[GMFWoodchuck]

Has anyone tried the new BPI RSS-12 sabots yet? I'm getting into slug reloading. I don't have any casting equipment yet and figure these sabots might be a good place to start. They seem like they would work well with the 350 grain XTP and the 300 FTX 50 caliber bullets from Hornady.

They call for an overshot card for them for the roll crimp loads, which makes sense to me. But how do the manufacturers keep the bullets in their sabot products without the bullets coming out during transport and whatever else?

 

[Augustuz]

Well, I don't have any personal experience with the RSS-12, but I have heard less than positive reviews about them.

I played with its predecessor, the BLS-12. They were difficult to work with and I never got satisfactory results. The sabot would be propelled faster than the bullet and the fired sabots I recovered had a hole in the bottom. It took a lot of rigging with nitro cards, etc. to get it to cure that and my results were still inconsistant.

I don't think an overshot card would be nessessary. If the sabot is well made it should hold the bullet tight enough that falling out shouldn't be a problem. If it doesn't, would it hold it tight enough to spin the bullet down the bore?

Since your getting into slug reloading, might I suggest Lightfield Commander slugs? You can check them out on Midway. With a primed hull, you drop in the power, drop in the slug, roll crimp, done.

Here's the e-mail I got from Lightfield in regards to data:

HAND LOADING WITH GREEN DOT:

The sabot we offer from handloading is the Commander IDS slug. It is the original 12ga. offering in Impact Discarding Sabot (IDS) family and weighs 465 grains.
It has been replaced by the current 600 grain 13/8oz. Commander IDS PLUS “Heavy Game” factory loaded round.
You can also use Green Dot powder starting at 24.0 grains and NO MORE than 27.0 grains for a velocity of 1475-1500ft/sec. at an OAL of 2.425 inches in a Cheditte hull. THIS IS A MAX LOAD… It was 1510ft/sec. at 10,900psi. @ 70 degrees. That is even a good cold weather load.

There is loading info in each pack of sabots for Solo 1250.

I cannot explain, in this format, the crude ways you have at home to guess at what pressures you are developing using this reloading method. A real pressure gun is the only way that you are ever sure about how much pressure you are developing. That's why every loading manual is so adamant about not ever changing ANY THING in a recipe for loading shot shells at home.

The real trick is come up with a final OAL shell that is fully crimped, generating the proper pressure on the nose of the slug, but not enough pressure that you start to collapse the pressure wad at a usable pressure at the velocity desired.





PS,
Check out the new Lightfield/TarHunt web site at: <lightfieldslugs.com> or <tarhunt.com>
Watch for up coming discounts on ammo, clothing, free giveaways, monthly contests, register for a free hunt and a whole lot more!

Questions: 570-784-6557 (9AM-3PM week days).
IN GOD WE TRUST
Have a nice day,
Randy

 

[GMFWoodchuck]

Thanks for the data on the lightfield slugs. I have been looking at those too as well. And I will be trying them as well.

I was just wondering about the RSS-12s because I have heard about the complaints about the BLS-12s. It would seem to me that there are a few things that would easily rectify the issues with the BLS-12s. First being is not to try to make a 2000fps slug carrier out of them. The other is to do what they did. It would seem odd to me that they can't rectify those issues. Let's face it, how hard would it be to beef up a plastic sabot base. Heck, some of the brand name factory ammo have metal in them if I recall correctly. I guess what I mean is, why would BPI put that new RSS-12 sabot on the face of it's homepage if it didn't live up to it's image? I just wonder if the people doubting it are either confusing it with the older BLS-12 or are just naysaying it because they have a preconceived notion of it.

I hope that the RSS-12 works well because it would seem like the perfect fit with the 50 cal pointed FTX bullets from Hornady along with the rest of the growing number of .500 S&W bullets on the market.

I did look at a few sabots that I had cut open. They all have a mini-lip that grabs the bullets at the start of the ogive keeping them in place. Which is probably 95% of the problem with the old BLS-12's. The bullets weren't seated quite properly when ignited and the stationary momentum of the bullets probably cut right through the bases as the sabots pushed foward. So perhaps the first round you fire, they should be okay, but the suceeding rounds would create "seating" problems from the recoil moving the bullets. I would almost bet money on that. Perhaps they would be best in single shot system. That would give me an excuse to buy an NEF shotgun, I hope.

In either case, I will not be using either for this year's hunting season as I'm getting into the slug reloading a bit late for it and would like more time and money to test how well they do. Mostly because I will want to spend most of my time and money on my baby that's due in a few weeks.

 

[Augustuz]

First, congratulations on the up coming baby!

I would definetly have interest in your results from this project, so report updates! Factory sabots are rediculiously expensive.

I don't quite follow you on the first shot being okay and the next shots "not seating correctly". The BLS had many problems. They were supposed to be for .50 cal. bullets but you really needed to cast your own in a slightly larger caliber to get the sabot to dig into the rifling.

The factory stuff uses metal in making their sabots? That would be a good way beef them up.

 

[GMFWoodchuck]

Thank you.

And yes, at least, Winchester uses a metal plate of sorts in the base of their sabots. It's possible that their are others but I haven't really looked that thoroughly beyond knowing they are all expensive.

By the BLS seating thing, I know that a common complaint is the blown bases from the bullets cutting through. What I mean by my possible explanation is that it's more common than not to have heavy recoiling calibers crimped (I would say a 12 slug round would qualify) and in tubular weapons the ammunition is usually crimped as well to prevent the battering of bullets into the cartridges from the hammering effect like in most lever action rifles. Every single sabot type that I have cut open (out of curiosity) has a physical lip, or some sort of shape to it/them making bullet movement within the sabot impossible, short of discharge and exiting the barrel of course.

Obviously the BLS and RSS sabots can not have a lip because they (BPI) has no clue as to what 50 caliber bullet(s) you would be using. Different types of bullets have different ogives and shapes to them.

It would seem to me that after a few firings of these rounds the bullets, in the other shells, could quite easily slide under the recoil within the tubular magazine. They do in metallic rounds, so why not slug rounds?

If there is a separation between the base of the bullet and the sabot the forward movement of the sabot against the stationary bullet (even if for a millisecond) could quite easily destroy the plastic sabot base under 10,000 or more PSI. It would seem to me that could be a regular event if the bullets aren't seated within the sabots correctly.

 

[James Gates]

We all seem to know why the sabot will blow forward off the slug/bullet....but it seems that few seem to know how to correct it.
There should be a good over-powder seal like the BPI X12X. Then a hard 1/4" (.250") nitro card/wad in between the gas seal and the sabot. This will also work on the older BPI sabot. The other problem is fast burn powder!
The basic problem arose with the older sabot...there was a soft plastic Flex-Seal suggested.
Dixie designed a .503" slug/bullet for the sabot. The sabot has small ridges inside the sabot's petals that snap over the truncated cone nose of our Tornado bullet.
Regards, James

 

[walkeast]

I am eager to hear any results useing this product as well...does anyone know of other plastic sabots that are available to the handloader?
Thanks for your time! Jonathan

 

[GMFWoodchuck]

I do not know of any other sabots. I wish that there were.....Or at least I wish that there are some that I know of.