I told myself I was going to hold off sharing this until I had some pics and 200 yard results, but I can't contain my enthusiasim.
Most know my love/hate relationship with the 200gr SST. Love the accuracy hate the terminal performance. YMMV.
As such, I'm continually looking for a better .40 bullet. I have learned from the good folks at Hornady that their redesigned SST is on permanent hold. All new products are on hold. They are so busy with the effects of the Obama paranoia, that they can't meet existing ammo orders. They're telling me 2010 before the new SST is here.
I have some 225gr Hawk .40s and some 200gr .40 Lehighs that I have been playing with on a couple of range sessions. Both show promise, but that isn't the point of this.
Today I headed back to the range with two freshly scrubbed .45 Elites. When I first started fussing with these 45s, I was hanging my hat on the 195gr Barnes. I shoot Barnes in most of my center fires and had shot them in all my 50 cals - NEVER let me down. I also loved the thought of pushing these 195ers hard and fast with blackhorn and not having to worry about bullet seperation.
I tried every combo of powder at the time. Accuracy was awful. I gave up on them and moved on to XTPs, Parkers and SSTs. Settled on the SSTs because they shot the lights out.
I found the Lehighs to prefer the MMP sabot over the Harvester. Then it dawned on me. When I started this with the Expanders the Harvester .45/.40 sabot was not available. I had only shot it with MMP sabots.
I happened to have a dozen of the 195gr Barnes still in the bottom of my range bag, so I figured what the heck.... I dropped them into the harvester sabot, loaded it over 130 grains of BH, lit her off with a CCI 209M and expected to see the same six inch groups that I did a year ago.
God's honest truth - the first three rounds out of rifle number one, layed em in under half an inch. What's more, they printed EXACTLY where the SSTs do. Same point of aim. I could litterally shoot them into the same hole without moving my scope. I could not believe it. I'm thinking, must be a fluke right...
Nope. I picked up rifle number two and proceeded to put four rounds inside of an inch with that one too. Same load. Same load that I had written off a year ago - just a different sabot.
If this holds together out to 200 yards, I'm all done. I will bet my hunt on a Barnes every day of the week. I think the Hawk and Lehigh are great bullets and are showing real potential, but I will take a known commodity every time.
A good reminder of what a HUGE impact a simple change can make.
I'm reserving judgement until I put some down range at 200, but I'm cautiously optomistic. I'm hoping I can get back out on Sunday. Time will tell...............
Most know my love/hate relationship with the 200gr SST. Love the accuracy hate the terminal performance. YMMV.
As such, I'm continually looking for a better .40 bullet. I have learned from the good folks at Hornady that their redesigned SST is on permanent hold. All new products are on hold. They are so busy with the effects of the Obama paranoia, that they can't meet existing ammo orders. They're telling me 2010 before the new SST is here.
I have some 225gr Hawk .40s and some 200gr .40 Lehighs that I have been playing with on a couple of range sessions. Both show promise, but that isn't the point of this.
Today I headed back to the range with two freshly scrubbed .45 Elites. When I first started fussing with these 45s, I was hanging my hat on the 195gr Barnes. I shoot Barnes in most of my center fires and had shot them in all my 50 cals - NEVER let me down. I also loved the thought of pushing these 195ers hard and fast with blackhorn and not having to worry about bullet seperation.
I tried every combo of powder at the time. Accuracy was awful. I gave up on them and moved on to XTPs, Parkers and SSTs. Settled on the SSTs because they shot the lights out.
I found the Lehighs to prefer the MMP sabot over the Harvester. Then it dawned on me. When I started this with the Expanders the Harvester .45/.40 sabot was not available. I had only shot it with MMP sabots.
I happened to have a dozen of the 195gr Barnes still in the bottom of my range bag, so I figured what the heck.... I dropped them into the harvester sabot, loaded it over 130 grains of BH, lit her off with a CCI 209M and expected to see the same six inch groups that I did a year ago.
God's honest truth - the first three rounds out of rifle number one, layed em in under half an inch. What's more, they printed EXACTLY where the SSTs do. Same point of aim. I could litterally shoot them into the same hole without moving my scope. I could not believe it. I'm thinking, must be a fluke right...
Nope. I picked up rifle number two and proceeded to put four rounds inside of an inch with that one too. Same load. Same load that I had written off a year ago - just a different sabot.
If this holds together out to 200 yards, I'm all done. I will bet my hunt on a Barnes every day of the week. I think the Hawk and Lehigh are great bullets and are showing real potential, but I will take a known commodity every time.
A good reminder of what a HUGE impact a simple change can make.
I'm reserving judgement until I put some down range at 200, but I'm cautiously optomistic. I'm hoping I can get back out on Sunday. Time will tell...............
