump the barrel, starting at the top and moving my way down to the breech. Probably a half-dozen or so thumps, with at least three of them being applied a little above the action. Does it help? Who knows, but I don't think it can hurt. Once I get more loads worked up based on more fundamental factors (powder, bullet, and sabot variables), I'll start experimenting with the more esoteric/negligible variables (tapping/drop-tubing vs. none, dry swabbing/solvent swabbing vs none, etc.).

 

[Anonymous]

I've never used a drop tube, but it would be an interesting test.

With maximum deviations of only a few feet per second in some cases, it is hard to say that a sabot that engraves on the way down somehow could leave powder behind.

 

[getonit]

Mountain man- No disrespect but I Disagree- I just decided to try a quick test- I pulled the breech plug out of the gun and run a hornady sabot with 250grXTP down the bore- the lands are clearly engraved at loading- here's the best pic I could get-

Your statement:-"They both are designed for the cup or bottom flange to be approximately the diameter of the lands, and sometimes they're not even THAT tight against them. And it certainly does not fit down into the valleys of the rifling. It's only when the powder ignitites that the sudden pressure flares the cup or flange out and presses it down into the rifling." is false in this case- thats the basic reason that you have a harder push to run the sabot encased bullet down the bore-the bare sabot may be sized to fit the lands but when the bullet is added it DOES engrave....thus it does "wipe " the bore.... :wink: I shoud try and find out the thichness of the powdr itself- but it is probably thicker than the grooves anyway :? so even without the engraving should get wiped on loading Rick

 

[Mountain Man]

getonit, that's exactly what I was describing (or at least attempting to describe). The PETALS engrave into the rifling, but the CUP does not! Look at your picture--there are no engraving marks on the cup of your sabot, just the petals.

I don't think enough powder to really matter in most guns to most (even fairly good) shooters clings to the barrel, nor do I think that ANY powder would be left clinging anywhere along the length of the barrel once the bullet/sabot has been pushed home; however, since the CUP does not engrave so that the leading (very bottom) edge of the cup cannot be the wiper, if there is any powder being "wiped," it would have to collect between the side of cup of the sabot and the wall of the barrel, notdown with the powder charge. Obviously, that won't do anyone any good.

I'll see if I can make a quick diagram to post showing what I mean.

 

[Mountain Man]

Okay, just to illustrate what I mean, this is simple (not to scale) sketch of a bullet and sabot seated over a powder charge in the barrel. Yellow is the sabot, black is steel, brown is copper, red is powder.

I think that the "wiping" action of the sabot would cause any powder clinging to the barrel to accumulate in the location of the red dots on the side of the sabot, as such:



Again, though, I don't think would be enough to hardly tell a difference.

 

[getonit]

gotcha "{" I shoud try and find out the thichness of the powder itself- but it is probably thicker than the grooves anyway so even without the engraving should get wiped on loading "" still should hold true.... :wink: Rick