Reloading for my Pedersoli Sharps 1874 in 45-70 Government

[5point9straight6]

I just recently got this rifle and I have tried a few handloads through it so far. Pretty new to this. I'm trying to come up with good solid hunting round for it using jacketed bullets and smokeless powder.

The rifle has a Pedersoli long range Soule sight installed with Hadley eye piece and adjustable front tunnel. (Embedding doesn't work for me, but the images will open in a separate window.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2nzye12g5n01us8/Photo%202013-10-24%206%2030%2025%20PM.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ehuvdefbjpsxh7e/Photo%202013-10-24%206%2031%2049%20PM.jpg

Bought a bag of new Remington brass. Here's what I got so far:
I used IMR4198 powder with Hornady 350 GR RN bullets (.458"). 3 different loads with 36, 38, and 40gr of said powder. So I kept powder type and bullet constant, but changed only the amount of powder. I'm using a Speer manual and the Hodgdon data website for reference, but this bullet/powder combination is sort of overlooked. I did my own regressions to verify the loads are below 29000psi.

I shot 3-shot groups at 100 yards. I was basically interested in the grouping, while staying somewhat on the paper.
36 gr: the first shot of three is always a flyer, 3.5" high, shot 2 and 3 are side-by-side within 1" distance. I repeated this 3 times to bring the windage in, and groups looked similar each time.
38 gr: Good grouping. Maximum distance between hits was 1.5". One sat in the middle.
40 gr: The group went high right off the paper on the first go. Best group was a triangle with closest hits 1.5" apart and farthest hits 2.5" apart. That needs to get better.
Unfortunately I don't have a chrony, so I can't say much about bullet velocities. It's on the wish list.

Next I got some Remington 405 gr .457" diameter and Hornady 325 gr FTX .458" bullets to try out. Does anyone want to suggest a load? Powders that I often see listed are: IMR 4198 and 3031, Varget, Alliant 2400. I got all of those available.

 

[fingers284]

I would consider a 1.5" group with my Pedersoli very good however I haven't shot any jacketed bullets in it yet, mostly 405 or 450 lead. I have tried IMR4198 and 30-31 but have settled on SR 4759 as the best I have tried for the bigger bullets.

On of the gun writter guru's from down south (Mike Venturino) swears that 5744 is the only smokless powder worth using in the large caliber guns.

 

[daBear]

Those Pedersolis really dont function at their peak until you use at least a 405g bullet. As mentioned above, the only notable success I had using smokeless powder was with 5744. I found the best performance was gained using traditional black powder with a 500g bullet but anything under 400g was disappointing. You will have to experiment a bit to see what works best for you.
dB

 

[tigrr]

Slug the barrel on your rifle. I think you will find most jacketed bullets shy of your rifling. The Pedersoli's don't shine till you shoot cast lead bullets that match bore diameter + rifling. The shine a bit more when you get into the 500+ grain selection.
I have the Pedersoli 1874 SHARPS COMPETITION 34"
Only ever launched 500 grain bullets out of it.
The other 45/70 H&R Buffalo Classic shoots everything, jacketed, cast lead. Here is a neat site. http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm Scroll down to 45/70.

 

[5point9straight6]

I tested a couple new loads this morning. This time using the Rem 405gr/.457 dia. bullet. Both were fairly slow, light loads according to the manual. The way this type of bullet seated, the C.O.L was longer than specified in the manual (2.635 vs. 2.54"), but I don't think it matters too much in this instance.

Shooting at a 100 yards again, after I sent two foulers through the barrel.

1) 32 grains of IMR 4198, two groups of three shots each (first group taped over):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6kntqsramfx9x0d/Photo%202013-10-27%2012%2042%2013%20PM.jpg

The first group was a bit more spread out, but the second group was pretty good, within ~1.6".

Next up, 48 grains of Varget, 5 shots this time:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aj0gx2bphiwh5vv/Photo%202013-10-27%2012%2042%2043%20PM.jpg

I'm happy with this grouping too. Note how two shots hit the same hole 7 o'clock of the bullseye. Overall the spacing is within 2.2". I know for a fact that some of that is shooter's error, because it started to snow.
I think I could take either load on the moose hunt coming up.

 

[mmattockx]

You're shooting a consistent 2MOA with iron sights and you aren't satisfied? That is more than adequate for most game situations, especially a large animal like moose that is generally shot at fairly close ranges.

Good luck on the hunt, be sure to post pics if things go well.


Mark

 

[5point9straight6]

You're shooting a consistent 2MOA with iron sights and you aren't satisfied? That is more than adequate for most game situations, especially a large animal like moose that is generally shot at fairly close ranges.

Good luck on the hunt, be sure to post pics if things go well.


Mark

Well, I got my moose, but by luck of the draw the Sharps wasn't in on the deal. I ended up shooting with my trusty 300 Win Mag.

 

[5point9straight6]

So I took the Sharps out for some more work. Mainly I wanted to test a couple loads and extend my distance out to 300 yards. Turns out a fellow had a Chrony and I was able to check bullet speed at the same time.

Turns out I was happiest with the load I had come up before, 48 grains of Varget and a 405 gr bullet. 1440 fps.It took a few rounds to find the paper and adjust the rear sight, first at 200 yards, then at 300. Given the poor resolution of the human eye, it took a few practice shots, but I figured out how to aim precisely, too. So for the long shot I aligned the edge of the cross hairs in my front tunnel with the left and top edges of the upper and left lines of the target, effectively aiming at the upper left quadrant of the target. And here is the result at 300 yards:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aoz9xwkt2v3xdjs/Photo%201-26-2014%2C%205%2026%2010%20PM.jpg

I was seriously dumbfounded by such a terrific result. The biggest problem with accuracy is poor target resolution using a sighting system without optical magnification. Once that's under control, the accuracy of the rifle itself easily competes with my 300WM, I reckon with astonishment.
No problem hitting the gong 10/10 shots with this gun.