RSS Sabots range results. Getting closer!

[Blood Trail]

Hello gang,

We all know the issues we’ve had with trying to come up with an accurate load for those darn RSS12 sabots. They have many issues in the design.

Anyway, I had this idea that I’ve been tossing around, so I went through with it.

I got some 1/8” thick (I’m guessing) cork-infused rubber matting I’ve had for a while. Since one major issue with these sabots is the base blowing, I figure these would cushion the base. I took a .44 mag empty casing and used it as a punch for the rubber cork. That gives it a perfect fit inside the sabot.

Then, I punched out two rubber cork wads with my 12 ga punch. I added those on top of the x12x gas seal to give it a softer launch.

I failed to mention that this rubber cork mat as adhesive on the backing. That helps it stick and stay put in the sabot. I loaded two lots with 35 grs of Longshot. One lot was in a Fiocchi 2.75” hull and the other in a 3” Fiocchi hull. I roll crimped until the crimp barely touched the fingers of the sabots.

Here’s the results. I thought the 3” loads would do better since I had more material to roll crimp, but I was wrong. They were all over the place and the sabots were damage. Note the rubber cork wad in the sabot is intact:





The 2.75” hull group shot a lot better. All the sabots looked good, accuracy is great for the sabots, and the rubber cork wad stayed in the base of the slug. Two shots went through the same hole:






I wonder why groups opened up with the 3” hulls? I suspect the sabot fingers were damaged in the barrel trying to open against the extra resistance of the deeper roll crimp.

What say you?


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[Blood Trail]

Forgot the mentioned that the velocity was around 1550 FPS.


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[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello Blood Trail, I noticed the sabot fingers are not showing much rifling marks in the middle and above, maybe wrap a piece of paper 5/8 wide around the bullet for the sabot to grip the rifling not just at the base, might help.
Your post brings back a lot of memories from the past.

We had the bullet base punching in the base of the wad and some through.
We were pushing the load envelope.

Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[tomme boy]

I have always had better accuracy with 2.75 hulls over the 3" hulls. I have no idea as to why but I have seen it over several guns.

[hubel458]

What is weight of bullet , seems like you are going too slow, and we found that

petals on these sabots are attached very poorly to base and for the home crimper

the sabot must be up to where you rollcrimp over it, that is what taper on petal is for.

Use more powder/wads to get it up there, And 3 in case best,, get more of right powder in.

To get much more speed we use our rifle powder loads , like with 500gr slug use for regular

barrel guns, a 115 gr of RE17,,That gives an easy start with less sabot damage, but with an overall

taller pressure curve you get more speed, at the same peak pressure as hot shotgun powder..

Hot shotgun powder starts 3 times faster, hard on stuff , that is reason for cushion wads.

Always load with no airspace, wads help cushion start, and when crimping we have middle of

crimper push on slug to get good wad pressure which is need just as in shot loads,

getting crimper perfect for crimp and pressure makes huge difference..Takes experimenting.

even with our slow powder loads, Of the rifle powders only use RE17, and IMR 4759...

,,,,please read the 12ga from hell thread.. Ed

[Blood Trail]

What is weight of bullet , seems like you are going too slow, and we found that

petals on these sabots are attached very poorly to base and for the home crimper

the sabot must be up to where you rollcrimp over it, that is what taper on petal is for.

Use more powder/wads to get it up there, And 3 in case best,, get more of right powder in.

To get much more speed we use our rifle powder loads , like with 500gr slug use for regular

barrel guns, a 115 gr of RE17,,That gives an easy start with less sabot damage, but with an overall

taller pressure curve you get more speed, at the same peak pressure as hot shotgun powder..

Hot shotgun powder starts 3 times faster, hard on stuff , that is reason for cushion wads.

Always load with no airspace, wads help cushion start, and when crimping we have middle of

crimper push on slug to get good wad pressure which is need just as in shot loads,

getting crimper perfect for crimp and pressure makes huge difference..Takes experimenting.

even with our slow powder loads, Of the rifle powders only use RE17, and IMR 4759...

,,,,please read the 12ga from hell thread.. Ed

Have any idea what pressure you’re getting with 115 gr if R17?


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