@ the Farm with a White & Some Lehighs

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sabotloader

Keep Shooting Muzzleloaders - They are a Blast
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And it really does not seem to matter what you put down them... I think the 1/24 twist is a huge advantage for these rifles - i really wonder why other companies do not climb on....

Well anyway as I suggested I headed to the farm this morning to shoot the new Lehigh Sabotless bullet (Revision 0). I was hoping to shoot it in a Knight - but the bullet is to large to get down any of the 50 cal bores I have here other that the White U-Mag with a .504 Clerke barrel. and after seeing what Cayugad was able to do with them - I got a bit excited about shooting dome of them myself. So out of the back of the gun safe came the White and off to the farm we went.

This is what the projectiles look like. i really do like the shape as they really do appear to be a well shaped bullet - which I assume would help the BC as they appear to be areodynamic...

50calSabotless.jpg


Bullet information... Weight 270 grains... I did mic them here but so did and jsteurrys - I trust his measurements and control of his mic better than I do myself... so here is what he came up with...

Heel - .5012"-.5016"
Ogive - .5012"-.5016"
Lands - .5061"-.5067"

As i said I can not get these down any of the 50's I have, even though the bullet was patterned from a DISC Elite that Tom provided Lehigh Dave. At this point they appear to fit some of the older larger 50 cal bores.

In my White... I think they are to loose... I can start them down the bore with my thumb and the weight of the ram rod will settle them to the bottom. I remember when I first started shooting conicals from my White I started with the biggest diameter conical Bull Shop Dan had... a 460 grain .504. I slipped down just as easily as did these Lehigh's but unlike the Lehigh's I am sure they obturated to the bore much better.

With that in mind - I really did not think I would be able to shoot these that accurately - SURPRISE! - I am shooting a White...

Here is this morning's target.... It is only a 50 yard chrono target, but from this I can say they shoot just fine to 50 yards....

9-20White-LehighSabless.jpg


I can work with that target... I was shooting T7 powder and I also tried 3 different primers just for the heck of it. I believe there was a very small shift POI and velocity when I went to the very light Remington 209-4 (410 primer). The W209's really shot well in the pattern even though I had already turned the chrono off and moved it off the bullet path.

The most fun of the day... I walked up in to the harvested pea field and placed 3 clay pigeons @ 100 yards. This gun is sighted in to shoot .451/260 grain Noslers - so I felt i should be in the ball park with these 270 grain Lehigh's. With the Noslers I am about 2.5" high at 100 and I decided to shoot the birds with that thought in mind....

9-20Birds.jpg


The top picture shows you the placement of the birds @ 100 yards. I decided to go on the left bird first - loaded the gun with 120 grains T7-2f, placed the bullet on the powder - primed the gun with a W209 and laid on the bird. I held the cross hairs right at the bottom of the bird as I would with the Nosler's. Touched the gun off.. when the smoke cleared - no bird... For an ill fitting bullet it shot just fine to 100 yards. On the next bird I repeated the same load and this time I held 'dead center' on the bird. Thought this would be a good way to check POI... or where I thought it might go. Well, I be darned if it didn't clip the top of the bird and leave the bottom, just like it was suppose to!!!! I then decided to go to the right bird and repeat the process holding on the bottom of the bird... The farmer that was watching said it was a solid hit and the bird was 'blown away' as peices... Finally, I decided to go after the broken bird. repeated the load and held the cross-hairs just below the fragment of the bird. After the shot - it was all was gone....

Additional information.... I did not run one patch the whole time shooting - I kept hoping the fouling would tighten the bullet - it didn't but no patching at all. Also Dave lubed his bullets I shot them as they came out of the zip lock bag.

Please remember this is Revision 0 - and further revisions will occur. There are so many different sizes of 50 cal bores out there I am not sure how Lehigh Dave will handle all of this other than the guy does like a challenge. When they might become available - good question...

It really was great morning... I really do like this being mostly retired again.
 
Very good report. And nice shooting!! Then Whites will do it all. I tell you.
 
Very interesting sabotloader, were you able to retreive any of the slugs after they were fired? just curious how they opened.
 
whitetail

I did recover three of the bullets... and I was surprised to find the lands had engraved the heel and the ogive of the bullet - just slightly but enough in combination with the gas/engraving rings to make them darn accurate...

The bullet - you have to remember the bullet is not a 'mushrooming' bullet, the nose of the bullet must encounter fluid to begin the opening process and at 40* the petals come off and move out to puncture vital organs. In muscle tissue they will open and come off also but in muscle they can move out very far at all.

It is a completely different theory - think it came from Germany and it hard one for us old timers to get ahold of - but they sure do work well.
 
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