Round ball barrel for savage MLII

[survo99]

Hey, I’ve been all over the web looking to see if any one has thought about or put a Pac-Nor or Green Mountain 1:60 twist barrel on a Savage ML II. I’ve been shooting black powder for some time but since I’ve moved to California supplies are really hard to come by and when I do find them it feels like I’m being raped as I pull out my wallet. After a bit of research I bought the Savage knowing that 209 primers and smokeless powder are easy to come by. The only real draw back is the price of the sabot’s averaging over a buck each, where I can cast round ball for less than 10 cents a piece. This is pretty important since I’m on my second barrel for my Lyman’s Great Plains. The first probably having 3 or 4 thousand rounds shot through it, so you can see my desire to reduce my shooting expenses.

Now I imagine a lot of people don’t mind paying the extra for the performance they get from sabots, but the truth is that I stay within a 100 yards when hunting with a smoke pole. This rule has served me well and the farthest a deer has ever fallen from the original shot was only about 45 yards. 2 of them didn’t make it 10 yards with the old 50 cal with in a 50 yard shot. In other words I’ve very happy with the performance I get from the patch and ball. I have had some experience using cast lead conical bullets in my T/C that has a 1:48 twist but the groups weren’t anything to brag about. With that said I’m wondering if any one has any ideas or help on this matter before I spend $500 to $600 dollars for a barrel.

Thanks
Gus

[Al]

Gus, have you tried RB's from the Savage yet? Might be woth a try before laying down the ole cash for a new barrel.

My old TC Hawkins has that 48 twist, shoots RB's pretty good with 110gr of FFF, doesn't care for the Maxi-Hunters, nor the Hornady Great Plains but really likes the old pyrmird shaped Maxi-Balls over 100gr of FF.

[tcmech]

Survo99,

I know it is a bit more expensive to shoot the sabots like I do than the patched round ball, but I think it is worth it.

I buy the 45 caliber bullets from the local gunstore, (they carry sierra bullets) for less than $20.00 per 100 and harvester crush rib sabots for about $5.00 on line. It has been a long time since I bought any sabots so they may have gone up. This has me at about $.25 ea for my bullet and sabot combination.

There are also MMP sabots available for about the same as the harvesters. I don't buy the "muzzleloader" bullets and sabots in the package container because I feel they are grossly overpriced.

In addition I have also seen the sst bullets (blemished) on sale at midway for reasonable prices.

Good luck with reducing your shooting cost. Craig

[mshm99]

Survo99
Check out this post from the savage board.

dougva.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Savage&action=display&thread=11216

mshm

[savagebeast]

I'm new to the forum but I will throw my two cents in. I agree with Ten Pointer. You can buy good sabot/bullet combinations for 25 cents or so. Throw in another 10 cents a round for smokeless powder and you are now at 35 cents a round. If you want to do a ton of plinking you have your other rifle that you can shoot patch and ball with. You should take full advantage of your Savage's performance capabilities.