Impact Mechanics - Ballistic Gas Gun (Need help with stripping sabot without affecting projectile flight)?

Question

Hi people, is anyone of you here very good with experiments using the ballistic gas gun?

I am supposed to fire a small cylindrical shaped projectile through the barrel. However the diameter of the projectile is smaller than the barrel's inner diameter, so I have to make use of something called a sabot... the sabot has the same diameter as the barrel's inner diameter and it has a small hole in the middle for my projectile to sit in... Normally that solves the problem, but for my experiment, I have to strip the sabot off the projectile after it leaves the muzzle... I tried many ways of doing it but most of the time, the projectile path gets affected after the sabot has been stripped off, ie. the projectile either deflects or tilts.

Anyone knows of a way of stripping the sabot such that it will not affect the flight path of the projectile?I need to achieve a perfect head-on collision.. Your help will be greatly appreciated...

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

I've seen pictures of sabots whose side panels are hinged to the base and sprung to open outwards when free of the barrel; doesn't that work? Is the projectile in a deep hole, such that slightly off-true sabot flight will tilt the projectile? Can the hole be made to split on exit (i.e., be part of the side panels)?