Light 45-70 loads with Varget?

natesfitness

natesfitness

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I'm thinking about putting together some light plinking rounds. The only powder I have on hand at the moment is Varget (I'm trying to get some Unique)

Just wondering if anyone has experience with dropping the charge of Varget down to 40grs or less and what kind of results you got.
 
Cast or jacketed slugs? (Hopefully cast, don't waste your money on jacketed.) I use a 450Marlin (almost twin to the 45-70) and have shot 1000's of cast slugs. For plinking if you use anthing from 300-400 gr bullets, you can get by quite well with shotgun/pistol powders. I've used 10-13 grs SR7625 or 700X with very good results out to 50 yds or so. Actually they're OK out to 100 but the drop is pretty steep, 0 @50 will drop about 10" @ 100. If you shoot cast there are so many REALLY good powders, IMR4198-3031 SR4759, it's actually hard to find one that performs significantly better than the other. If you do decide to go the shotgun powder route with cast I'd suggest you use magnum primers especially in the cooler winter months. I noticed a big difference in ballistics/ accuracy when using standard primers when it's cold outside. Sorry I can't give you any info on Varget but I keep that powder for the 308 where it's THE powder. Good luck. BB
 
Sorry I completely left out what projectile I'm using:bangHead:

I shoot 405gr hard cast exclusively. I've pushed them to 1800fps with Reloader 7 and very fast with IMR 4198 but I'm looking for something I can shoot all day off the bench and the odd pop can or two. I was hoping to keep it to around 1000-1100 fps

Thats a great tip about the magnum primers in very cold weather!
 
My experience has been that the 400's outperform the 300's in accuracy but obviously give more recoil. For rapid offhand shooting(3 shots under 5 secs) from 25-50yds I always use 300gr slugs. I'm not looking for 1 hole groups, just being able to hit a target 8"sq for deer hunting. This is where using light loads of 700X/SR7625 is helpful. For more accurate offhand shooting from 50-100yds (not timed) I use either 300 or 400gr slugs and SR4759(30gr and 31gr respectively), the 300gr load is comfortable, about like a 308. The 400gr load is VERY noticable, not pleasant at all. However the 400gr load will shoot quite accuratly out to 200 yds. Last year I got lucky and put 3 shots into under 1 1/2" @ 200yds followed by another 3 into just under 2", again at the 200 mark. This was very lucky but it does indicate an accurate load from a lever gun using a Leupold shotgun scope with a thick reticle set at 4X. More common at 200yds is 5 shots around 4" (again using a stiff charge of SR4759 with the 400gr slug), still not bad for a gun designed to be used in the bush. I prefer to use the rifle the way it was suppose to be used, rapid offhand at short range and to get the most fun at the cheapest cost I started using the shotgun powder loads listed. 600-700 loads per pound, cheap, fun, low recoil, accurate enough for close range practice. Did I mention this is cheap?Have fun.BB
 
Not to hijack your Post guys. I just wanted to let you know that I have in stock Berry's 45-70 (.458) 350gr RS plated w/cannalure bullets.
$30.00/100 + tax & shipping
These are alot cheaper than Jacketted & won't lead your barrels like Cast.
Thanks for the interruption, now back to your regular program.
Regards, Henry
 
natesfitness said:
Sorry I completely left out what projectile I'm using:bangHead:

I shoot 405gr hard cast exclusively. I've pushed them to 1800fps with Reloader 7 and very fast with IMR 4198 but I'm looking for something I can shoot all day off the bench and the odd pop can or two. I was hoping to keep it to around 1000-1100 fps

Thats a great tip about the magnum primers in very cold weather!
Click to expand...

With that bullet and Varget, work in the 40.0 to 50.0 gr range. That will still put you well above 1100 fps, but go any lower and the pressure will be too low for that powder to burn reliably.

If you want a good 1100 fps load with that bullet, you're going to need much less of a much faster powder. 11.0 to 13.0 grs of Trail Boss, or 12.0 to 15.0 grs of Unique would do the job much better.
 
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Andy said:
With that bullet and Varget, work in the 40.0 to 50.0 gr range. That will still put you well above 1100 fps, but go any lower and the pressure will be too low for that powder to burn reliably.

If you want a good 1100 fps load with that bullet, you're going to need much less of a much faster powder. 11.0 to 13.0 grs of Trail Boss, or 12.0 to 15.0 grs of Unique would do the job much better.
Click to expand...

very true regarding the vargert, 40 grains of varget will still be over 1100fps.
ill check my notes, i have done some experimenting with it in my guide gun and the results where very messy. i had allot of unburnt powder shot out onto my chrony and down the barrel.
varget will work but depending on your barrel length, it may take a longer barrel for burning up all that powder.

trail boss is my go to powder for my plinking loads it does remarkably well. those big cheerios flakes fill up the 45-70 case nicely and it shoots very consistently with a full powder burn and consistent velocity,POI which means for me better accuracy.

if you would like send me a pm and ill dig up my notes and chrony results on 45-70 and varget and ill send them to you.
 
Trail boss and 405 g hard cast worked real good for my guide gun.
Impossible to double charge as I recall.

Loaded to near max is still low pressure.
I suspect would be great as a dogging rifle or from a tree stand for whitetails, i.e. under 50 yards.
Very effective on lung shots. Easy on meat if you catch some shoulder.

Sigh, the right gun for when I lived and hunted back east.
But I was younger then and could not afford a spare rifle or reloading gear.

That's life.
 
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