bloodline bullets, tight loading in Knight bighorn

[usmc74]

Buddy just got a Knight bighorn.  I wanted him to get TMZ 290, but he bought Bloodline 275.  They are ridiculous tight to load in his rifle.

It actually looks like it is tearing off the petals of the sabot as he loads them.  My TMZ with the Knight blue sabot load so smooth and easy in my Bighorn.

What is the diameter of the bloodlines with stock sabot?

[Mfowl]

I believe the bullet diameter changes from .452 to .458 at 275gr in the bloodline bullets. I'm not sure about the sabots though. I do know I had issues trying to load 300gr bloodlines in the Bighorn you bought from me a couple years ago. Took everything I had to shove one down the barrel. I was almost scared to pull the trigger afterward.

Btw: Did you fix the trigger on that gun?

[usmc74]

Yes.  The safety pin was seized in the housing.  A lot of penetrating oil, and some "gentle" tapping, and it freed up.  Had a heck of a time finding new C clips to hold the safety on (the oversize ones).  This guy may want it for his son.  I wanted it for my son, but he bought a new stainless Bighorn.

Nice thing is, with 4 bighorns in the hunting party, the spare parts list is a lot smaller.

[Mfowl]

Yes.  The safety pin was seized in the housing.  A lot of penetrating oil, and some "gentle" tapping, and it freed up.  Had a heck of a time finding new C clips to hold the safety on (the oversize ones).  This guy may want it for his son.  I wanted it for my son, but he bought a new stainless Bighorn.

Nice thing is, with 4 bighorns in the hunting party, the spare parts list is a lot smaller.

Nice! Glad to hear. Good luck out there!

[Sabotloader]

Buddy just got a Knight bighorn.  I wanted him to get TMZ 290, but he bought Bloodline 275.  They are ridiculous tight to load in his rifle.

It actually looks like it is tearing off the petals of the sabot as he loads them.  My TMZ with the Knight blue sabot load so smooth and easy in my Bighorn.

What is the diameter of the bloodlines with stock sabot?

The TMZ-290 starts off being smaller than the 275 Bloodline.  The TMZ has a diameter of .451 then combined with the thin Blue Barnes sabot ( which is a contract HPH-24) it comes in with a total diameter of about .501/.502.  Then the 275 Bloodline (which is a great bullet) has a starting diameter of .458 drop that into a MMP Orange or even the provided Knight sabot ( which is a contract MMP HPH 458x50 sabot) the total diameter moves to .503/4 so it is certainly tighter than the smaller Barnes.

I shoot the 458 Bloodlines in all of my Knights and they load very well.  I do not have any Bighorns anymore and can not remember having a problem with them either - but it is certainly possible to get a rifle with tighter than the normal bore.

One thing that could possible help would be to try loading them with a MMP 3P-EZ load sabot or even a Harvester Crush Rib sabot.  Both of these sabots are .451/.452 sabots but several people have found success loading tight .458 bullets into a 50 cal bore with these sabots.