Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Savage Ballistics/Trajectory Question

I'm wondering if any of you folks have ballistics software that might help me out with a question about my Savage 10-ML II. I don't know the velocity, but I am shooting a 300 grain Hornady XTP with 43 grains of AA 5744; it is 3" high at 100 yards and 11" low at 210 yards. Can anyone tell me what the MPBR is for that combination?

Also, are there any good, free ballistics calculators available which would help me with the above, by giving me the full bullet path?

Thanks in advance.

Check the Hornady web site. They have a ballistics calculator that you can use out to 500 yds. For my ML II I use the pistol calculator and change the sight height to 1.5", and it gives me info out to 200 yards, which I print and then tape to the stock of my gun.

Go to Savage's web page and look up the muzzleloading link for Randy Wakeman. That guy knows just about anything you need or want to know about shooting a Savage muzzleloader. Send him an e-mail, and you'll probably get a reply in a few hours. He's helped me more than once and knows his stuff.

http://www.randywakeman.com/

Crusader the ballistic software would be just an assumption without using a chronograph. I use a chronograph and then load the information into the computer and the trajectory it prints out are still just a place to start. The best I hope for is to be able to hit the target so I can make a chart of my own. I am shooting a Savage 10ml with a 45 Cal barrel and have shot targets out to 300 yards. I have 1 kill this year at 260 yards and 2 head shots in the 100-120 yard range. I suggest you take your target to 250 yards and test it. In the meantime try this website www.dougsmessageboard.com make sure you go to the new website. Semper Fi

Hog,

Yep, I am very familiar with Doug's, a site I visit regularly since I got my Savage early this year. TONS of valuable info and advice there.

I'll have to get a chrono and try that. I wonder, is the sabot any kind of factor when using a chrono--does the bullet behave differently (maybe lose velocity not as quickly without the sabot around it compared to when it is still in the sabot)? I would guess the bullet/sabot combo is not quite the same as a bullet out of a centerfire rifle.

By the way, last Saturday I christened my rifle, taking a big doe at 90 yards. The deer literally dropped straight down, not taking a step nor flinching. The 300 grain Hornday XTP is devastating. Hope to get a crack at a big buck this coming weekend, or at the very least, a doe at longer range, to see how that goes.

Thanks.

Yes they are. They usually hit mine. A guy really needs to put a piece of plywood or somthing like that in front of the unit to protect it from the sabots.

I am under the assumption that that pedals on the sabot would open as soon as it clears the muzzle and therefore have no effect on the bullet velocity.It would be very hard to measure the velocity difference with shooting with a sabot VS shooting without one because you couldent shoot the same bullet. If you wanted to shoot sabotless you have to use a bullet of thicker diameter and a felt wad underneath it.As for the chronograph I set mine up at 12 feet from the muzzle and use a homemade sabot deflector. I am going to start setting the chrono up at 100 yards and see how that works out. I would like to see a slow motion video of a muzz shooting a sabot/ bullet combo if anyone can find one please send me a link.

Sorry, I guess I may be a little slow here, not having used a chrono before, but how/where do you set up the "sabot deflector" relative to the chrono? If anyone could post a picture of such a setup, I would be grateful.

Thanks.

I dont have a picture of my setup. The design of the deflector will have to follow the form of your chronograph. I took a piece of aluminm sheet metal used for capping windows and bent it to form a shield around the front of the Chrono, My design is not perfect because during the day when the sun gets directly above the chrono The chronograph requires the use of the skyscreens and I have not made a deflector for the supporting uprights that hold the overhead skyscreen, but by the time the sun gets that high I usually have the information I need because I shoot mainly in the Morning. I have seen others just take a wood box and set there chrongraph in it so it is just below the top edge of the box all, that is really needed is something to kept the sabot from contacting the chrongraph computer. I am using a CED chronograph purchased from Sinclair International and it I am satisfied with how it works. Here is a picture of the deflector.

I've never had a sabot issue when running my Savage thru the Chrony. I set it up about 10-12' in front of the bench and shoot my gun like any other rifle.

The sabot don't hit the chrony very often but when it does it can break the front screen