Last week, I brought my two 45-70's over to the range to try out some loads I made using some ancient IMR 4198 powder. I brought my chronograph along to make sure that old powder was being reasonable. Testing with some new IMR 4198 powder in my 38-55 earlier, I found that both the Old and the New powder gave roughly the same average velocities with the older powder slightly slower, but the extreme spread was higher with the old powder.
The guns:
1. Original Winchester 1886 45-70 shipped in 1890. Here's a photo ...
2. Browning 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine with a MVA combination tang sight. I placed my order at Winnipeg Supply when the carbine was first announced by Browning back in the early 80's. When it finally arrived many months later, the fellow called to let me know it was in, but said if I had changed my mind, there was no problem, as he had a waiting list of fellows wanting one too. I stampeded off to the store, took one look at it and, clutching it tightly, told the fellow to ring up the sale. I'm not parting with this first class SRC. Here's a photo ...
Load: 30 grains of IMR 4198 with a Remington magnum primer under a plain base 405 grain cast bullet. The IMR 4198 was from an old yellow can a friend gave me. Does anyone know when the yellow cans were produced? Here's a photo ...
Results for the Browning SRC at 100 yards: 5-shot group of 1 & 1/2". Here's a photo of the target ...
Results for the original Winchester 1886: 5-shot group of 2 & 3/4". I was doing a 'no-no' by using my tang sight with a rear sight that was slightly off centre, so it was always a question with each shot as to whether the front sight was actually centered in the peep. I think I could do better if the rear sight was not confusing my sight picture. Since I want to leave the original ladder sight on the rifle, I need to spend some time tweaking the windage until it exactly centres with my tang sight and front sight. Here's a photo of the target ...
The guns:
1. Original Winchester 1886 45-70 shipped in 1890. Here's a photo ...
2. Browning 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine with a MVA combination tang sight. I placed my order at Winnipeg Supply when the carbine was first announced by Browning back in the early 80's. When it finally arrived many months later, the fellow called to let me know it was in, but said if I had changed my mind, there was no problem, as he had a waiting list of fellows wanting one too. I stampeded off to the store, took one look at it and, clutching it tightly, told the fellow to ring up the sale. I'm not parting with this first class SRC. Here's a photo ...
Load: 30 grains of IMR 4198 with a Remington magnum primer under a plain base 405 grain cast bullet. The IMR 4198 was from an old yellow can a friend gave me. Does anyone know when the yellow cans were produced? Here's a photo ...
Results for the Browning SRC at 100 yards: 5-shot group of 1 & 1/2". Here's a photo of the target ...
Results for the original Winchester 1886: 5-shot group of 2 & 3/4". I was doing a 'no-no' by using my tang sight with a rear sight that was slightly off centre, so it was always a question with each shot as to whether the front sight was actually centered in the peep. I think I could do better if the rear sight was not confusing my sight picture. Since I want to leave the original ladder sight on the rifle, I need to spend some time tweaking the windage until it exactly centres with my tang sight and front sight. Here's a photo of the target ...
