As some of you know I accidently shot the ram rod out of my Savage. I sent it in and they promptly replaced the barrel for me(great service). I was shooting the gun last weekend,and had the misfortune of buldging(or swelling) the barrel again! Upon firing the gun I expericenced Horendous recoil,and recieved a cut from the scope over my right eye! I couldn't believe what had just happened! I had used one vial of premeasured powder(N110 42grs),One T/C Shock Wave 250gr. bullet,and one MMP HPH-24sabot. Pressed the ram rod down to the witness mark seating the load. What I have now found out is,the ram rod/bullet seater attachment,which was knurled was .458 inches in diamenter. When I seated the bullet with around 40lbs. pressure I drove the seater between the bullet,and the sabot like a wedge effect, Sort of like sticking your finger in The O'l Orental finger hand cuffs. When I pulled the ram rod out of the barrel,it had pressed itself so tight inside of the sabot that it pulled the sabot/bullet off the powder charge! The reason this accident happened was,1. I was shooting a short bullet(250 Shock Wave) in a long Sabot(MMP HPH-24) 2. I was using a bullet seater attachment that was.458 inches with a .452 bullet. It actually grabbed the Sabot tighter than the bullet did. I guess there is a reason for everything! This taught me a lesson about using a sabot with long petals protruding past the ogive of the bullet. Also if I had taken the time to check the diamenter of the bullet seater,I would have known it was larger than the bullet,(this will work as long as the sabot petals aren't longer than the ogive on the bullet. If it can't get inside the sabot,it can't pull it off the charge! Also you will see in the following pictures,that the amount of pressure is very high,per square inch while seating a load at 40lbs. pressure on the ram rod. It actually crushed the seater down to .440 inches,and this is brass! I hope this mistake will help prevent anyone from having this happen to them. Some say that not having a sabot/bullet seated on a powder charge,won't cause this. Some say it will! I'm not willing to try this again to find out! Maybe those thinking the bullet not being seated on the charge will cause this to happen! I wouldn't hold the gun in MY hands with the bullet/sabot not on the powder charge trying to prove,or dissaprove that point. Like the old saying(BEEN THERE,DONE THAT) once,and that was plenty! Ron :?