Talk to me about .40 cal

[camellips]

Ok,,I am thinking about ordering a .40 cal barrel for my .50 cal factory Savage ml11.

Where do I acquire one, what sabots. what bullets and what starting loads known to work well.?

If this has been discussed to death just give me some good links.

BTW I am not wanting a .40 for target shooting but to hunt with. As I get older I need something that will not kick quite as much or weigh as much when carrying around in the woods.

I have fibromyalgia and still like to hunt but the heavy recoil of the .50 and the almost 10lbs scoped is a bit too much to hunt with for stalk hunting here in the south.

[deadon]

Sir I am a hunter first also. I don't know how your 50 cal shoots as far as decent groups but my 50 with a composite stock only weighs a few more lbs than my mod 70 243 featherweight. Shooting the 250 gr bullets with 44 gr of 4759 with a limb saver recoil pad does not kick very much more than my 243. I can shoot 20 to 30 times a day and I HATE RECOIL. I am 62 yrs old weigh 180lbs Sorry I can't help with the 40. Just two cents from an old man who cares

[ewc]

As deadon correctly pointed out-

You will not save on wt. My fluted .40 is heavy (maybe 10# scoped).

The .40 is accurate as hell and fast, but weight is the same as my .50.

Recoil seems less to me (but this is subjective). My full house loads (2,900 fps +, with a 200 sst) feel like a 7mag or 30.06 with 150's.

This is me. I wish you well and if we can help you more, please let us know-

Judd

[camellips]

Ive cut my .50 cal barrel down to 20 inches to save weight but it is no where near as light as my Knight. Anyone have suggestions on the lightest load for the .50 cal is with the .250 grain XTP bullets ?

[jims]

I have a .40 by RB/PacNor. I do not know if either are building the same now. SW on this site has a great deal of experience with the .40 and is the man to contact at this point.

[deadon]

Camellips My ml10 does not like .458 bullets with any combo I have tried. I think I have a pretty tight bore because a .452 bullet with the Harv smooth black sabot loads with about 40lbs of seating pressure. With a 250 gr horn xtp over 44 grs of 4759 it shoots consistent 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 " groups at 100 yrds.

[boarhog]

If you want a light weight, smokeless ML, it seems to me that something like a TC Encore/NEF/Rossi or the like, in 45-70 that has been converted to use a breech plug, would be ideal. Last week, a guy was shooting a Knight KP-1 45-70 at our range. I was impressed how it looked and felt. I thought it would make a nice ML in 45 cal. I don't think a 40 cal Pac-Nor barrel on a Savage will save much weight, but will generate less recoil.

[rjhans53]

I think the encore's kick like a mad mule, now some of it might be an old injury I've got on the thumb of my right hand but it does really come back hard with a bunch of muzzle jump (a heavy barrel might help but then that adds weight) and on the 45/70 that smi converted for me it's not fun to shoot at all.(with a load as light as 53 I4198). The knight kp1 that I had converted kicks but different, less muzzle jump and it's a breeze to break down to clean. The only thing wrong with the kp1 is the trigger and that it eats vent liners like candy (every 20-25 shots or so)

[chuck41]

May 24, 2010 19:55:41 GMT -5 camellips said:

Ok,,I am thinking about ordering a .40 cal barrel for my .50 cal factory Savage ml11.

Where do I acquire one, what sabots. what bullets and what starting loads known to work well.?

If this has been discussed to death just give me some good links.

BTW I am not wanting a .40 for target shooting but to hunt with. As I get older I need something that will not kick quite as much or weigh as much when carrying around in the woods.

I have fibromyalgia and still like to hunt but the heavy recoil of the .50 and the almost 10lbs scoped is a bit too much to hunt with for stalk hunting here in the south.

I have a .40 cal PacNor that is fantastic. Still weighs the same, but shoots great. No sabots needed. There are a number of loads listed in the load table on this board. Recoil with a 200gr bullet is very mild pushing it to 2500fps and even when pushed to over 2700fps it feels less than any 250gr bullet I shot in my 50 even when using relatively light loads at around 2250 fps. However,
you won't save any weight by going to a .40 cal barrel (or .45) in an ML10-II.

PacNor quit selling the .40 barrels fitted for the ML10 after they had problems with people using them sabotless. They still offer the .45 barrels though. Many guys on the board use the .40 cal bullets in their .45 cal barrels and there are several choices of sabots available for them. A number of 180gr to 200 grain bullets are available. I also use 210gr bullets which I resize from .410" to .400". These 41Mag bullets work great for both targets and deer.

[sw]

I agree with most of what has been stated above. However, it would be helpful to know the maximum range and game you intend to hunt. I think that 42-45g 5744 with 250SST/XTP would have 200 yd range with very little recoil out of your 20" barreled 50 cal ML-2. Remember that the 45 and 40 cal barrels have the same outside dimensions as the 50 cal barrel but with a smaller hole down the center so they will weigh more. The BIG advantage of the 40, IMO, is that 40 cal bullets can be shot sabotless. It may be slightly more accurate than the 45 cal shooting the same bullet and may be less temp sensitive, but maybe not. I tend to think it shoots a little more consistently, day in and day out thru various conditions. I have 3 45s and 1 40. The 40 is my favorite. but if it outperforms the 45, it is by very little.
A 45 with a 20-22" barrel will likely provide the most range for the least recoil. 200g bullets at 2500-2600'/sec will be quite light in recoil. If carrying wt is not a factor, then stay with a 25" 45 or 40, and maybe even put in a Hg recoil reducer or 2. I have a 25" barreled 40 with 2 Benelli recoil reducers and shoot a load recommended by Chuck41(VV-110/Vgt) and shoot 2900'/sec, sub-MOA, with recoil of a low base 20g or light 243 load. A 45 can deliver the same performance, just with sabots as the difference(and power choice).
In summary, I think your 50 cal will likely work well as is, the 45 would also. Much depends on whether carrying wt is a big deal which I think your 20" barreled 50 cal indicates that it is. Since you already have the shortened 50 cal try 42-45g 5744 and 38-42+ gs of 4759 or VV-110 with a 250g bullet and see how it does. You might also try a 200SW/SST in a 40/50 sabot/WW with the lower loadings of these powders and you might be very pleased.
Good luck.