SMI/Douglas Land and Groove specs

[rangeball]

I called douglas and asked what the .50 land and groove specs are for the barrels they sell SMI. They told me .50/.510. I asked what the tolerance was, and he said pretty much .50/.510.

Assuming this holds true when I get my actual barrel, what does this tell me? Compared to savage, would this be a loose or tight bore? I'm assuming tight, but have no idea as I haven't paid close enough attention since I wasn't getting a savage.

If the lands are .50, are chances good I should be able to shoot sabotless with a little sizing down and knurling up? How far under .50 should I size?

[jims]

I cannot speak for the barrel you have but I just took my SMI barrel off one of my Savages, I used no different bullet/sabot combos than I use in my regular Savage. Generally SSTs and mmp sabots. I did have to use the SMI recommended powders however, I did not have good luck with either 4759 or vv120. I never did anything to try to measure the bore, the loading pressure was consistent with that of the Savage.

[153]

Jims how did the SMI shoot vs the stock Savage barrel?

[jims]

The SMI shot about 1 1/2 inches at 100 yards, I have not shot it yet with the stock Savage barrel. My other factory Savage shot slightly better but it is not stock anymore so it is not fair to compare, it is now heavily modified.

[rangeball]

jims, thanks for that. As I have the usual suspects of bullets and sabots on order, I guess I'm most interested in what this tells me regarding shooting .50s sabotless. I assume I'll have to size down then knurl up, just don't know how much. Looking at Lee's sizer chart, most definitely will have to be a custom so I need to do some research and find out, or hopefully someone shooting a .45 sabotless will jump in and I can extrapolate from their data.

[rangeball]

Doing a search, looks like the .45 sabotless guys are mostly reporting .45 lands and sizing down to .448 then knurling up as needed. Applying this to the .50 would arrive at a .498 sizing die. Sound about right?