Pumping up the .30 carbine

[Capn27]

As I was cleaning out the bullet shelf today trying to find room for another box, I ran across some .223/.308 sabots I had bought some time ago and forgot about. I called the company and asked if they would work in a .30 carbine load for my Blackhawk. They said, "Sure will! The load data is on our website." http://www.sabotreloadingpro.com/

It took awhile to get everything set just right to load them, but I finished up 50 rounds to try. According to their specs, they are one step under a hot load and should drive the 55 gr. .223 bullet @ ~2,300 fps.

That should yield a lot flatter trajectory than the stock 110 gr. .30 carbine load @ 1,300 fps - especially with the better ballistic coefficient of the pointed, slender boolit profile. It will be interesting having a shoot-off against the Hawkeye .256 Win Mag for accuracy.

 

[Tommy Kelly]

Looks like a whole box of fun. Let us know how they do.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I gave that some investigation a while back, but never got around to buying the necessary bits and pieces.

Please let us know how it works out. It seems like a good idea,

 

[Capn27]

Will do- sometime after the Fourth.

 

[Nowata]

Comic dude...gotta hear how that works out!!

 

[Capn27]

Loading the sabots uses a little different procedure. The bullets are pressed into the sabots in a separate step using a plastic seating "die" and "shell holder".

Then the bullet/sabot is loaded into the case as a unit during your normal bullet seating step.

I had to make a new bullet seating nose punch to fit the .223 ogive - one that wouldn't touch or scuff up the sabot.

 

[Ruger Packer]

Sounds interesting!! Are the sabots still available to handloaders??

 

[Capn27]

Sounds interesting!! Are the sabots still available to handloaders??

You bet! Click on the link in the OP. When I talked to them they were really excited that they would soon have other caliber sabots for sale - I don't know which. If you have a favorite, you might want to let them know.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

A .357magnum with a 55gr .223 sabot would be a kick in the pants.

 

[Capn27]

I've often thought that a long-barreled .357 Blackhawk rechambered for .357-.44 Bain & Davis would be fun.

_________________________________________________

The .357-44 Bain & Davis

By Chuck Hawks

This high performance .357 wildcat was inevitable from the day the .44 Remington Magnum revolver cartridge was announced. The allure of a lighter bullet at higher velocity with less attendant recoil is a powerful one, a fact attested to by the subsequent factory introduction of cartridges such as the .357 Maximum and .357 SIG. Neither of these, however, comes close to the performance of the .357-44 Bain & Davis.

The .357 B&D was created by the simple expedient of necking-down the .44 Magnum case to accept .357" diameter bullets. It was originally intended for use in revolvers, but as far as I know no revolver manufacturer picked-up on the cartridge. T/C Contenders shooters, however, discovered that the necked down .44 made an excellent silhouette cartridge, and this has helped to keep it alive. The .357-44 B&D is also, of course, a fine handgun hunting cartridge for CXP2 game.

Case forming is a snap. Just use a full length resizing die to re-form the straight .44 Mag. cases into a gentle bottleneck cartridge. One pass is all that is required, and case trimming is not necessary.

Here are the basic specs for the .357-44 Bain & Davis, taken from the sixth edition of the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading. The rim diameter is .514", same as the .44 Mag. The head and body are also unchanged, until .929" forward of the base when the gentle 10-degree shoulder begins. This leaves a short .15" neck into which the .357" bullet can be seated. Maximum case length is given as 1.280" (trim to 1.270"). Maximum COL is 1.580".

The .357-44 B&D is a potent cartridge that can drive a 158-160 grain bullet at a MV of 2100 fps. The Hornady Handbook shows that 18.0 grains of W 296 powder can drive one of their 158 or 160 grain bullets at a MV of 1600 fps. A maximum load of 24.9 grains of W 296 launches the same bullets at a MV of 2100 fps. These Hornady loads were tested in the 10" barrel of a T/C Contender and used reformed Federal cases and CCI 350 primers.

*emphasis added

 

[mattsbox99]

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I loaded some of these up and couldn't get them to hit the target at 25 yards straight on. The ones that even hit the target all went in sideways and I even found one of the sabots stuck in the target. Hopefully your experience is much better.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I'd think that with the much lighter bullets they would likely hit MUCH lower than "normal" bullets would . . . perhaps so low that the Blackhawk doesn't have enough sight adjustment to compensate for this.

Dunno. Guess we'll see.

 

[Capn27]

I'd think that with the much lighter bullets they would likely hit MUCH lower than "normal" bullets would . . . perhaps so low that the Blackhawk doesn't have enough sight adjustment to compensate for this.

Dunno. Guess we'll see.

The revolver I'll be using has a nice red dot sight mounted. Let's hope it has sufficient adjustment. We'll see how they shoot - maybe today! Between the fireworks I may be able to sneak off a few rounds.

 

[Capn27]

I'd think that with the much lighter bullets they would likely hit MUCH lower than "normal" bullets would . . . perhaps so low that the Blackhawk doesn't have enough sight adjustment to compensate for this.

Dunno. Guess we'll see.

The revolver I'll be using has a nice red dot sight mounted. Let's hope it has sufficient adjustment. We'll see how they shoot - maybe today! Between the fireworks I may be able to sneak off a few rounds.