45cal Disc Elite Range Results

[Lane]

Got out to the range with my new chronograph and recorded stats on loose Pinnacle powder 3Fg 150grains and 120grains.  Using CCI primers and the PowerStem breech plug.  All recordings are @ 10 feet from the muzzle.

150/120 grains with 40cal Tan MMP sabot:

200grain ShockWave- 2232/2073

195g QT PR Bullet    - 2287/2130

175g RedHot           - 2453/2290

225g LBT PR Bullet   - 2190/2033

200g XTP 10mil        - 2290/2129


36cal 70g Hornady RB in PR Bullet 45/357cal sabot--2842/2680

36cal 70g Hornady RB in PR Bullet 45/357cal sabot with 2 Round Balls and 150g Pinnacle--2306



Harvester Crushed Rib Sabots:
I found out the Harvester Crushed Rib 45cal Sabots only last about 2 shots per above 40cal bullets.  And really accurate for the FIRST shot on a clean barrel.  After that they foul the rifling with plastic residue and go all-haywire!  But that first shot was just about dead center at 85 yards for the Shockwave, QT, XTP 10mil, and the LBT

However, the 200g XTP 10mil bullets loved them, and I could get about 5 shots off with out swabbing.  Held a 2inch group at 85 yards. With the first shot with a clean barrel, dead center every time!

PS

The exact weights of the powder are--150grains By Volume= 136grains by Actual Weight. 

120grains BV= 110grains AW 

[Lane]

I had high hopes that the Crushed Ribs would be the ticket to easy loading.  The 200g shockwave is a bear to load with the supplied sabots.  I've got 3 of the SS 45cal Disc Elites, and all the bores seem TIGHT.  I hand lapped one of them 100 strokes with fine lapping compound.  That barely opened it up and smoothed it out a little. 

I was pushing them hard to see if they could take the pressures.  But nobody can hold a candle to MMP!  I'll back the charges down next session to 70-100grains and see if the Crushed Ribs do better. 
After all, I've shot all my deer with 70-80 grains of APP/Shockey's Gold and 225 Powerbelts with no shots past 60 yards

But it will be nice to see what other projectiles will take the heat and still perform.  So far it is the 195QT/MMP sabot for MOA and easy to load.   

Oh, I almost forgot.  When I configured my charge weights, I used a CVA powder measure.  I fill it and tap it 10 or 12 times, then top it off again and tap, then close and pour out the load.  So I get as much in the measure as is possible.  This is the base of my measurements.  When the charges are weighed, that's when Pinnacle moves out ahead of the other APP powders a little.

[Critter]

Good stuff!  Thanks for the post and the data.  I was a bit surprised by some of the velocities but the chrony doesn't lie.

[marylandeer]

Lane, I wonder what the difference in pressures and velocities would be if you were to use 2FG instead of the 3FG. Have you ever fooled around with the 2FG? I know the stuff is harder to measure and work with because it is so coarse.
I shoot a .50 Cal Knight Disc Elite SS and I was thinking about giving the Pinnacle a try. On their site they only show a reccomended load of 80 grains of 2fg for a 250 grain sabot which is what I shoot. Why such light recommended loads?
My current load is 100 grains of 3fg A.P.P. behind a 250grain Barnes Expander/ MMP sabot (SHOOTS GREAT).

[Ricci Price]

Lane I built a smokeless muzzleloader last year in 45 caliber, the sabots I started with were the ones that were supplied with the hornady shockwaves which were the tan sabots (mmp) I would usaully blow a sabot if I did not use use a felt wad and even then I would blow one on occasion. I just purchased some the standard clear light blue harvestor sabots and have yet to blow a sabot I have shot almost fifty of these and with no wad of any kind, they seem to be alot softer than the mmp's, therefore more pliable. I pushing a 180 grain around 2800 fps and the 200 around 2600fps.

[Two Bears]

My .02 cents

Try and weigh your tapped load to see just what you are actually shooting and then try and weigh the rest the rest of your test loads out to get them exact, I wonder if you will show better sabot, velocity, group performance that way.

I would think that filling and tapping the powder measure and then refilling it again with 3f you are probably shooting well over 150 grains that you are trying to actually shoot.  I always have heard that one should reduce the charge by 10 percent when using 3f vrs. 2f to achieve the same grains by volume.

Good luck and thanks for the report

[Lane]

Yes, I wiegh all my loads by hand, one at a time.  Using my RCBS balance beam scales, to with-in 1/10 of a grain.

This next time out, I'm really going to focus on the XTP's with the Crushed Rib's   These are a real money saver, and seem to be Very accurate and easy to load

[vinconco]

lane;
   What actual weights are you using to get the 120 / 150 gr. volume equivalent.