Today was a good day – I bought a lever gun!
For years I was on the lookout for a good used lever for hunting deer and wild boar. Well I have a nice bolt action in .30-06 which is my main rifle for hunting, but since my hunting mentor gave me a Winchester lever in 22 lr I always wanted a big one, too. Either the funds were not there or the offers were way beyond …
Actually I was rather looking for a Marlin in 45-70 or 444. They can be had over here although lever guns are rather “exotic” for the hunters in my area. The over the counter price for a new one is pretty steep for the “nice to have” approach.
Now look what crossed my path:
She is in very good condition the wood has two little dings and the metal is without any mark. The bore looks like new. I don’t think it has seen a lot of use. Along came 4 boxes of factory ammo 200 grainers and 250 grainers – two boxes of each. That means brass will be there to reload soon…
Before I made an offer to the seller I consulted this forum here, because (please don’t laugh) I never heard of the round before. Reading almost all the posts about it I decided it might be worth a try and she followed me home today. Although the factory ammo will last me a little while I’ll have to make a shopping list:
dies, case trimmer guide, feasible powder and most important a mold and sizer.
Powder wise I would need an all around one suitable for cast boolits as well as the other ones… The fastest rifle powder I have is IMR3031. Well there is a can of AA#9 (there was an interesting thread about WC860 with AA#9 burn rate) – maybe it’s a possibility.
Bullshop has reported some good results with 350 grain boolits. That sounds pretty interesting. Because first the IMR3031 might work well with such a heavy bullet – Lyman 49th says with the 220 Hornady it’ll max around 1700 fps – that is a tad too slow. Because second: regulations call for at least 1450 ft-lbs at 100m to be legal on boar and red deer. To reach that a 250 grain boolit will have to be propelled close to 2000 fps a 220 grainer about 2150 fps.
Ranchdog has load data on his site and the mold looks good, too. I take it it might not be possible to reach that performance without a GC.
There are lots of ideas spooking around in my mind right now and your input is very welcome. I can’t wait to get to the range.
Thank you in advance
Hubertus
To do:
Range test factory ammo
Slug the bore
Check the rifling twist