Oregon trail 350's....will these work?

[LeverLover4570]

My uncle just informed me that he bought a box of 250 Oregon Trail laser cast slugs in 350 grain, .459". He's giving them to me as a gift for handloads that I made for his 44 mag. Anyway, I'm concerned about a couple of things...1: will this diameter shoot well from my 45-70 Rio, and 2: because of the reduced lead content, will the Bullet length be an issue for charge capacity? Does anybody have any experience with this particular loading? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :-)

Thank you!

[Ranch Dog]

Oregon_Trail_459_350.jpg

I would think that they would be a great gift for your RG4570!

will this diameter shoot well from my 45-70 Rio

Yes, its perfect. I shoot a .458" bullet in my RG but it is gas checked. If I shot a plain base bullet, I would shoot a .459".

because of the reduced lead content, will the Bullet length be an issue for charge capacity?

alloy_BHN.jpg

The bullets are lead, just a tougher type of lead that produces a BHN of 24. You can compare it to the alloy mixes above. Not sure what you meant by the latter question above but I've shot bullets from 300-grains to 525-grains in my Rio Grande.

Does anybody have any experience with this particular loading? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I would suspect that you would be able to shoot these bullet up to 30.0 to 35.0 KPSI without issue. That gets up to to big hoofed animal territory. Let me ask this, what are you going to use the rifle and bullets for?

[LeverLover4570]

Well, since I'm in California, hunting with these isn't an option, however, I would like these to be an accurate target load...I'm thinking 1500-1700 fps range. I've got starline brass primed and ready, with H4198 to work with. What do you think?

[Ranch Dog]

Well, since I'm in California, hunting with these isn't an option, however, I would like these to be an accurate target load...I'm thinking 1500-1700 fps range. I've got starline brass primed and ready, with H4198 to work with. What do you think?

It would work real easy. If you cannot find data for the bullet, all I would need to recommend a starting point for you is the length of the bullet and the cartridge overall length you are going to use.

[Archer]

IFN you don't wanna load 'em I'm sure my Winchester Miruko 1886 would eat them.

They should be fine.

[LeverLover4570]

Lol Archer, no, I'm definitely going to roll em and smoke em! Well Ranchdog, I'm wanting to do what's best for my rifles accuracy. Isn't SAMMI spec for OACL 2.55"? Would you recommend something different? I'm willing to differ to your experience. What have you found to work best with these rifles? My chamber and throat are factory cut. My brass is once fired, primed with CCI 200'S. I don't have the lead yet, as it's to be delivered later this coming week.

[LeverLover4570]

I can only find one loading for this combination, but it starts above 32,000 cup with a 48.3 grn charge and goes up from there. It's at 2.54 COL. I don't want a stainless steel hand grenade....

[Archer]

RD might be able to feed you some loads.
Otherwise I'd be looking at Lyman's data for 385 grain lead.
Possibly split the difference with 330 grain lead loads.
IF you don't have that data I can pull some of it.

In the Springfield section IMR4198, IMR3031, RX7 are listed. Those are 18KCUP loads.
I've been loading jacketed to the 28KCUP 1886Win/1895Marlin levels in Lyman using H322.

[LeverLover4570]

I saw those loads and had considered doing that...but was hoping someone with actual experience with this combination could share some insight on what worked for them. I will give it some time, since I've got to wait for the goods to arive anyway. Thank you Archer!

[Ranch Dog]

Lol Archer, no, I'm definitely going to roll em and smoke em! Well Ranchdog, I'm wanting to do what's best for my rifles accuracy. Isn't SAMMI spec for OACL 2.55"? Would you recommend something different? I'm willing to differ to your experience. What have you found to work best with these rifles? My chamber and throat are factory cut. My brass is once fired, primed with CCI 200'S. I don't have the lead yet, as it's to be delivered later this coming week.

For best accuracy results with lead, you want the bullet's ogive to be at rest against the throat or no more than .005" off of it. If good design work was accomplished with this bullet, that will happen where the crimp groove matches the case mouth but it might not produce a 2.550" OAL because of the nose length.

The best way to determine cartridge OAL is with a cleaning rod.

• Close the bolt and place a rod down the barrel until it is at rest against the bolt face.
• Mark the rod.
• Open the bolt and drop a bullet down the throat, I suggest pulling the bolt out of this 336 based action as it is so simple.
• With the bullet at rest against the throat, use a rod or pencil to seat the bullet.
• Send the rod back down the barrel until it is against the meplat of the bullet and mark it again.
• Drop or tap the bullet out of the throat.
• Use your calipers to measure between the two marks on the rod as closely as you can. This measurement is where you OAL will start with a dummy cartridge. If your measurement was correct, the completed cartridge should chamber without unusual effort/pressure to close the lever.
• If there is problems loading the cartridge at the sampled OAL, reduce the length by .005 and create a new dummy cartridge.
• Do not load any cartridges until you have established the OAL.

I can only find one loading for this combination, but it starts above 32,000 cup with a 48.3 grn charge and goes up from there. It's at 2.54 COL. I don't want a stainless steel hand grenade....

If you are not hunting with it there really is no reason for this level of energy being sent out the barrel. The effort detailed above is towards producing an accurate round of ammunition. I would suggest we wait for the measurements and then figure out something. Do you have anything other than H4198? H4198 would be great for delivering the max energy but something like Benchmark, H4895 or Varget better for a comfortable, accurate paper round.