A little bit of history for ya'll that are interested! I first shot my Savage 10ML-II a little less than a year ago. Out of the box, it was a shooter. From gathering load info on this forum, I started out with 250 gr. Hornady SST's, Harvester's short black sabots, 42 grs. of N110 and Winchester 209 primers, dry swabbing down and out just once between shots. First time at the range with the gun, I shot 4 shots to zero the scope at 100 yds. and then started shooting 3 shot groups. Shots 5,6,&7 went into a group measuring .837" CTC and shots 8,9,&10 went into .707" CTC. Right away it was obvious I had a shooter on my hands! I went into the fall tinkering with other loads and stumbled upon another load that would shoot just as good as the N110/250 SST combo. That was the combination of 300 gr. Hornady SST's, Harvester's long black sabots, 60 grs. of N120 and a Winchester 209 primers. I shot many tight groups with this combo and was going to use this as my deer hunting load for the ML season. Unfortunately, I had used up my one and only antlered deer tag during the modern season and ended up not taking a deer with a ML. :cry:
Now, onto this spring. I've been to the range 4 times with the Savage since April trying out new load combinations and boy, there are just so many different things to try and so little time to do it in for me! Between last fall and now, I've tried Barnes 245 gr. Spitfires, Barnes 300 gr. Originals, Barnes 250 gr. TMZ's, and Barnes 275 gr. XPB's, interspersed with the SST's now and then. I've used only N110 and N120 powders, tried Federal 209A's along with the Winchester 209's, and tried MMP orange .458 sabots, Harvester long and short black sabots, MMP HPH 12's, and MMP HPH 24's. The last two outings at the range, I was getting frustrated from not getting any consistently tight groups. So last week after about 40 shots of several different combos, I tried the 'ole 250 SST/ 42 gr. N110 load and shot a 3 shot group that went 1" CTC at 100 yards. I went home on that note! Today, pretty well the same old story, after peppering the targets with several different combos, right before I packed it up I shot 3 shots with the old standby load and the 250 SST's and low and behold, those went into a .464" CTC group! :shock: These 2 groups at the end of the shooting session were with a dirty breechplug and after having my shoulder pounded on for about 40 rounds! I believe this load qualifies as a "go to" load along with the N120/ 300 SST's. Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder why do I even waste time and money trying to better these 2 loads? They shoot awesome and load like a dream and between the two loads, will take about any big game animal! I guess it goes back to the reloader in me, always looking for that perfect load that'll put 'em all in 1 hole!
I know one of these loads will come as no surprise to Chuck and his bro Harry who have touted the 42 gr. N110/250 SST/Harvester sabot as being a supremely good shooting load for some time now and have kills to back it up with. Some of you others looking for an easy recoiling, easy loading, super accurate load might need to take a closer look at this load in particular if you're struggling with finding your "go to" load for your late model Accutrigger 10ML-II. Here's a link back to Harry's post in August '05 before I ever tried the load myself.
It's what prompted me to try it and I'm glad I did because it's definitely a keeper, ain't that right Chuck and Harry! :wink:
http://modernmuzzleloader.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=7646&highlight=#7646
I gotta go now, my fingers are hurtin'!! :lol:
Nic
Now, onto this spring. I've been to the range 4 times with the Savage since April trying out new load combinations and boy, there are just so many different things to try and so little time to do it in for me! Between last fall and now, I've tried Barnes 245 gr. Spitfires, Barnes 300 gr. Originals, Barnes 250 gr. TMZ's, and Barnes 275 gr. XPB's, interspersed with the SST's now and then. I've used only N110 and N120 powders, tried Federal 209A's along with the Winchester 209's, and tried MMP orange .458 sabots, Harvester long and short black sabots, MMP HPH 12's, and MMP HPH 24's. The last two outings at the range, I was getting frustrated from not getting any consistently tight groups. So last week after about 40 shots of several different combos, I tried the 'ole 250 SST/ 42 gr. N110 load and shot a 3 shot group that went 1" CTC at 100 yards. I went home on that note! Today, pretty well the same old story, after peppering the targets with several different combos, right before I packed it up I shot 3 shots with the old standby load and the 250 SST's and low and behold, those went into a .464" CTC group! :shock: These 2 groups at the end of the shooting session were with a dirty breechplug and after having my shoulder pounded on for about 40 rounds! I believe this load qualifies as a "go to" load along with the N120/ 300 SST's. Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder why do I even waste time and money trying to better these 2 loads? They shoot awesome and load like a dream and between the two loads, will take about any big game animal! I guess it goes back to the reloader in me, always looking for that perfect load that'll put 'em all in 1 hole!
I know one of these loads will come as no surprise to Chuck and his bro Harry who have touted the 42 gr. N110/250 SST/Harvester sabot as being a supremely good shooting load for some time now and have kills to back it up with. Some of you others looking for an easy recoiling, easy loading, super accurate load might need to take a closer look at this load in particular if you're struggling with finding your "go to" load for your late model Accutrigger 10ML-II. Here's a link back to Harry's post in August '05 before I ever tried the load myself.
It's what prompted me to try it and I'm glad I did because it's definitely a keeper, ain't that right Chuck and Harry! :wink:
http://modernmuzzleloader.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=7646&highlight=#7646
I gotta go now, my fingers are hurtin'!! :lol:
Nic
