Simple Sabot

[Evil Dog]

Am seriously thinking of trying a very simple sabot in my 2 1/4" bore half scale Napoleon.  A 2 3/8" hole saw cuts a plug of wood that is just slightly over bore size.  It is no problem to run a bolt through the center of that plug, put it in a drill press and then turn it down with a file and sandpaper to where it just slides down the bore with very little windage.  Can't remember which show on History Channel it was, but there was some guy in England using very similar sabot that he attached to the ball with a couple crossing wraps of what looked to be plain ol' electrical tape.

Has anyone tried this method?  Did it actually work?  Did you see any improvement in accuracy?  My main reason is that so far I can't hit a 4' x 4' target at 200 yards.  This is using a cast zinc ball that has been weighed to hopefully avoid those with substancial casting voids and 500gr GOEX Cannon.

Any ideas?  I'm to the point now where I'd almost sell this cannon and then build a new one.

[Double D]

Is it a point of you can't hit the target or you can't get it to group well enough to hit the target?

Try the Sabot. What is the windage on your ball?

You know your max load is 1950 grains? Have you tried small increases in your charge?

[Evil Dog]

It's one of those half scale barrels from Hern.... the same barrel from Dixie lists a max charge of 700gr.  That's why I've always stayed a little on the light side.  No idea as to group as so far I've never actually hit the target !!!  Of course I've never had a chance to play on a sheet of wallboard at 100 yards either.... that would no doubt be a good thing to do.  Windage on the zinc ball is right around 1/8"

[Double D]

Try getting on paper at 100 and shrinking your group there first.

If you know someone with a wood working lathe, you could tie a stack of plywood to together and have them turn you a bunch of those sabot for you all at once.

Another thing you migh want to look at is your cheeks.  They look kinda tall and you might be getting some whipsawing as the gun fires.

[Evil Dog]

Actually I've been planning to completely rebuild those cheeks.  They are doug-fir (can you say 2 x 12?) and are now starting to cup a bit.  Have some 2 1/2" thick oak which should make for much more serviceable cheeks.  A blacksmith friend of mine made some trunnion straps that will fit the current setup of the actual trunnions being enclosed in a piece of seamless tubing.

[Tropico]

My Herns (3" ordinance rifles) fire as accurate as I can shoot them. You may want to get a ball mould made up that is the right size., morelike 2.225 as pposed .130 loose ? also did you see the post about the laser pointer in the barrel? who ever makes up thes sabots maybe able to drill a center hole in a ramrod for your laser?., and then of course the cheeks and stability. My barrel is as straight as I can tell..., perhaps use a 2" pipe with 1/8 walls and slide it down the bore., leaving 7feet of a ten footer hanging out.,and get a good general idea if your pretty sure your tube didnt drift during the grey iron pour. Hern is pretty good about getting it right really they have done ALOT of cannons.

[GGaskill]

Original saboted rounds had metal straps holding the shot to the sabot, with the sabot having a depression for the ball to fit into.  I think the sabot edge was grooved so the powder bag could be easily tied to the sabot.  All this low mass junk connected to the ball acted like a tail, or the trailing skirt of a Forster shotgun slug.

One effect of this is to eliminate random spin on the ball, which should help with accuracy.  Sounds like it's worth a try.

[Kansas Boomer]

E Dog, have used the simple wood sabots in my 1" bore cannon with great success. I used a hole saw to cut out the sabot, a counter sink to make a dimple to help hold the ball on, and a little masking tape to keep it there. Accuracy is greatly improved. Most of my shooting is at 50-100 yards. My cannon bore is slightly over 1", and that may have contribuited to the inaccuracy. Probably to much windage with the 1" steel balls. I shoot 250 gr of ff Goex. Give them a try, easy to make, low cost, what a deal.   Boomer

[Evil Dog]

Hey Boomer.... Wow.... those look exactly what I had in mind.  Spent some quality time out in the shop this afternoon and discovered real quickly that this could be a rather labor intensive project.  Had some very nice 1/2" thick birch plywood...almost seemed a shame to use it.  Was scrap from another project though.  Cut with hole saw and then glued 3 layers thick.  A 10 x 24 bolt fit very nicely in the pilot hole from the hole saw so used it to mount on a drill press.  Sanded a bit, took off drill press, threaded the bolt on to a 4" dowel and tried in the cannon bore.... put back on the drill press and sanded a bit more.... etc until it would slide the entire bore length without binding.  Then used a smaller hole saw to make a pocket for the ball it fit in... maybe next time will use a forsner bit for that.





Will get a few more made up and then head for the local range to see what happens.  Thanks, Bruce