Just tied up with the farm work JB.jbaker30 wrote:I'm surprised ranchdog hasn't chimed in here. 454 casull kicks harder than a hot 45-70. Negative ghost rider, come by my place and take a couple of shots with my Ruger #1 launching a 350gr hard cast @2400 fps with 4000 ft/lbs of energy and you might think differently. I promise you it will knock your fillings out! However you might enjoy it and become a Ruger #1 fan like me. By the way I have a 92 454 casull also.groo01 wrote:Groo here
The 454 can drive a 300gr bullet at 1600 from a 7 1/2 in revolver!!!!!!
Add 300 to 400 fps for the rifle, and remember the 454 runs at upwards of 60000psi.
The kick from a 5lb gun will make a "hot" 45-70 300gr seem mild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JB
The numbers are from my reloading record software.
I have never met a 5 lb Rossi 92, my 454 is a 20" barrel that weighs 7.14 lbs, but 11 ounces is scout scope, base, and rings, so the rifle weighs 6.45 lbs. Maybe a 16" barreled 454 weighs 5 lbs, but I doubt that 4" of barrel weight is 1.45". If that were the case, the entire barrel would weigh 5.8 lbs!
My Rio Grande 45-70 weighs in with scope very near the same, 7.18 lbs. The setup on that rifle weighs 1 lb, so naked, it is the lighter rifle at 6.18 (and why I love it as a hunting rifle).
So, at their fighting or hunting weight, they are the same or at least within .04 lb of each other.
I shoot a 320-grain hard cast bullet from the 454 at 1975 FPS. The estimated pressure is 60,000 PSI, and I will confirm that this spring with my pressure trace equipment. I don't doubt the forecast is correct as my brass is lasting one load, shoot the case twice and the web separates. This rifle with this bullet and load generates 24.18 ft/lbs or recoil energy.
I shoot three bullets, all hard cast, out of my Rio Grande chambered in 45-70 Govt and load all three at 35.0K PSI as I figure that is about all the pressure the Rio Grande is good for.
The lightest, my 310-grain bullet leaves the barrel at 2155 FPS and pushes back with 35.39 ft/lbs of recoil energy. The middle weight bullet is 350-grains at 1985 FPS and 36.16 ft/lbs of recoil energy. My 435-grain bullet clocks in at 1730 FPS and generates 35.03 ft/lbs of recoil energy.
Apples to apples on the weight, rifle and or bullet, the 45-70 Govt delivers more of a punch. Some of it is that the weight of the powder charge is part of what generates the energy and the 45-70 Govt is always at least twice that of the 454 even at only half the pressure.