Good Day at the Range

[Ohio3Wheels]

Yesterday of one of those clear blue sky days that we sometimes get around here in August. The Wizard and the ammo in the box was calling. Shot a little bit of everything until both ammo and time ran out. I'm not usually at the range until quitting time but a 1640 it's time to pack up and head out the ranger want to git going themselves.

The Wizard, I'm happy to say, behaved itself and happily sent a variety of loads down range to 50 yards all loads from Trailboss to Blackhorn 209 to 2 Fg Goex stayed within about 4 inches one way or the other of point of aim. Elevation was right on, windage a tad right, ran out before I managed to get it total adjusted.

Had one odd occurrence I have a box of Privi Partizan for the 45-70, loaded with a 405 grain jacketed soft nose. Only fired 4 of them for 2 reasons everyone failed to extract/ejects and none of them were even close to point of aim. I've checked both the fired and unfired cases and they are on spec. Any of you guys with 45-70's of any breed tried any of this and what were your results?

Make smoke,

[akuser47]

Privi round powders can be inconsistent from what I've found on their match .308 if you have any left pull some bullets n verify consistency in the powder charges. I saw variances of 1.3 grain to 1.6. Out of 20 rounds. Hard to dial in with thise differences. Mine are the brass cased match 175 grain .308
Maybe it's just mine though. I hacked the last of the 200 I bought n reloaded them and now they are gtg. Brass is nice.

[Archer]

I tend to think Privi CAN be ok but I don't tend to buy them by choice but as a step up from Chinese or other 3rd world ammo when I'm having trouble finding Hornady, Federal, Winchester or Remington or for oddball hard to find calibers.
I'm more likely to buy them in NATO and old European military calibers than sporting calibers.
(I realize that you could argue .45-70 was a military caliber but 110+ years ago as a black powder round doesn't exactly count.)

I've had a couple former military folks tell me they'd shot a lot of it with good results.

Most reviews I've seen on their sporting ammo has felt their bullet choices did not perform as well as the 4 manufacturers I've noted above.

I'm also a little leery of the longevity of the brass for PPU/NNY head stamps although I admit most of the poor results I've had were from a single box of .30-30. Range pickups in various calibers seem to have loaded pretty well.

I think I currently have some PPU .308 FMJ, .30 Carb FMJ and SPJ, .32 ACP, 7.62x25, and 6.5x55 in inventory.

IF you end up pulling them you might also check the weights of the projectiles.

[Zippidydoodah]

I'd pull the bullets and weigh the powder in each and see how close they are to each other. They may be hotter loads than us versions. Can always reduce by 10% on several and see if it improves extraction. And poi.

[Ranch Dog]

I've started using Prvi Partizan brass, out of the bag I have found the tolerances closer than Remington, Winchester, or even Hornady. By tolerances I'm referring to case weight, volume, mouth thickness, and the overall dimension. It has also been annealed.

The only factory ammo I've bought is the 7.62x39; the 123-grain exposed lead core, copper jacketed round nose. The charge weights were very tight and the bullet weights spot on. It also made a great hunting round for hogs and whitetails.

I'm interested in what you find if you pull any of it. Just get setup to put it all back together.

[Ohio3Wheels]

I do plan to pull it down maybe yet today. Not sure if I'll put it back together or use the brass and primer for other loads. I actually expect decent life from it as one of you noted it is factory annealed. I'm thinking about seeing if I can find some of there 45-70 cases as virgin brass. I like Starline brass in 45-70, 40-65 and 45 Colt, but there's the extra step of annealing it to keep mouth cracking to a minimum.

Speaking of annealing somewhere I've seen a gadget that goes on a variable speed drill to turn the cases in the torch flame then you just dump it into the water and load another. Any body with experience with one of these?

Make smoke,

[Ohio3Wheels]

I pulled the remaining 16 rounds. I think the results are interesting:

OAL 2.539 +/- 0.0005

Charge weight 27 grains +/- 0.1 pretty good for automated machinery

Bullet weight 402.0 to 407.3 maybe about what you'd expect for this size bullet as an aside I expect from my cast trying to stay within 0.5 grain at these weights - sometimes I actually get that close . Usually it's more like 1.5 +/- and I've found the 40 and the 45 don't seem bother by that variance.

Bullet diameter .457 to .458 At first I thought these had a canular but on closer look with an 8x loupe I thing the grove is from a really tight roll crimp (suckers were hard to pull) not sure if the black stuff in the picture is sealant or just powder fines that worked their way between case and bullet .

I suspect the problem with them wandering all over the county is the diameter since at least with cast I've Wizard likes fat boolits. My Lee 405457 drops 20 to 1 alloy at .460 and they shoot fine with all the powders I've tried really good with 68 grains of Goex 2Fg and one of my printed 0.06 ABS wads.

See if I can get these pictures added.

PPU45-70-horizontal.jpg

PPU47-70-405.jpg

[Ohio3Wheels]

Forgot the powder. It's a fine grain spherical with the larger grain squashed. My bench slopes a little to the front and when i poured on the paper the really small grain started merrily rolling toward the edge .

It reminds me of something I've used in the past but right now cant place it. I've used a lot of sphericals over the years.

PPU-45-70-powder.jpg

Make smoke,

[Ranch Dog]

In that the bullets are jacketed, I would think the .457 is acceptable. Is the powder like BL-C(2) or Win 748? That is what my 7.62x39 looked like.

[akuser47]

I'm glad to see and hear that the powder charges are better than what I had with my .308 match. I might have to give them a try again. Maybe I had a bad batch. thanks for keeping us updated.