Do not shoot sabots from your rifle!!

[limeyyank]

I was just at a gun show and saw Winchester "slap" rounds for sale, I also was surfing the web and have found a company making sabot rounds in 50 bmg.
DO NOT SHOOT SABOT ROUNDS THRU YOUR 50 BMG RIFLE!!
These rounds were made for shooting out of a barrel without a brake. I have personally witnessed a Barrett 82a1 destroyed from this!
When shooting a saboted slug, as soon as the sabot leaves the rifleing it peels away from the projectile plugging your brake. this can lead to major damage!
The barrett I saw had the barrel torn almost out of its frame (takeing the bolt along with it);P ;P ;P ;P ;P

[kestrou]

kestrou scribbles in his notebook... ;f

kestrou

[50 Shooter]

I guess the M82 wasn't one of the Desert Storm guns, they did have M82's with a SLAP chamber. They also opened up the muzzle brake to accommodate for the SLAP rounds opening.

People have shot SLAP rounds out of their .50's, they just took their muzzle brakes off when they did it. Some .50's won't even chamber a real factory SLAP round. It is a serious matter and if you don't know what your doing, don't do it. This goes double if your at a range where someone else could get hurt and SUE you for negligence.

I wouldn't even buy those cheap after market sabot's, they are nowhere near the precision that the WIN/OLIN made ones are. Plus your hoping that the .30 cal round that you drop into (sabot) it is sitting straight. Save you money on these as a couple people that posted that they tried them said the accuracy was horrible, to the tune of minute of mountain.

[limeyyank]

The Barrett I saw destroyed was at "China Lake" w.t.f. Yes Barrett's were modified to shoot slap rounds for Desert storm. But BIG BUT these weapons were made to shoot slap rounds ONLY. If you open up the front of your brake to allow a sabot to clear it is usless for regular ammo. We tryed removing the brakes off a few 50's and added "peelers" but the recoil is "exessive".

[C14]

Like this?

[50 Shooter]

NO! That was a failure of some other kind. I've only heard internet rumors on it so far. Would like to hear the final outcome of what caused this failure.

The UK gov as a result pulled it from being used anywhere in the UK and AI has gone into receivership.

[C14]

I heard through the grapevine that is was a bad batch of barrels.Scary thought when its 50 cal.Can you imagine a squib or using something like AA#2 by mistake?

[50 Shooter]

Hard to say if it was a bad batch of barrels. Sako was having the same kind of problems that they attributed to bad barrels/sulfur content in them. Wonder if AI might've had the same barrel mfg. as Sako?

Needless to say, that's one scary a** picture!

[kestrou]

Holy mother of god! ;P

I just got my Serbu in early this week and haven't had a chance to take it out yet - now I'm gonna have nightmares!

kestrou

[HotGuns]

Three things...

1. The muzzelbrake...
take it off.
I though everyone knew that...but apparently not.

2. The sabot and the bullet must run out no more than .001 to be accurate. Any more than that and your groups at 100 yards will resemble shotgun patterns.

3. Last but not least...
The powder charge. This is where everyone screws up. You must adjust accordingly. Using the same charge as your regular bullets will do nothing but screw with the accuracy. Going from a 750 grain bullet to a 220 grain bullet or less and using the same powder charge is pretty radical.
Sabots have a "sweet spot" that must be found only by experimenting.Too much or too little powder results in accuracy that sucks.

When you figure out what it takes, they shoot well, fast and the recoil is nill. Jsut dont forget to take the brake off...;P

[kestrou]

You know, something I haven't figured out from reading this thread is why would you want to shoot sabots? I mean, what's the point of having a .50 barrel and then going through all these hassles to thow a smaller projecticle downrange? Increased distance? Sure sounds like increased accuracy isn't the reason.

Enlighten me, o exalted ones! ;f

kestrou

[HotGuns]

They are the ultimate in flat shooting.


For instance...using a 240 Sierra MatchKing...

Trajectory (Basic) Output (JBM Calculator)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Input Data
Muzzle Velocity: 4800.0 ft/sec
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.711
Drag Function: G1
Bullet Weight: 240 grains
Sight Height: 1.50 inches
Wind Cross Speed: 0 mph
LOS Angle: 0 degrees
Target Speed: 0 mph
Zero Range: 200 yards
Temperature: 59.6 °F
Barometric Pressure: 29.92 in Hg
Relative Humidity: 60.0 %
Altitude: 0 feet
Air Density: 99 % of Sea Level


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calculated Table
Elevation: 2.254 moa
Azimuth: 0.000 moa

Range Velocity Energy Drop
(yards) (ft/sec) (ft-lbs) (inches)
200.... 4390.5....10272.0.....-0.0
300.... 4201.6....9407.3......-1.9
400.... 4021.5....8618.1......-5.7
500.... 3849.1....7895.0.....-11.7
600.... 3683.6....7230.5.....-20.1
700.... 3524.2....6618.3.....-31.0
800.... 3370.4....6053.4.....-44.7
900.... 3221.8....5531.4.....-61.5
1000... 3078.0....5048.7.....-81.6

Notice with a 200 Yard Zero that at 400 yards you are LESS than 6 inches of drop.
At 500 yards you are only 11.7 inches low.

Can you show me a cartridge that can beat that ?

At 1000 yards you've still got more energy than most rifles start out with...^5

[C14]

I like to see you figure that for the heaviest 7mm spitzer tipped boattail on the market.

[HotGuns]

I beleive that the 240 grain bullet has the best BC there is, better than the 7mm.

I've never seen a 7mm/50 sabot. I dont think they are being made.

[50 Shooter]

Real SLAP rounds are more effective in penetrating armor then the standard .50 AP. They are very accurate and effective in doing the job they were designed for. The military SLAP rounds weigh about 355 grs and are made out of tungsten.

As for the 30/50 sabots that you can buy and reload yourself, I've never heard of anyone getting better then minute of barn accuracy. To me it's just a waste of time and money.