Any of you folks ever tried re-using a Plastic Sabot for a Second or Third shot?

I don't simply because they are cheap but they will work if they are still intact.

I've pushed the sabot out of my MLers at times when I didn't want to shoot and clean and even though the lands had cut into the plastic they still work fine.

It's not possible to reuse them with heavy charges or smokeless charges in a Savage due to the deformation of the cup on the rear of the sabot. However, when using mild BP loads in some of my rifles I've found the sabots to be hardly stressed at all and yes they would work again but, they are too cheap to fool with it.

Good Luck

Reloader

Like Reloader said sabots are too cheap to mess with reusing them. And unless you're shooting from a clean bore for each shot maybe I'd worry a little about scuffing the bore with fouling ground into the sabot by multiple passes down and up the barrel. Where do you shoot that you can recover your sabots anyway; our patches, skirts, and sabots go into the grass...

quote:

Originally posted by Reloader:
...It's not possible to reuse them with heavy charges or smokeless charges in a Savage due to the deformation of the cup on the rear of the sabot. However, when using mild BP loads in some of my rifles I've found the sabots to be hardly stressed at all and yes they would work again but, they are too cheap to fool with it.
...

Hey Reloader, I'd noticed the same thing and was wondering why people just left them laying around at the Range.
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Hey Nordrseta, A couple of the Ranges I've frequented kept the places mowed like they were golf courses. Each year right before Muzzleloader Season opened, I'd notice a significant increase in the number of Sabots on the ground. Back when they first came out, the ones I noticed were primarily Green and some of them looked nearly pristine, except for the Rifling marks that Reloader mentioned. This was back when Pyrodex first became popular, maybe 12-15 years ago(not sure on how long ago).

Since I've no real experience with BP, but being a Reloader, I picked a few Sabots up, took them home, washed them off and gave them to a buddy who was a Pyrodex shooter.

A few weeks passed and he told me they still shot fine in his rifle and believed he could still shoot most of them again. He also said they really "Seated" easier, which he believed was due to the "impression" of the initial Bullet being left inside the Sabot.

I've no idea how many shots he was able to get with them, and I don't know how much Pyrodex he used. I'm sure it was less Powder than is typically in use today. He was using the 240gr Hornady XTP, because we both were using it in our 44Mags at that time.

Seems strange to me that folks would leave money on the ground at the Range. Didn't take but perhaps a minute on the way back to the Bench when changing Targets to pick up a double handful, so I got a bunch for my buddies. But I don't have BP experience and was wondering why no one ever seems to re-use them.

Can't remember if I've picked any up since the Rifles have been using 150grs of BP, they may be torn all to pieces.

Best of luck to you all.

Once the plastic engages the rifling & creates it's own seated groove that odds-are cannot be duplicated on a 2nd try - plus the bottom base gas check wall is heated a 2nd time & compromised, the used sabot becomes an unpredictable shooter afterwards.

quote:

Originally posted by Triple_Se7en:
Once the plastic engages the rifling & creates it's own seated groove that odds-are cannot be duplicated on a 2nd try - plus the bottom base gas check wall is heated a 2nd time & compromised, the used sabot becomes an unpredictable shooter afterwards.

Did you try shooting them, or is that speculation?

HotCore, let me ask you a question. Is it speculation or fact that you'd know that what Triple Se7en said was NOT fact. Mathematically, at some point, he has to be correct and obviously the gas check skirt would be damaged to some degree. I suppose if you shot your rounds into a bank, you could also retrieve them from the sand and reuse them. Which leads us back to the original anwer: Why would you want to? In the time it took me to police the area retieving the used sabots, for the few cents they're worth I could already be shooting again.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
Did you try shooting them, or is that speculation?

Actually - the answer lies in the inspection of the spent sabot - then adding some common sense.

No testing required!

quote:

Originally posted by george roof:
HotCore, let me ask you a question. Is it speculation or fact that you'd know that what Triple Se7en said was NOT fact. ...

Hey George, I'd "guess" it is speculation on "your" part that you DO NOT know what 777 said was or was NOT fact.

And it is a "fact", on my part, that I DID NOT know - that is why I asked him .

From all appearances, it seems you are intentionally trying to goad some of us into an argument rather than discuss different points of view, or concepts which clearly have never crossed through your mind.

quote:

Originally posted by George:
...and obviously the gas check skirt would be damaged to some degree. ...

In your haste to make a clinton of yourself, it is obvious you either missed this portion of my reply, or probably just didn't understand what it meant:

quote:

...some of them looked nearly pristine, except for the Rifling marks that Reloader mentioned.

Pristine means "in an original condition or shape, clean and undamaged."

Talking about things where people have no "First-Hand Experience" as if they are an expert always seems to get folks into trouble. Still no problem doing it as long as the people they are telling either know it is pure speculation, or they know the person to be a fool. In either case, the information they provide is given the appropriate amount of consideration.
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Hey 777, I appreciate your reply that you were merely speculating.

I agree that a good many of the Sabots I see laying on the ground "today" are significantly more damaged than the ones I picked up many years ago. I'd thought(guessing) that it was probably due to the higher Loads commonly in use today, or perhaps the Sabot manufacturers changed their Designs a bit.

But I still see a few that look reloadeable and was just wondering if anyone here had ever tried them. Thanks for the input.

Best of luck to all you folks - especially George who seems to need it the most.

That's funny Hot Core. I was thinking exactly the same thing about YOU. I see this same logic every day in taxidermy: penny wise and pound foolish. Most of the saboted rounds that I use are packaged with an equal number of sabots. So going out to pick them up makes absolutely no sense as the manufacturer obviously intended them for "one time usage". Would you drink water out of a perfectly good paper cup in the waste can by the water cooler? I don't KNOWS for a fact that doing so is unhealthy, but I still wouldn't do it. Some things would be decided by common sense. Sadly, common sense isn't so common anymore.

Hotcore, I've done it and it worked out fine. I do not use over 110 grains of powder, though. I tried it "just to see". I found no measurable difference in accuracy and they were easier to seat. Could be the scribing and could be other reasons, don't know, don't care.

I don't do it as a rule, but I did try it. Yep, sabots are cheap. That is why I don't go the expensive route of buying rounds that have bullets and sabots packaged together. I buy the components separately so I can experiment with different combinations, just like I do with my centerfire loads, and it ends up being cheaper.

Hope that is a little more to your point without the useless aggravation.

quote:

Originally posted by larrys:
...Hope that is a little more to your point without the useless aggravation.

Hey Larrys, Why yes indeed it is.

Glad to hear you had good luck with them too.

I used the red MMP 54 cal sabots over back when I was shooting clean shot. The red ones were easy to see laying in the woods where I hunt in too.
I reused them just to see if they worked as well as new and they did for me. I am useing the T/C Mag express sabots in my 54 now and the pedals break off on them.They are orange and also easy to see laying about.
I also read where you were picking them up for a buddy to use. I am sure if he/she didn't want to use them you would be told not to bother.
Al

quote:

...I reused them just to see if they worked as well as new and they did for me. ...I am sure if he/she didn't want to use them you would be told not to bother. Al

Hey AL, You are absolutely correct. I wasn't going to mention it, but you experienced the same thing my buddies did with them.

How much Powder were you using? I "think" both of my buddies were shooting 100gr of Pyrodex or less.

First off I was picking them up to get a read on what the clean shot was doing to them.
I was useing 100gr. of clean shot the red MMP sabots and Nosler 240gr bullets.
When I ran out of the clean shot, there had been a law suit for useing pellets, which they lost. The company became APP. I bought some as I liked what clean shot was doing for me.
Now the groups went south in a fast moving hand cart. Picking up the sabots again showed that the complete 100gr charge was not burning in my rifle. Switched to T7 and haven't looked back.
I use 100gr. T7 T/C mag express sabots and 230gr. HP XTP's

We check our shot gun wads to when we do a new load.
When he was laid off a friend reused them too.

Al

Here is a picture of 3 sabots. Two have been shot out of my T/C plains rifle. One was shot when the temp was above 50F. One was shot shot when the temp was 16F wind chill of -2.
One has never been shot, which one?







These green MMPs are the hardest for me to find on my range Except the white 54 cal MMPs I shoot in the winter when the snow is on.

Al

Hey Al, Is #3 the new one? I'm "guessing" though.

#2 appears to be burnished slightly along the Petal I can see.

#1 looks like new too.

Great flicks. Just enough shadow to hide the Rifling marks.

You showed a great example of what I was asking about. Thanks.
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Reusing Shotgun Wads is something I'd not considered over the years. I need to look at them a bit closer the next time I'm near some that have been shot.

Yes # 3 is the never used one. #1 was shot in 16F weather and # 2 was shot in the over 50F weather.
Cold does seem to effect the sabots by loading hard in the deep cold for me. But it didn't seem to effect the POI at the range.

Al