Knight LRH Help

[globemountain]

I took my new Long Range Hunter to the range for the 2nd time this morning. I am just not quite pleased with the accuracy yet. 100 yard groups with various bullet/sabot combimations have been in the 2 1/2" to 3" range. I've been careful to let the barrel cool between shots. I have been using BH209 in loads ranging from 80 grains to 100 grains. Scope base is tight. Scope is a brand new Elite 3200 3x9. Made sure the actions screws were tight. Shot the FPJ breech plug and the Non FPJ breech plug. The Non FPJ seemed to show more accuracy promise. This rifle should be shooting half the group size it is. I also took my new Green Mountain .54-120 Brush Gun and it shot a clover leaf at 50 yards and an inch a 100 yards with 90 gr of BH209 and a 350 Sierra HP in a purple MMP sabot. I want the LRH to shoot that good! Any thoughts?

 

[Busta]

What bullet/sabot combinations have you been shooting? Remember, some of these rifles need a 110-120 gr load to get the best accuracy potential. The warm weather can really keep a warmed up barrel hot for a long time, it is very hard to get any accuracy once hot.

If you are shooting lighter bullets, it might like heavier ones, or vice-versa. Do you know the actual diameter of the bore? Just a sabot change can do wonders for some bullets. Sometimes a primer change can make a big diference as well.

If you have a 250 or 290 gr Barnes TMZ with YELLOW sabot, try that with 110 to 120 grains VOLUME BH209. My Knight hates the new BLUE sabot packaged with the Knight PBT/Barnes.

 

[globemountain]

I shot groups with:
250gr. XTP, MMP short black sabot, 80, 90, & 100 grains of bh209.
250gr. SST, Supplied sabot, MMP short black sabot, 80, 90, & 100 grains of bh209.
300 gr. Hornady .458 HP, MMP orange sabot, 90 & 100 grains bh209. The .458 loads showed the most promise. All were shot with CCI 209M primers.

 

[sagebrush]

i seem to get better results using PR dead centers 260 grn with 100-110grn BH209.
today I went out shooting using the Omega scope wanted to see how it fairs up. it did like it was supposed to. I was using the 120 grn charge like it says to.
I was using the barnes tmz 250 grn and pr dead centers 260 grn . I liked the dead centers better easier to load.

the first time I shot my LRH with open sights I tried 100 grns BH209 with the DC 260 grns and could get the bullets to touch at 50 yards at a 100 yards i got a 3"group with open sights, which is good to me.

as for the barnes I am going to swap out the sabots with some mmph12 or 24 to see what happens. trying to get them to load easier and maybe see some better groups also. But I think I will try some T7 ffg this time.

shooting BH209 is not all that cheap its better to save it for hunting only.

 

[Busta]

sagebrush,

Just remember the Barnes TMZ's have a boat-tail. The sabots have this designed into them. The standard sabots are made by MMP, but Harvester is now making one for this bullet as well.

Just a sabot change can make all the difference in the world.

http://www.harvestermuzzleloading.com/i ... 1&Itemid=3

 

[sagebrush]

Sorry if i high jacked your thread globemountain.

Busta so you are saying that the HPH12/HPH 24 sabots will not work with the Barnes bullets. I m trying to get the Barnes and dead center bullets the same diameter. Because the DC load easier in my rifle, the Barnes take some muscle just to get past the first 6" of the barrel then it is easy. The two bullets have .100? difference is size between the two with the sabots. By going to the HPH24 it puts the same size as the DC bullets. Except the petals are an 1/8? longer than the barnes petals. I guess I could cut them down some if necessary. The bases are the same between the barnes and HPH24.

 

[globemountain]

Sage....no problem.......this is good info for me.......

 

[Busta]

Sorry if i high jacked your thread globemountain.

Busta so you are saying that the HPH12/HPH 24 sabots will not work with the Barnes bullets. I m trying to get the Barnes and dead center bullets the same diameter. Because the DC load easier in my rifle, the Barnes take some muscle just to get past the first 6" of the barrel then it is easy. The two bullets have .100? difference is size between the two with the sabots. By going to the HPH24 it puts the same size as the DC bullets. Except the petals are an 1/8? longer than the barnes petals. I guess I could cut them down some if necessary. The bases are the same between the barnes and HPH24.

Not saying they will not work, just saying the provided sabots have the boat-tail molded into them to fit snugly around the base of the bullet. If you use the HPH sabot with the design for flat based bullets, you MIGHT get a hole punched in the sabot if your barrel is hot. The provided sabots as well as the Harvester boat-tail sabots give much better support to the base and angle of the boat-tail bullet.

You can shoot boat-tailed bullets in non boat-tail sabots, they may not give you the best results. On the other hand NEVER shoot flat based bullets in sabots designed for boat-tail bullets. Not only will you not be able to get the bullet seated all the way down in the sabot, it could create a dangerous situation.

I think the Harvester boat-tail sabot has thinner petals than the MMP/Barnes sabot, but I don't know the measurement. I need to order some.

 

[sagebrush]

I am going out shooting today and will give it a try with some HPH24 sabots and see what happens. thanks for the information about the sabots.
I ordered some harvester sabots in the boat tail design to see if it will make a difference.

i have an older LK93 and used to shoot sabots then, this was about 12 years ago, never really had much luck with them. flyer's seem to happen at the worst times. So I went with the power belts instead. shot them since. Until I bought this LRH, I have an ELK hunt coming up and need something that will reach out to 200 yards with some accuracy.
My Lyman trade rifle 54 cal. with PRB shoots better than the LK93. I have a 1-70 twist barrel on it. it will shoot out to 200 yards but has a 30" drop at that distance.

Any way the price was right for the LRH $399.99 so I picked one up. Now I'm back to shooting sabots. having to learn this game all over again.

i like this LRH much better than the LK93 besides the barrel is also pitted so bad its not shooting all that great anymore. some neglect on my part. live and learn though.