Precision Rifle Duplex Sabots

[Critter]

I stumbled apon a pack of these at a local toystore and decided to give them a run.  I'm going out to the range tomorrow with these and several other projectiles to test.  Anybody got a good starting load for the 175 Duplex with loose 777.  I'm currently shooting a Knight LK-93 .50 with a 22" tube on it.

While we're at it I'm going to be testing 250 gr Hornady SST's, 200 gr TC Shockwaves, 235 gr Aerotip Powerbelts, 300 gr hollowpoint Powerbelts and 300 and 180 gr Speer .429 bullets in Harvester sabots.  Any suggestions/advice is always welcome, anything to shorten the learning curve.  We're also going to be shooting the same bullets my buddies new CVA Optima Pro with Pyrodex pellets so anything there is welcome too.

Thanks

[Redhawk1]

I use the 195 Precision Rifle Duplex Sabots. I use 90 gr. of loose triple7 and have great success. I took a nice 5 point buck this morning with my Encore and the above load.  

[smoky]

Critter,

I have some experience with the Dead Center bullet line, including the duplex.

My current hunting load in my .50 cal encore is a 195 DC duplex over 100 grains of 777 fffg.  It will easily shoot 1" at 100 yards.

I also have a knight wolverine lk 93 with the 22 inch bbl.  In it, I am shooting the 220 grain DC over 80 grains of 777 fffg and it will litereally shoot a ragged hole group at 100 yards.

By the way, neither of those guns use a 209 primer as the ignition.  My encore has a .25 ACP conversion and I use small rifle primers.  The wolverine uses the #11 precussion caps.

I have never tried the duplex DC's in my wolverine as I stumbled upon the above combination early in the process and have stuck with it.

I did speak to a technician at Knight just last week, and he did make the comment about most Knights shooting better with less plastic between the bullet and the bore.  In other words, a .44 or .45 cal bullet in a thinner sabot is likely to shoot better than the .40 DC inside a thicker sabot or a .357 DC inside two sabots.  However, this has not been my experience.  Also keep in mind that all the while he is telling me this, he is pushing the Knight Red Hot line of saboted bullets.

The sst/shockwave also seems to be a fine bullet, as my dad shoots them over 100 grns of 777 pellets in his encore and they work well.  You may want to try those 200 sw's and 250 sst's over about 80 grns of 777.  May be the ticket.

I personally have never been able to get powerbelts to shoot very good in mine or my dads guns, but there are others here who have had good luck with them.  I understand that the Knight barrels are slightly over bore and the Power Belts are slightly under bore, which would seem to create a little too loose of a fit for great accuracy.

Good luck at let us know how your test session turns out.

Regards,

Smoky

[Critter]

Redhawk1,
Congrats on the buck!  I have to wait until Nov 15th to drop the hammer on a deer.  Right now it's bow only except for an early youth season they did in the end of September.

smokey,
Thanks for the advice.  I'm not real sold on the Powerbelts myself but I thought we would try them out.  My buddy is convinced that they are the ticket for his CVA.  I will report back on our range session, maybe even take some pictures if we get anything to work real well. I'm hopeful for the DC's or SST's, I want to find something with a better B.C. than the Speer 300 gr SP .429's I used last year.

[upnorth]

start with 90 grains, work up from there. Also, if the 175's are not shooting tight groups, move to the 195's.  my encore will do sub moa with these bullets.

[gt2003]

Critter, I've got the knight wolverine LK93 and I shoot the dead center 220 grain bullet (40 caliber in a 50 caliber sabot) with 80 grains of 777 powder.  It doesn't kick that much and is incredibly accurate.  The all-lead bullet performs unbelievably on deer.  I shot a deer last year and he simply fell over dead.  When I recovered the bullet it had mushroomed to almost twice its size and didn't shatter into pieces.  I would recommend staying with a precision rifle bullet.  I've had jacketed bullets that would shoot well but didn't perform well on deer.  Good luck in finding what works for you.  Greg

[AndyHass]

Good luck, I hope the duplexes work well for you.  The 195s were awesome in my Traditions, but will not group (5-6" at any powder charge) in my Omega.  My buddy's Encore won't shoot them either.  

Funny how two guns of the same model can have such different appetites...

[Critter]

We didn't make it to the range yet, we bowhunted all weekend instead.  Then I fell out of a tree so it may be awhile before I get any serious range time in.  I'll report back when we get to it.

[Critter]

Just thought I would check back after we finally got some range time in.  The 175 Duplex's absolutely would not shoot in my Knight, I won't even report on group sizes but I kind of suspected they wouldn't anyway.  The 200 Shockwaves did ok but not what I was looking for either, 4" at 100 was the best I could do.  The 250 SST's really shined and I shot several 1.5" 3 shot groups with 80 grs of 777, 90 grs would open the group up to 2.5".  With the 777 I had to spitpatch between each shot to get the best groups but thats not a big deal.  I haven't had a chance to take a deer yet but hopefully this weekend I'll be able to report the performance on game.

[Redhawk1]

Critter, I"m glad to see you are OK after your fall from the treestand. Sorry to hear you could not get the PR sabots to shoot. Good luck hunting.  

[Critter]

Well the SST's worked fine this weekend on a spike buck.  He was approx 35 yards away from my stand when I shot  and he traveled 25 yards before piling up into a dead log.  The shot took him through one lung and got the heart, cutting it in two.  He was running dead when he traveled the 25 yards.  The bullet passed completely through breaking two ribs on entrance and exit.  I'll post a pic when I get then downloaded.

[Redhawk1]

Glad to see you got your muzzleloader sighted in good and found a good load.