Unburnt powder

[up4trein1]

Ok so I've been playing with my savage ml-2 which now im fed up with. Partly because finding different components to try is a joke as we all know. I've tried three types of mmp sabots and Harvester. Using 44 grains of accurate 5477. I've tried 225 grain ftx, 250 grain xtp, and 300 grain Speers. Usually with accuracy being 3 to 4 inches at 50 yards. I've tried 777, fed 209a and federal muzzleloader primers. Best accuracy I've got was with the 225 ftx, mmp ez3, and federal muzzleloader primers. I was getting hole for hole groups at times. When this would happen I'd find no unburnt powder when I patched out. But alot of times I'll have a few pieces of powder to as much as a half a grain of unburnt powder on the patch. Of course accuracy is crap when it's doing this. It's doing it at random with every combo. Also doesn't matter if the breech plug and vent liner are freshly cleaned or not. I'm very stumped and cannot for the life of me figure out the issue.

[ET]

Up4trein1

You first need to understand the fundamental of smokeless powder that does not behave the same way as black powder. Smokeless powder requires a good ignition source and needs to build pressure for an accelerated burn. Here a tighter fitting load aids in pressure build up during ignition and before the bullet/sabot starts its journey down the bore. So, a tight-fitting bullet/sabot combination makes for a more efficient burn.
If you are firing consecutive shots bore heat builds up that causes a slight metal expansion and softening of sabot. So, the lessened resistance of bullet/sabot movement decreases initial pressure build up altering the rate of burn. Cooling time is essential, especially for a looser fitting load.

Back to the ignition source and breech plug.
For primer you want to use the hottest primer and not a muzzle-loading primer that does not provide the proper energy for smokeless powder ignition.
As for the breech plug you need to keep the flame channel really open to provide the best feed of primer energy through the vent. For cleaning my Savage BP I use a 5/32” drill bit introduced from the primer end after I removed the vent. After running the drill bit through I make sure vent threads are free from any carbon before reinstalling vent.



Hope something said is helpful to you.

[up4trein1]

Nov 5, 2021 7:16:52 GMT -5 ET said:

Up4trein1

You first need to understand the fundamental of smokeless powder that does not behave the same way as black powder. Smokeless powder requires a good ignition source and needs to build pressure for an accelerated burn. Here a tighter fitting load aids in pressure build up during ignition and before the bullet/sabot starts its journey down the bore. So, a tight-fitting bullet/sabot combination makes for a more efficient burn.
If you are firing consecutive shots bore heat builds up that causes a slight metal expansion and softening of sabot. So, the lessened resistance of bullet/sabot movement decreases initial pressure build up altering the rate of burn. Cooling time is essential, especially for a looser fitting load.

Back to the ignition source and breech plug.
For primer you want to use the hottest primer and not a muzzle-loading primer that does not provide the proper energy for smokeless powder ignition.
As for the breech plug you need to keep the flame channel really open to provide the best feed of primer energy through the vent. For cleaning my Savage BP I use a 5/32” drill bit introduced from the primer end after I removed the vent. After running the drill bit through I make sure vent threads are free from any carbon before reinstalling vent.



Hope something said is helpful to you.

Thank you. This is what I was figuring was happening. Not enough back pressure per say to ignite the powder. I'm thinking of going to a vari flame kit to switch to lr primers. Also is there anyone who makes a full bore Bullet suitable for these guns to get away from the sabot.

[up4trein1]

Nov 5, 2021 9:59:59 GMT -5 up4trein1 said:

Nov 5, 2021 7:16:52 GMT -5 ET said:

Up4trein1

You first need to understand the fundamental of smokeless powder that does not behave the same way as black powder. Smokeless powder requires a good ignition source and needs to build pressure for an accelerated burn. Here a tighter fitting load aids in pressure build up during ignition and before the bullet/sabot starts its journey down the bore. So, a tight-fitting bullet/sabot combination makes for a more efficient burn.
If you are firing consecutive shots bore heat builds up that causes a slight metal expansion and softening of sabot. So, the lessened resistance of bullet/sabot movement decreases initial pressure build up altering the rate of burn. Cooling time is essential, especially for a looser fitting load.

Back to the ignition source and breech plug.
For primer you want to use the hottest primer and not a muzzle-loading primer that does not provide the proper energy for smokeless powder ignition.
As for the breech plug you need to keep the flame channel really open to provide the best feed of primer energy through the vent. For cleaning my Savage BP I use a 5/32” drill bit introduced from the primer end after I removed the vent. After running the drill bit through I make sure vent threads are free from any carbon before reinstalling vent.



Hope something said is helpful to you.

Thank you. This is what I was figuring was happening. Not enough back pressure per say to ignite the powder. I'm thinking of going to a vari flame kit to switch to lr primers. Also is there anyone who makes a full bore Bullet suitable for these guns to get away from the sabot.

And also could bore may be oversized. I'm yet to find a bullet sabot combo that has much resistance loading even when I tried with the bore fouled. They are not namely as tight as the t/c I've had

[Deleted]

Perhaps try knurling your bullet before you put it in the sabot.I did this to my bullets and the loading pressure got better and accuracy improved as well.

[ported45]

I always find quite a bit of unburnt powder in my .50 when using 5744. I sure can't complain about the accuracy, so I just keep on keeping on.