Good day men,
I have scoured the resources that I have in print as well as online, and can't seem to find much on loading for a .40-65 type cartridge with a 350 grain cast bullet.
I am looking for a load that would be at the top end of the spectrum, used for hunting mainly deer and sometimes black bear. All at ranges of 100 yards or less. I have other cannons for the longer range stuff.
To qualify the above, I have a custom 1978 Marlin 1895 that I have rebarrelled and rechambered for a .416-4570 wildcat, which in size and appearance is very close to the .40-65... kind of like the .416 Barnes idea but without the sharp shoulder. So, it's a modern rifle and barrel that can handle loads that perhaps a 100 year old rifle couldn't.
I consider myself to be a pretty advanced handloader but have never done much with cast bullets. Jacketed bullets that will work with this configuration are only available from Hawk in the USA who are currently on backorder and won't ship to Canada in any event.
I have seen a published load of 50 grains of IMR 3031 with a 330 grain cast bullet, which leads me to believe that a starting load of about 44 grains of 3031 would be reasonable. The bullet is a cast 350 grain flat nose gas checked (RCBS mould) that could be anything from soft lead to hard lead, gas check or no gas check. I am theorizing that a soft lead bullet at about 1500 fps will wallop a deer and will also not lead the barrel. Conversely, a hard(er) lead gas checked bullet could be pushed to about 1900 fps without issue. I'd rather not get into adding filler over the powder if need be.
Your comments and advice are appreciated.
I have scoured the resources that I have in print as well as online, and can't seem to find much on loading for a .40-65 type cartridge with a 350 grain cast bullet.
I am looking for a load that would be at the top end of the spectrum, used for hunting mainly deer and sometimes black bear. All at ranges of 100 yards or less. I have other cannons for the longer range stuff.
To qualify the above, I have a custom 1978 Marlin 1895 that I have rebarrelled and rechambered for a .416-4570 wildcat, which in size and appearance is very close to the .40-65... kind of like the .416 Barnes idea but without the sharp shoulder. So, it's a modern rifle and barrel that can handle loads that perhaps a 100 year old rifle couldn't.
I consider myself to be a pretty advanced handloader but have never done much with cast bullets. Jacketed bullets that will work with this configuration are only available from Hawk in the USA who are currently on backorder and won't ship to Canada in any event.
I have seen a published load of 50 grains of IMR 3031 with a 330 grain cast bullet, which leads me to believe that a starting load of about 44 grains of 3031 would be reasonable. The bullet is a cast 350 grain flat nose gas checked (RCBS mould) that could be anything from soft lead to hard lead, gas check or no gas check. I am theorizing that a soft lead bullet at about 1500 fps will wallop a deer and will also not lead the barrel. Conversely, a hard(er) lead gas checked bullet could be pushed to about 1900 fps without issue. I'd rather not get into adding filler over the powder if need be.
Your comments and advice are appreciated.
