I went to the range yesterday in the gusting wind. Rather than try to work up some varmint loads as I'd intended (what's the point in 50+kph winds?), I spent some time playing with a couple big bore rifles.
First was a new Rossi single-shot break action that I picked up. It's a super lightweight gun. Cheaply built, and inexpensive. But it's functional, and it's 'minute of gong' at 100 yards with the ugly-ass fixed plastic sights on it. Overall, it's very short and a hair over 5lbs; should make a dandy truck gun for deer season; it shoots spot on at 100 yards with the factory sights and 240 grain jacketed loads at 24grs of W296 (pretty much a full-power load); should be perfectly sufficient for deer.
But with such a lightweight gun and such a poorly-designed and uncomfortable stock, those full-house loads actually thump the shooter pretty good; subjectively I'd say it's similar to the recoil you get from a scoped magnum centerfire, like a 7mm or 300WM.
Then I moved on to some loads with IMR Trail Boss powder. Behind some 240 grain Hornady LSWC-HP's - 6.0 grains of powder fills the case up very nicely, almost to the base of the bullet. Should be good for around 600fps. These bullets have a very large hollow point, and are exceptionally soft; you can easily dent them and pick chunks out of them with just your fingernails. Hornady load data suggests that you shouldn't push them more than 1000-1100fps max.
I didn't have my chrony with me at the range, but all the bullets did exit the muzzle (I was a bit concerned that such low-power loads might not). Wow, are they ever quiet! About on par with a magnum rimfire cartridge. They're like lobbing grenades downrange; sort of a dull 'thud' for recoil - nothing like a gunshot should sound like - then wait for it... wait... wait... then impact in the backstop at 100 yards. Plenty of time to re-acquire the target in the meantime, and to recover from the (very minimal) recoil - it seemed like less than a 223.
And when those big slow bullets connect - wow, they sure impact! They kick up a LOT more dust in the backstop than any 223, and flip that gong around very violently, leaving a great big shiny grey splash on the steel. And when the full-power jacketed loads connect with the gong - fahgeddaboudit, that fugger's going to be flippin around for a long time! I can totally see how the 44-40 would suffice for big game at 100-ish yard ranges with that sort of downrange smackdown power.
Next I pulled out my Handi rifle in 500 S&W. This rifle is much more substantial than the Rossi, fatter action, fatter stock and shoulder pad - softer too. Bigger barrel, bigger bore, and overall tighter feeling. Much heavier altogether. Better sights - adjustable rear and optic front. Not that it matters because I installed a sight rail and mounted a 1.5-4.5x20mm ScopeChief on it.
330 grain cast bullets, mouse fart loads over 9 grains of trail boss - same deal, fills the case up pretty much to the base of the bullet. Even with the extra mass of the rifle, it thumped a bit harder than the 44 loads, and should have still been around 650fps. The bullets were also leisurely on their trip to the backstop, and landed with equal authority. Again, with that dull 'pfft' thump that seemed oddly out of place at a rifle range; about as loud as a magnum rimfire, but not as 'sharp' - more drawn-out. Good fun.
I also loaded up some hard cast 440 grain gas checked bullets over the same 9 grains of TB. This one shot really well - more recoil and slightly more noise, but it seemed to function better overall - accuracy and consistency.
Lastly, I had some full-house 440 grain loads over 35-ish grains of lil-gun. These things POUND the shooter and the backstop. Much less fun to shoot.
The trail boss loads generated zero heat - could easily shoot 20 or 30 shots back to back, and still have a cool barrel. The 296 and lil-gun loads - 2 or 3 of them, and there's definitely some heat building up already.
Anyway, the Trail Boss loads were tons of fun - nice and quiet, cool, accurate, and surprisingly potent despite the non-recoil and noise. I really look forward to doing up a ton of these things, and heading out to the gopher patch this year. A big ole hunk-o spoft lead with a massive hollowpoint at approximately .22 trajectories and noise levels... should be very entertaining!
First was a new Rossi single-shot break action that I picked up. It's a super lightweight gun. Cheaply built, and inexpensive. But it's functional, and it's 'minute of gong' at 100 yards with the ugly-ass fixed plastic sights on it. Overall, it's very short and a hair over 5lbs; should make a dandy truck gun for deer season; it shoots spot on at 100 yards with the factory sights and 240 grain jacketed loads at 24grs of W296 (pretty much a full-power load); should be perfectly sufficient for deer.
But with such a lightweight gun and such a poorly-designed and uncomfortable stock, those full-house loads actually thump the shooter pretty good; subjectively I'd say it's similar to the recoil you get from a scoped magnum centerfire, like a 7mm or 300WM.
Then I moved on to some loads with IMR Trail Boss powder. Behind some 240 grain Hornady LSWC-HP's - 6.0 grains of powder fills the case up very nicely, almost to the base of the bullet. Should be good for around 600fps. These bullets have a very large hollow point, and are exceptionally soft; you can easily dent them and pick chunks out of them with just your fingernails. Hornady load data suggests that you shouldn't push them more than 1000-1100fps max.
I didn't have my chrony with me at the range, but all the bullets did exit the muzzle (I was a bit concerned that such low-power loads might not). Wow, are they ever quiet! About on par with a magnum rimfire cartridge. They're like lobbing grenades downrange; sort of a dull 'thud' for recoil - nothing like a gunshot should sound like - then wait for it... wait... wait... then impact in the backstop at 100 yards. Plenty of time to re-acquire the target in the meantime, and to recover from the (very minimal) recoil - it seemed like less than a 223.
And when those big slow bullets connect - wow, they sure impact! They kick up a LOT more dust in the backstop than any 223, and flip that gong around very violently, leaving a great big shiny grey splash on the steel. And when the full-power jacketed loads connect with the gong - fahgeddaboudit, that fugger's going to be flippin around for a long time! I can totally see how the 44-40 would suffice for big game at 100-ish yard ranges with that sort of downrange smackdown power.
Next I pulled out my Handi rifle in 500 S&W. This rifle is much more substantial than the Rossi, fatter action, fatter stock and shoulder pad - softer too. Bigger barrel, bigger bore, and overall tighter feeling. Much heavier altogether. Better sights - adjustable rear and optic front. Not that it matters because I installed a sight rail and mounted a 1.5-4.5x20mm ScopeChief on it.
330 grain cast bullets, mouse fart loads over 9 grains of trail boss - same deal, fills the case up pretty much to the base of the bullet. Even with the extra mass of the rifle, it thumped a bit harder than the 44 loads, and should have still been around 650fps. The bullets were also leisurely on their trip to the backstop, and landed with equal authority. Again, with that dull 'pfft' thump that seemed oddly out of place at a rifle range; about as loud as a magnum rimfire, but not as 'sharp' - more drawn-out. Good fun.
I also loaded up some hard cast 440 grain gas checked bullets over the same 9 grains of TB. This one shot really well - more recoil and slightly more noise, but it seemed to function better overall - accuracy and consistency.
Lastly, I had some full-house 440 grain loads over 35-ish grains of lil-gun. These things POUND the shooter and the backstop. Much less fun to shoot.
The trail boss loads generated zero heat - could easily shoot 20 or 30 shots back to back, and still have a cool barrel. The 296 and lil-gun loads - 2 or 3 of them, and there's definitely some heat building up already.
Anyway, the Trail Boss loads were tons of fun - nice and quiet, cool, accurate, and surprisingly potent despite the non-recoil and noise. I really look forward to doing up a ton of these things, and heading out to the gopher patch this year. A big ole hunk-o spoft lead with a massive hollowpoint at approximately .22 trajectories and noise levels... should be very entertaining!
