saskgunowner101 dumb question of the day...2 round ball in a sabot??

saskgunowner101

saskgunowner101

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Hey guys, I have an odd question.....has anyone here tried loading 2 round ball/sabot in a modern inline muzzleloader? I was getting my supplies together to go shoot and was pondering this after seeing some in the BP stuff. Not for any good reason really, just to try it.

I seem to recall trying round ball with patch in an Omega, and it went to #### in a hurry (IIRC) with not much more than a 60? grain charge. Anyways, just looking for thoughts here. I can't see any practical use but that's never stopped me before! What say you.....

Just to add, the round ball attempt with patches was .49 ball with patch, these are .451 meant for cap n ball revolver that I want to use in the sabot.
 
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I think that you would find that a single round ball in an inline would be very sensitive to powder charge. In other words you might find your most accurate load for a single patched .490 round ball might be 40 grains of 3F and if you varied much from that load the group would open up significantly. Loading two similar balls whether with one patch covering both or a separate patch for both and making sure all of the air escaped from between the two balls, I would expect you to find much the same thing only you would probably need more powder to get a good group. Using the Greenhill formula and guessing a 50 cal inline with a twist of 1:26 inches, you could stabilize a projectile around 1.4" long. If you precisely center drilled both balls and fastened them together, they would probably stabilize and possibly be less sensitive to powder charge. Same statement more or less might apply to 2 smaller diameter balls in a sabot

cheers mooncoon
 
Well, I never did try two ball with a sabot, only one ball with a low powder charge. Just plinking at 25 meters, the round ball with 40 grains Pyrodex RS was shooting about an inch or less for three shots, which surprised me, although the group was almost 4 inches high. I got the same results with a 200 grain conical bullet/sabot as well. The round ball can almost make it through a 4x4 piece of treated deck post (remove the splinters, it's right there!) while the 200 grain kept on going. I'll try the 2 ball load on a braver day.
 
I have shot two bullets back-to-back in a sabot, but not two round balls. As long as they are held tight against each other and firmly grip the sabot, they'll act as one until they exit the bore.
 
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