do it. buy the rockchucker supreme reloading kit from RCBS, has everything you need at a great price. reloading is a blast, no matter what calibre. just make sure your careful and follow the instructions to a tee, and you'll get way more satisfaction from every gun you own for the rest of your life.
Need a bear gun...Marlin Lever?
- Thread starter mdbuckle
- Start date
- Location
- AB foothills
m1978 said:
I shoot my 45-70 with 405's at around 1850 to 1900 feet per second. The recoil is nothing like any 338 I have ever shot, and I am using the factory hockey puck recoil pad. I find the 45-70 has a fairly mild recoil, and more of a muzzle jump if anything.
Dont believe every article that you read
crazy_davey said:I shoot my 45-70 with 405's at around 1850 to 1900 feet per second. The recoil is nothing like any 338 I have ever shot, and I am using the factory hockey puck recoil pad. I find the 45-70 has a fairly mild recoil, and more of a muzzle jump if anything.
Dont believe every article that you read
sorry mac, that comment was not confined to one article. i wouldn't find it hard to beleive either as my 45-70 with stiff loads was most unpleasant. 350 and 35 whelen hotloaded are far more comfortable. guess you must have a big set of nuts
- Location
- AB foothills
m1978 said:sorry mac, that comment was not confined to one article. i wouldn't find it hard to beleive either as my 45-70 with stiff loads was most unpleasant. 350 and 35 whelen hotloaded are far more comfortable. guess you must have a big set of nuts
Lets have a look at this using a recoil calculator and some of my old load data
Lets say we are shooting a 45-70 1895SS with a 22" barrel, weight right around 7.5 pounds. Today we will be using a 405g bullet with 53g of 3031 behind it this should get a velocity of 1850 to 1900 fps, I know I have checked with a chrono.
This combo is going to give us 35fp of recoil energy and around 17fps in recoil velocity.
Now we are going to shoot Remington model 700 AWR chambered in 338 win mag with a 24" barrel, weight right around 6 3/4 pounds, but with a scope and rings etc. I figure it close to 7.5 pounds. The bullet we will use is 250g with 72 grains of IMR-4350 this should give us a velocity right arond 2760, I know I have checked.
This combo is going to give us 45 foot pounds of recoil energy and around 19fps in recoil velocity.
I know these things are not 100% accurate but they give you a good idea
crazy davey
i just did a similar calculation for the 300 gr 444 at 2100 fps. it came out as 29 fp and 16 fps recoil velocity. i don't know why, but the 45-70 400 grainer felt a whole lot worse to me. anyone in manitoba have a 45-70 with a good recoil pad, i wouldn't mind refreshing my memory.
i just did a similar calculation for the 300 gr 444 at 2100 fps. it came out as 29 fp and 16 fps recoil velocity. i don't know why, but the 45-70 400 grainer felt a whole lot worse to me. anyone in manitoba have a 45-70 with a good recoil pad, i wouldn't mind refreshing my memory.
- Location
- AB foothills
Stock fit could also be why it feels different to you. Maybe the 338 that you shot fits you better than the 45-70. Just a thought.
1 ounce = 437grs
Most 1 1/8 ounce 12 gauge Foster slugs have a velocity of 1300fps to 1500fps.
400gr .458 loaded by many too 1700fps to 1950fps in the 18.5" Guide Gun.
I load 550gr .458/45-70 hard cast's too 1600fps.
45-70 higher velocities with comparable wieght premium bullets.
12 gauge appropriate slugs not readly available in Canada and most people do not load them themselves.
I say recoil is very comparable between the two but feel that the 45-70 is the better choice if hunting is part of the equation like the original question asked.
I just got back from my overnighter trip. I loaded 300gr Hornady HP bullets with 56grs H322. I haven't checked the velocities yet but thought that I would try them out on gophers to give my 223 a few minutes break today.
First gopher lasered 73 yards cut the top 1/2 of the head off, second gopher 47 yards head disappeared. Ran out of 300gr'ers tried my new Bullet Barn 405gr FNGC out next @ 28 yards cut the gopher in half.
I saw 2 bears the first one was about 75 yards away near Kentucky Lake and the second one was a huge chocolate brown color phaze black bear near Otter Lake at about 20 yards late afternoon yesterday (I was in the area between Princeton and Merrit). I had a tag but enjoyed the couple minutes that I watched him too much to shoot. We walked together for about 1/2 mile with the furthest apart being about 100 yards.
There was a dead deer on the side of the road way down below us and this morning when I drove past it again it had been dragged about 100 yards into the pasture and was picked almost totally clean. Hope he had a good meal......
Most 1 1/8 ounce 12 gauge Foster slugs have a velocity of 1300fps to 1500fps.
400gr .458 loaded by many too 1700fps to 1950fps in the 18.5" Guide Gun.
I load 550gr .458/45-70 hard cast's too 1600fps.
45-70 higher velocities with comparable wieght premium bullets.
12 gauge appropriate slugs not readly available in Canada and most people do not load them themselves.
I say recoil is very comparable between the two but feel that the 45-70 is the better choice if hunting is part of the equation like the original question asked.
I just got back from my overnighter trip. I loaded 300gr Hornady HP bullets with 56grs H322. I haven't checked the velocities yet but thought that I would try them out on gophers to give my 223 a few minutes break today.
First gopher lasered 73 yards cut the top 1/2 of the head off, second gopher 47 yards head disappeared. Ran out of 300gr'ers tried my new Bullet Barn 405gr FNGC out next @ 28 yards cut the gopher in half.
I saw 2 bears the first one was about 75 yards away near Kentucky Lake and the second one was a huge chocolate brown color phaze black bear near Otter Lake at about 20 yards late afternoon yesterday (I was in the area between Princeton and Merrit). I had a tag but enjoyed the couple minutes that I watched him too much to shoot. We walked together for about 1/2 mile with the furthest apart being about 100 yards.
There was a dead deer on the side of the road way down below us and this morning when I drove past it again it had been dragged about 100 yards into the pasture and was picked almost totally clean. Hope he had a good meal......
- Location
- AB foothills
Camp Cook said:
Now theres a good varmit rifle
How do you like those 405's from the bullet barn? Any barrel leading?
I have never had any real leading problems with hard cast gas checked bullets from any source.
This was my first box of gas checked Bullet Barn bullets though. I have loaded and shot their 405gr and 450gr bevel base bullets before but kept the velocities lower. I would have liked a wider meplat (the flat part on the point of the bullet) but other than that they seem to be a very accurate, well made, reliable feeding bullet.
I did a little bit of shooting at bears yesterday actually I was shooting at a 18" section of a popular tree that had fallen down recently. Popular trees are very light colored and have those nice black spots all over them. Perfect targets.....
I was shooting strings of 4 and 5 shots as fast as I could aim and shoot resulting in every Bullet Barn bullet zipping through with ease.
400gr Speer JFP's would go through 9" to 10" sections very easily as well.
Due to the smaller meplat size they would not be my first choice as a bear stopping bullet. They are excellent for plinking, target shooting, practicing or doing what I was doing and they are priced very reasonably as well as Lois gives excellent service. There are wider meplat designed bullets made by Jae-Bok Young, Beartooth or Cast Performance that I would reserve for my hunting loads.
This was my first box of gas checked Bullet Barn bullets though. I have loaded and shot their 405gr and 450gr bevel base bullets before but kept the velocities lower. I would have liked a wider meplat (the flat part on the point of the bullet) but other than that they seem to be a very accurate, well made, reliable feeding bullet.
I did a little bit of shooting at bears yesterday actually I was shooting at a 18" section of a popular tree that had fallen down recently. Popular trees are very light colored and have those nice black spots all over them. Perfect targets.....
I was shooting strings of 4 and 5 shots as fast as I could aim and shoot resulting in every Bullet Barn bullet zipping through with ease.
400gr Speer JFP's would go through 9" to 10" sections very easily as well.
Due to the smaller meplat size they would not be my first choice as a bear stopping bullet. They are excellent for plinking, target shooting, practicing or doing what I was doing and they are priced very reasonably as well as Lois gives excellent service. There are wider meplat designed bullets made by Jae-Bok Young, Beartooth or Cast Performance that I would reserve for my hunting loads.
..................i shot some more of the Bullet Barn's 405 grain plain based bullets this morning. In the last two days i have shot 225 rounds. 1600 fps and no leading. For me 1600fps in a 405 grain bullet is plenty for anything i see out to 150 yards with the XS peep system on it. I will report back this fall regarding performance on game.
...........Lois's 38-55 245 grain bullet made short work of a moose and a deer i flattened a couple years ago.
...........Lois's 38-55 245 grain bullet made short work of a moose and a deer i flattened a couple years ago.
Last edited:
- Location
- AB foothills
Thanks Cook
