Finally got all my accessories and took my Knigh Bighorn to the range today for my first ever ever using sabots. I was using the Knight Bloodline 350 grain bullets with the red sabots that come with them in the package.
1). Oh my god. These things are crazy hard to load. In fact, I broke off the loading jag I bought from knight in the hand loader, and also broke off the extra one I had in the end of my ramrod. The ramrod had the attachment break off flush, so it still fits in my rifle, but the female threaded portion is now filled in flush with the male part from the attachment. I should have never bought a plastic hand starter or the cheap jag. I had to put immense, sustained pressure on the bullet and tools to get this thing to go down the barrel. I'm not Hercules, but I'm not a wimp either, and I used everything I had. It kind of sucked. I had to clean between each shot with solvent and sometimes a scrub with the brush, then dry patch it out. None of this "one wet patch swab and the. Two dry patches". It was 4-5 minutes between shots.
2) despite being extremely hard to load, and I mean HARD, bullets were great once they left the barrel. I've attached a picture of my last two consecutive shots. Both of them are essentially bulls eyes, considering open factory sights from 100 yards off the bench. This surprised me, since I could only really guess at where I was holding because that front sight completely covers up an 8 inch black circle target at 100 yards. It took me about 14 shots total to get this accuracy. I first bore sighted it at home using open sights, that had me on paper at 50 yards, I adjusted a little, and then Went to the 100 yard range for the remainder.
3) I tried using the HPH 24 sabots in place of the red ones that came with the bloodlines. I had an inkling the fit my be tight. Well, the HPH 24's were "almost" as tight, but it didn't matter. They did not work well. The bullets keyholed and were wild flyers. I looked very carefully at the two sabots with the Bloodline inserted. The red sabot that came with the bloodlines held the bullet without "flaring" the sabot petals out. The HPH 24's flared out and the bullet did not seem to want to sit flush against the bottom inside of the sabot. Also, the HPH 24's did not allow the bullet to sit as deep. When compared side to side, the HPH 24's look a little shorter than the red bloodline sabots and I think they are. I measured them with a ruler and the red sabots let the bullet seat more than a millimeter more than the HPH 24's. These bullets are LONG. I used 120 grains of powder to help stabilize the bullet on advice from Sabotloader. I used to shoot 100 grains of powder or 110. 120 worked best with this long bullet. Also, this thing kicked much more than my old T/C Black Daimond XR WITH 110 grains of powder and a 405 grain powerbelt. Or maybe I'm just getting older and a wimp. But I doubt the 10 grains made that kind of a felt difference. I've shot 150 before and it didn't bite me like this load does. The Bighorn comes in around 8 pounds. I don't remember what my TC weighed, but that could explain the difference in recoil
4). HELP AND SUGGESTIONS. I'm not changing bullets this year before the elk season, and I will just deal with the ridiculously tight fit and the aggravation that comes with it, because the accuracy is unreal given the open factory sights. BUT, I need help on what to do about getting some accessories that will allow me to push these suckers down the barrel without breaking stuff and ruining my palm. I used a glove and a rag together to allow me to apply the force necessary. It's a pain in the arse. Also, what the hell am I supposed to do if I need a fast reload? Hmmmmm? I'd better make the first one count.
