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Post by GMB54-120 on Mar 29, 2011 9:09:24 GMT -5
One of my favorite bullets with subs is the Barnes 300gr 458 SOCOM. I would love to get this bullet to shoot well with smokeless in a 50cal Savage or NULA even if i can only get 2000fps accurately. Its designed for 1900fps performance levels so im happy to keep it close to that level if it can be done.
Ive got sub MOA with BH209 in my GMB54-120 carbine at about 1800fps+ but would like to try it in the Savage too. I haven't seen too many people that have gotten the 285gr Spitfire to shoot well in the Savage.
I know there are better 300gr Barnes options but ive got a nice supply of these and last year i took 2 deer with them with great terminal performance.
Will a slower powder like Re7 (60gr) give me a better chance of achieving this goal. I have some Re7 and its available locally at a very fair price. Ive got MMP sub bases if they might help a little also. Ive shot them with max loads of BH209 in my Knight but i sold it and now i only use it in my GMB54cal carbine.
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Post by mountainam on Mar 29, 2011 9:43:14 GMT -5
As you know all rifles are different and have their quirks or maybe it's just the shooter in my case, but I've always got better performance out of Re7 than the more popular 4198's but the majority says otherwise. I found that with it being a double-base powder, velocities seem to be more consistent over a larger range of temperatures. It's odd how you can do a search on powder burn rate charts and end up with less info than more. I recently looked at Hodgdon's Burn rate chart and see that Re7 is Faster than both IMR4198 and H-4198. So who knows for sure. I know I feel more comfortable shooting slower burning powders in case there is a hiccup. Checkout Randy Wakeman's site where he has some compelling info concerning N-120 and the heat of explosion. Makes a lot of sense,but I don't know how it would shake out in single digit temps. That and it can't be had in my parts.
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Post by rangeball on Mar 29, 2011 9:50:00 GMT -5
That definitely is a bullet that caught my eye-  I have some concerns though and have yet to try it out in my SMI. One is although it is .458 and this size seems to shoot more accurately in a sabot in a .50 bore, what will the expansion channels do to the sabot and subsequent accuracy at higher smokeless pressures? I've yet to read of success with this type of bearing surface design from SML. Also, will the boat tail lead to sabot base failure from SML pressure? I had thought if the bearing surface could be overcome, that possibly milling the base flat would be a good option. Since you have them, why not try it? Do you have the sabots for .458s? I could send you a few MMP orange and BCRs if you need? Let me know, I'd be very interested in seeing your results. |
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Post by GMB54-120 on Mar 29, 2011 11:01:37 GMT -5
Thank you Rangeball.
I have several sabots that might work including a few of the Harvester yellows and plenty of MMP orange sabots. The really odd part is...in my 54cal...I could NOT get the Spitfire to shoot well at all but the SOCOM in the same sabot shot incredibly well. I tried knurling the Spitfire and even a tighter sabot with no luck in that gun.
Granted a 50cal using smokeless is a totally different animal and in my Extreme i didn't have the same problem either. I sold most of my Spitfires when i sold my Extreme 50 so im starting from scratch again in two smokeless 50cals.
Another reason i like these bullets is they are cheaper than any other Barnes in the same class at $42/50. So i feel its worth an effort to try even if the speeds are lower than other smokeless options.
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lc
Forkhorn
Posts: 72
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Post by lc on Mar 29, 2011 11:08:24 GMT -5
Has anyone tried bedding the bullet in the sabot?Dip the bottom 3/8" of the bullet in release agent,put 4 or 5 drops of acurglass in the sabot, insert the bullet into the sabot.
Just a thought, was thinking of this for when I run out of old SST instead of turning the base & altering the bullet.
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Post by deadon on Mar 29, 2011 11:17:53 GMT -5
Has anyone tried bedding the bullet in the sabot?Dip the bottom 3/8" of the bullet in release agent,put 4 or 5 drops of acurglass in the sabot, insert the bullet into the sabot. Just a thought, was thinking of this for when I run out of old SST instead of turning the base & altering the bullet. IC That is a great idea, Marine Tex might work also. If we could get any of the boattails to shoot accurately it would be the ticket. IIRC most boattails have a much better BC. |
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Post by GMB54-120 on Mar 29, 2011 11:43:17 GMT -5
Very interesting idea. I was thinking of another epoxy type product for a bedding agent. JB weld might work but keeping weight and other variations to a minimum might take a little work.
I wish i could get Del at MMP to make a SML specific sabot with a powder cup similar to the 52x458 sabots. Those sabots have a very cupped powder pocket and they are extremely strong. They hold up extremely well to 150gr loose sub loads without drilling or failure.
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