i tried wrapping a 50 grain tnt in pipe tape, but ran out of pipe tape before i could get it up to anything close to .452"
so.... i thought why not try it in my 9mm?
heres the pic of a loaded round next to a Triton 115 grain quick shock
basically to make the bullet / sabot (non discarding as I was later to find out) combination - I stuck the bullet point end first into a small dia drinking straw so i would have something to hold onto
then i wrapped teflon pipe tape around the bullet (clockwise if looking at the base of the bullet) using the straw as a handle
when I got it close to 9mm - I ran out of pipe tape.... so I sort of mushed it together between my fingers - to roll it up tighter
then - thinking that it might help to consolidate the teflon layers together.... i heated the nose of the bullet with a flame from a match.... as a side note - the plastic drinking straw immediately melted away from the bullet / pipe tape, and the frontmost part fo the teflon got a little sooty, but it did seem to harden up a bit
I then pushed the slightly oversized bullet through my lee loader (9mm) which has a tapered passageway and was perfect for compacting the oversized teflon wadding down to close to .355
this composite bullet was then seated over 6.8 grains of accurate #5, and then I attempted to crimp it into place using my Dilon 550
attempted to crimp is the operative phrase, as the bullet easily pulled out when I attempted to check its fit in the chamber - dumping the powder charge all over.....
not wanting to delay the test firing any longer I decided to shake all the powder off of my pants & onto asheet of paper & try to get it back into the case as best as possible
I then attempted to fire said cartridge out of my G26....
for some strange reason it didnt fire on the first strike....
i reset the trigger & tried again - this time i got a light poof.... the slide didnt even move
i didnt see a bullet impact in the soft sandy soil I was using as a backdrop, but I did see a small shard of teflon pipe tape flying around
thinking that the teflon & the bullet might be stuck in the barrel, I carefully disassembled the gun & looked down the barrel from the chamber end
it was clear.... not even any powder residue like i normally get with my 4.9 grain (accurate #5) 147 ranier loads....
i looked in the empty case, no powder residue
i was able to find the bullet - and as you will see there was no deformation to the bullet, and only a little distortion to the teflon
Im not sure, but it seems to me that the teflon bullet was pushed out the barrel by the primer charge (and all the unburnt powder was blown out the barrel too)
at any rate - I had fun, and I didnt blow anything up or lose any brain cells or fingers or anything
of course, some might say I didnt have too many brain cells to begin with, but that is perhaps the beginning of another thread....
ONE MORE THING - man - those 224's are LOONG...... I am now of the opinion that instead of trying to get sabots for the 9mm 10mm or 45acp or whatever.... we would be better served finding a source of ultra liteweight (RCBD style) full caliber (short) bullets..... I think we would have much better success pushing a short full caliber 55-75 grain fmj to super high velocities than to get anything close to the same results with a 55 grina 224 bullet in a sabot....
due to the projectile length, and the length requirement to fit in the magazine, IMO you end up with too little powder space left over
the round I made up above was too long to fit in the G26 mag..... I realize that the 10mm is a tad longer, but you still have the problem of putting a long bullet in a short case and wanting to cram in a fair bit of powder to boot.
ok - i better go to bed before the meds wear off
http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/RustyRP/images/P5220014.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/RustyRP/images/P5220015.jpg
[This message has been edited by Rusty Phillips (edited 05-27-2001).]