Well I picked up the two rifles, a 450-400 and a 9.3x74, was able to find one box of Hornady 400 gr DGX's and already had a few boxes of Lapua 285 gr Mega's on hand.

First a bit on the rifles. The triggers, as previously reported, are atrocious. The 450-400 goes 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 # while the 9.3 goes one pound less on each. The 450-400 weighs 9# 10 oz while the 9.3 goes 7# 3 oz, about perfect I thought. The 450-400 is a pretty piece with one of the nicer hunks of wood I have seen on the 'net. Here's a couple of shots of the stock. It is amazing at what they can do with machine applied engraving too.





Once at the range I shot one from each barrel standing to get a feel for the triggers and the recoil. Did I say the triggers are atrocious... Now to get 4 off shooting from the bench. With a solid set of bags up front, me gripping the forend and barrels snuggly with my hand resting on the bags, rifle firm against my shoulder with my left elbow touching the bench and my right elbow hanging free I let fly with two rounds. They landed 8" apart. Hmmm, tough triggers, sights are difficult to see on the initial target I was using so it must be that along with me getting the hang of the rifle. I shot a few more pairs and they were closer but nowhere near together. I was disappointed. I decided to try the peep sight I had on hand from another project to see if the improved sight picture would help. This sight is from Skinner Sights. I found them while searching for a ghost ring setup on my Marlin 45-70. Good quality stuff at very fair prices. Here's a picture of the sight on the rifle.







With the sight installed I fired the group below, my last for the day.



So, from what little knowledge I have it appears that either the rifle is not regulated as indicated by the supplied factory target or I am doing something with my shooting. Also, clearly the peep sight, fired with the aperture shown installed, really helped tighten my individual groups. Something I may move forward with as a permanent installation. All said, I may be heading to Cabelas this weekend. Thoughts?

After being a bit frustrated with the efforts with the 450-400 I decided to give the 9.3 a go. Note that the ammo I used was not the ammo (Hornady) that the rifle was regulated with. I banged off 3 pairs.



Not too bad so I am pretty certain this one will do fine with the right load. I think I am going to throw a scope on it.

What distance were you shooting at ?


For a start, instead of just aiming for a Big Black circle, I would put a small (1/2 to 1")
WHITE sticker at the 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock position of the Black circle.

It makes a much finer aiming point, allows
you to maintain exactly the same sight picture for each shot as you can clearly see when you are NOT covering the white dot.

So in other words it has the same effect
as a pep sight but when using Bead + V Rear.


Secondly, what is the front bead like (round, square), what angle is is at (which determines how the light is reflected back to you).

Depedning on this / where the sun was, that could cause you to be shooting left or right
of centre.


I'd also get the triggers fixed and chrony the 450/400 before commenting on it's not like the factory target. That's a LONG BOW to pull after 10 or so shots in a new rifle. The Ammo could just be a different batch.


Just my HO.

.

That's a neat looking rear sight you installed! I did a quick search and found their web sight.

http://www.skinnersights.com/index.html

Now You need to run that 450/400 over a chrony to see the speeds. I think it's too fast as is. But you won't know til you check it out.
Try shooting with your back straighter with a taller front rest and only your front hand in contact with the rest. That's tightened up my bench groups.

I experienced shots crossing at 50 yards with my Sabatti 450/400 by about the same amount as you ~4.5 inches. It was very consistent with tight crossing groups for each barrel on two different outings.

I was basically using the position that you described with my left wrist on a low rest. The only difference was that I had my right elbow on the table.

A friend suggested I try a more upright bench position. In the revised position, I started printing consistent side by side groups.

As far as the left barrel printing higher.. Was the rifle canted any?

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Brooks:
As far as the left barrel printing higher.. Was the rifle canted any?

I agree Mike, it could be a factor - new gun, unused to holding it, hard triggers, all of which are NOT conducive to shooting good targets first up.

.

i'd try the 450/400 again ... with no bags, sitting upright, and no torquing between the hands .. put on a recoil shield, and let it hit you ... if you have repeat results, sending it back for reregulation

Congratulation on a great looking Sabatti. I'm confident you'll get the accuracy worked out, sometimes it takes awhile with different loads to get it where you want it. Good recommendations from others so far. I would also try shooting from a standing position using shooting sticks or something similar. This should put the pressure points in the right places. Besides, who shoots a DG DR from a bench? Mike

Thanks for the comments. The range was 50 yards. My upper body position was pretty vertical as I had a large stack of large heavy bags. I was wearing a PAST strap on pad so recoil was quite manageable. I am used to shooting relatively heavy recoiling firearms. The fact that the individual groups are reasonably tight bears this out, I think. Yes, the triggers must be worked. So at this point, given the advice, it sounds like it is likely technique, perhaps velocity. As I cannot find any factory ammo, I shot all 20 that I had, I will proceed with handloads using the same data/components that Hornady uses in their ammo, 80 gr H4831 with the 400 gr DGX and the 215M primer. Hope to head out tomorrow.

Hi Box,

Mighty nice DR's you have here. Congrats.

I'm no expert, but I've experienced what you're going thru with my 450-400 K gun and have a suggestion too ....purchase or borrow a set of shooting sticks and get away from the bench. Once I did that everthing fell into place with a myriad of loads. It'll feel strange at first but you'll get used to it. One thing I've found when using sticks with a DR is I get much better consistancy if I grip the forearm and then lay my hand in the V area. Seems with a single barrel rifle this is not necessary.

I don't use the bench anymore with a DR even when I'm testing new loads.

BTW, I've used the load you mention and from my 25" barrels it averaged 1946 f/s thru the Oehler 35P skyscreens and was spot on at 50 yards.

Good luck and have fun

I blame it on whatever was in the highball glass in pic #2... Nice guns!

Boxhead: Hope you get this worked out. There a lot of poorer folk hoping the Sabattis pan out at the range and in the field.

And I am one of them! flying out to Dallas in a week to look at a couple and hopefully come home with one in 450/400. jorge

Maybe try off sticks...?

Rich

Did you do your shooting before or after the vodka and tonic.....



Beautiful wood!

Maybe try a few other brands of ammo. My Merkels don't shoot the Hornady stuff any better. Get off the table, stand-up, shoot off sticks or better yet a standing bench. I bet your rifles are more capable than your photos are showing. Don't give up, try something different.

Boxhead, that is the exact sight that I was planning on ordering this afternoon. I saw a reference to it on another thread and thought it might be perfect since our ribs are already drilled/tapped. Which aperature did you get, what thread (6-48?) is it. Did you do anything with the front sight or will it be ok. Also, did you remove the rear sight or can you use the peep and leave the factory leaf in place? Thanks for any info you can provide.

JCS Sabatti 450NE

Boxhead, if you're going to be a doubles guy, you must reload. Simply stated, if it were my .400 I would chronograph the factory ammo you used and then speed the load up. It's neat watching the groups come together. Speed it up too much and the barrels will cross. You don't want this. Considering those horrible triggers you didn't do too bad.

quote:

Originally posted by RoyB:
Did you do your shooting before or after the vodka and tonic.....

VODKA and tonic???? Thou heathen! Next thing you know people will start to say you can even make a martini with vodka. Its GIN, dear boy, just gin!

(not that I am biased )

Wonder whatever happened to Boxhead and if he shot the rifle again?

quote:

Originally posted by sfhr:Next thing you know people will start to say you can even make a martini with vodka. Its GIN, dear boy, just gin!

(not that I am biased )

LOL, my exact sentiments! Haha!