Dreyse Wooden Sabots

Good Afternoon. Just finished months of planing, buying, and listening. Have finally produced my first wooden sabots and I am glad that the days of paper-wrapping are over. Using 5/8" Birch dowels cut to 22mm, hollowed out to 13mm for the bullet, and 1/4" for the cap, I have simulated my successful but not consistent paper sabots. OAL, using period shaped bullet and 65gr of powder, is 55mm before the final twist of the paper cartridge.

Next week will try using a 14mm drill to thin the walls a bit more allowing me to seat the bullet deeper.

27 February will be at the range testing the sabots.


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Good Evening. Here is the Dreyse sabot using a 14mm drill bit. You can see how much deeper the bullet is set. I am liking the deeper set with the 14mm bit and will prepare 20 cartridges for the range this Saturday. Randy

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Good Afternoon. Just back from the range and the wooden sabots, now with 14mm center holes, was an outstanding success. All rounds ignited, all sabot disengaged, and bullets received enough spin to hit the target square on.

When compared to the paper-wrapped sabots, the accuracy was better but not outrageously so. However, the overall time to assemble is much, much lower along with a higher degree of uniformity in assembly than the paper-wrapping method.

Some very minor issues left along with tweaking to reduce assembly time. It has taken about a year of trial/error, tools acquisition, and stupid mistakes to get this down right. Overall, I would estimate making the wooden sabots take 1/10 the time to make as a paper-wrapped sabot. Cost, not taking into account amortizing the equipment (drill-press, bits, Etc.) is about 5 cents!

Glad to answer any questions. Please note I am a college administrator who is certified at paper-pushing and not a pro at woodworking or metalworking. Randy

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Thanks for the work! Hope to need the info one of these days. Wondering if it would apply to the French version?

No, just the Dreyse for Sabots. The Chassepot is a bit more traditional but has its own challenges. Thanks, Randy.

Good Evening. With a year under my belt with both the Chassepot and the Dreyse, must say that the wooden sabots, as compared to the paper sabots, seems to leave the Dreyse barrel cleaner. When compared to the residue left in the Chassepot, the wooden sabots leave the Dreyse much cleaner. Please note that I do use 60gr of FFF in both. Randy