Here goes Dave W...........
Aug 11, 2009 17:59:55 GMT -5
Post by Richard on Aug 11, 2009 17:59:55 GMT -5
Well, this was my 19th. trip to the range with my 23" Pac-Nor .45 Savage. 592 shots have been fired thru a barrel that had been 26" the first week and then shortened to 23" after I double charged and bulged the barrel 
. But, the shorter length has not seemed to cause any undue problems. Particularly in the velocity and accuracy departments. First off this session, Dave W had asked me to try shooting the duplex load I shot last week, only without cleaning. He wanted to see if I would blow sabots at that velocity? The load is: a 200 gr. XTP with a plain blue Harvester sabot and a duplex load of 13 gr. N-110 under 54 gr. of N-130. I did not even use a drying patch after the cool rod was removed. No blown sabots Dave!
For target two, I upped the starter charge from 13 to 14 gr. of N-110. Velocity jumped in the neighborhood of around 60 fps. While I could not put three good one in a row, a cluster of 4 did go just a tad over 1/2". A load definitely worth doing more work with.
Ahh, now to three hundred with the exact same load as above. The first two shots are precisely .414" center to center. The third shot went off just like the first two, but we could not find the shot in the spotting scope? This called for a drive up to the target.
??Maybe yes, Maybe no? The one hole does appear somewhat larger, but I would not bet money on it. Bill thinks is there, I am a little more skeptical. The reason being, shots four and five dropped over a couple of hundred fps. and went high out of the group (longer barrel time) This is telling me that maybe the sabots were being stressed and hence the lower velocities. If that was the case, maybe I blew a sabot on shot three??? In any event two shots in .414" is encouraging.
On target #4 I again shot the same load only I was using a 200 gr. FTX sabotless. This group spread kind of wide
Next I shot two three shot groups using the 250 gr. FTX sabotless with two different duplex loads. Nothing to write home about.
Now to the tiny little 200 gr. .452" XTP's sabotless with a duplex
I shot a few weeks ago and Herman used for his little 300 yard group. As you can see, after firing my third shot, the fourth and fifth shots went right in the same hole as #1 (.396" CTC) I still did not have that tiny three (three in a row) shot group I was looking for, so I decided to shoot a sixth shot, hoping it would go in that hole.....
NOT! Still, very encouraging!
So lets get to the Lead Sled DFT. The spring thing worked out pretty well, not perfect, but better than with no spring. Each shot the sled kept creeping back by an eighth of an inch or so. It finally reached a point where it could not overcome the spring. However, at that point, the rest tended to give some sideways movement. I subsequently moved the rest back forward and just let it slide the 1/8" and then push it back. This way, it kept the rifle on target. Possibly using two springs........one on each front leg, might distribute the recoil more evenly. I have also thought about making up a thin plywood base, with channels for the legs to keep it from moving side ways. A rubber base on the board would hopefully prevent it from slipping. Don't know how much I want to pursue this
All in all, I have been very impressed with the DFT and may purchase one in the future. Anybody got one for sale for a "rat killin' deal?"
Richard
. But, the shorter length has not seemed to cause any undue problems. Particularly in the velocity and accuracy departments. First off this session, Dave W had asked me to try shooting the duplex load I shot last week, only without cleaning. He wanted to see if I would blow sabots at that velocity? The load is: a 200 gr. XTP with a plain blue Harvester sabot and a duplex load of 13 gr. N-110 under 54 gr. of N-130. I did not even use a drying patch after the cool rod was removed. No blown sabots Dave!For target two, I upped the starter charge from 13 to 14 gr. of N-110. Velocity jumped in the neighborhood of around 60 fps. While I could not put three good one in a row, a cluster of 4 did go just a tad over 1/2". A load definitely worth doing more work with.
Ahh, now to three hundred with the exact same load as above. The first two shots are precisely .414" center to center. The third shot went off just like the first two, but we could not find the shot in the spotting scope? This called for a drive up to the target.
??Maybe yes, Maybe no? The one hole does appear somewhat larger, but I would not bet money on it. Bill thinks is there, I am a little more skeptical. The reason being, shots four and five dropped over a couple of hundred fps. and went high out of the group (longer barrel time) This is telling me that maybe the sabots were being stressed and hence the lower velocities. If that was the case, maybe I blew a sabot on shot three??? In any event two shots in .414" is encouraging.On target #4 I again shot the same load only I was using a 200 gr. FTX sabotless. This group spread kind of wide
Next I shot two three shot groups using the 250 gr. FTX sabotless with two different duplex loads. Nothing to write home about.
Now to the tiny little 200 gr. .452" XTP's sabotless with a duplex
I shot a few weeks ago and Herman used for his little 300 yard group. As you can see, after firing my third shot, the fourth and fifth shots went right in the same hole as #1 (.396" CTC) I still did not have that tiny three (three in a row) shot group I was looking for, so I decided to shoot a sixth shot, hoping it would go in that hole.....
NOT! Still, very encouraging!So lets get to the Lead Sled DFT. The spring thing worked out pretty well, not perfect, but better than with no spring. Each shot the sled kept creeping back by an eighth of an inch or so. It finally reached a point where it could not overcome the spring. However, at that point, the rest tended to give some sideways movement. I subsequently moved the rest back forward and just let it slide the 1/8" and then push it back. This way, it kept the rifle on target. Possibly using two springs........one on each front leg, might distribute the recoil more evenly. I have also thought about making up a thin plywood base, with channels for the legs to keep it from moving side ways. A rubber base on the board would hopefully prevent it from slipping. Don't know how much I want to pursue this
All in all, I have been very impressed with the DFT and may purchase one in the future. Anybody got one for sale for a "rat killin' deal?"
Richard
Richard: My shoulder would never forgive me if I sold the Sled. ;D If you come up with a certain weight/size spring solution I would like to try that.