I'll let the targets do the talking

[donhuff]

Shot the 45-70 a little yesterday and got some good results. First time shooting it with a scope. The mild loads were fun but the 4198 loads were not. I don't mind the recoil so much with iron sights but with that scope coming so close to my head on recoil, I didn't shoot that load so well.

I wish that I had loaded up more bullets so I could have shot it at 100 yds.

[Ranch Dog]

Very good Don! What 45-70 bullet are you shooting?

[donhuff]

Lee 457-405 F. I got it so I would have something to get started on until I figured out what I really want to shoot. Still aint got it figured out though. It's a tight fit in the rossi chamber as it gets into the rifling if crimped in the crimp groove.

I'm having a bit of trouble with that bullet and gas checks and powder coating. When you bake the PC on, it takes 400-450 degrees of heat for 15-20 minutes. That is enough to take the hardness back out of the bullets that I put in them when casting and water dropping. Then the lead is so soft that the pressure of swagging on the plain base gas check is bumping up the nose section. So then the rounds don't chamber well and no two are just alike! I'm thinking if one were to use a bullet designed for a check, there would not be a problem. The plain base checks require a good bit of force on a big bullet like that one.

But it looks like I might get away with not using a GC on the majority of my shooting in this caliber, since the results seem to show that they are not really needed (at the pressure I'm shooting). And after shooting 126 rounds yesterday with about half of them being 38.0 grains of 4198, I have decided that MOST of my shooting with this caliber will be with reduced loads. I'll have more fun and less pain, and I wont flinch nearly as much!

[pricedo]

Good shooting ! ..........the 800X seems to be doing it for you.
I'll count the flier in the 3rd pic as being you & not the gun..........pretty darn accurate !
I find as the day wears on at the range my groups start to spread out as fatigue takes its toll.
I'll come back fresh as a daisy the next morning and the groups will be noticeably tighter than they were with identical ammo & gun the previous afternoon late in the shooting session.

[Ranch Dog]

And after shooting 126 rounds yesterday with about half of them being 38.0 grains of 4198, I have decided that MOST of my shooting with this caliber will be with reduced loads. I'll have more fun and less pain, and I wont flinch nearly as much!

I understand that. I'm not shooting my RG4570 much at all anymore. I have it setup as my nilgai rifle with a heavy dose of whump. I don't have a problem with the recoil checking the zero or a shot out on the hunt but it is not something that is good for you or the rifle on a continuous basis. I have a hunt on the first week of February and then will work with my 310 and 360 grain bullets to see what I can come up that might make me feel like shooting it more.

I did the same with my Marlin 444T. A nilgai load and then a reduced deer load. Makes it "mo funner" to shoot.

[donhuff]

Ya jinxed me pricedo. I went back to the range today with full intentions of putting all five in one hole with that same load, and then doing better with some powder coated bullets with the same powder charge.

I couldn't shoot under a 3-4 inch group at 50, to save my life! Didn't matter what load or what gun. It just was not going to happen. I'd get two touching over here, and then two touching over there,.....and then one wayyyyyyyy over yonder! So I put my metal plate out at 100 yards and had some fun. I hate shooting paper!

Actually had a lady want to shoot the 45-70 (?) Hubby said she likes big stuff (?).........ok. She shot the mild load (13.0 800x) and after 2 shot she had if figured out and was hitting my 8x11 steel plate every time. So I asked " you want to try the BIG bullets?" Sure..... 38.0g of IMR 4198 and a 405g slug. 2 shots, was enough. Smart girl! And the husband refused to try it!

[pricedo]

An old codger (a native Cree trapper) I know from Kenora, Ontario in Canada goes to the woods every year carrying a blue-bare, nick infested ancient old Winchester 94 with iron sights that have rusted in place they haven't been checked in so long. About every 10 years when his one box of ammo runs out he buys whatever "thutty-thutty" ammo is on sale at Crappy Tire or WallyMart whether it be 150 grain or 170 grain regardless of brand and on opening days goes huntin and invariably before the end of the day a respectable looking buck deer or bull moose is hanging on the meat pole outside his cabin. If he mounted another deer or moose rack on the walls of that cabin inside or out I'm sure the walls would collapse into dust.

The point in all this babbletripe is that It's satisfying to have nice tight groups but pie plate (6") @ 50 yards is all you really need to fill the freezer. If you're getting 3"-50 yard groups with whatever ammo you're using that will do the job. When that big buck appears & snorts and your knees are shaking and this mornings coffee is trying to escape and run down your legs and a drop of perspiration is hanging on your eyelid what's an inch or two or three......really.