26Charlie
09-23-2005, 11:16 PM
Got to the range yesterday, with intention of testing heavy plain-base bullets in the .45-70 target rifle. The rifle is the Wesson & Harrington break-open single shot, 32-inch barrel, made recently by H&R or New England Firearms or whatever they call themselves lately, in Gardener, MA. This actually is a very nice rifle, except it doesn't come with a good sight. I put a Lyman 17A front sight on it, and a machinist friend of mine cut the sight base of the Springfield 1903 ladder sight to fit the barrel, and put three screw holes through it to line up with the existing tapped holes to fasten it down. Works great.
The load is 26 grains of XMP-5744 (Accurate Arms) and a WLR primer, with four different bullets. I was looking for 1100 - 1200 fps, so as not to break out with flinchies for this rather light rifle, but still use the heavy target type bullets.
I loaded 12 each of the following bullets, sized .457, all from Lyman moulds:
457659, 500 gr. pointed bullet
457132, 540 gr. semi-pointed Postell bullet
457676, 550 gr. nose-pour tapered point bullet with small flat point
446187, 480 gr. Round nose bullet which I paper-patched and sized .457 in a Lee push-through die.
All except the paper-patched 446187 had a 1/8" card wad in contact with the base of the bullet.
As an aside, a plastic bag full of 48 heavy-bullet .45-70's is a hefty supply of ammo to tote along.
Results were gratifying. Groups of 5 shots at 100 yards with the iron sights (peep & post) were as follows:
Best - 457658 pointed, 1.7 inches.
Good - 457676 nose-pour, 2.3 inches.
Good - 457132 Postell, 2.9 inches.
OK - 446187 paper-patch, 4.5 inches, but two of those were strung vertically and may have been my fault.
This is the only rifle I have which is suited to these heavy bullets, so it is very pleasing to have it group well with them - I picked it up at a gun show for $200 bucks in new condition, and they are about a thousand bucks less than the Browning highwall BPR or the cheapest Sharps replica. All in all, a good day on the range.
The load is 26 grains of XMP-5744 (Accurate Arms) and a WLR primer, with four different bullets. I was looking for 1100 - 1200 fps, so as not to break out with flinchies for this rather light rifle, but still use the heavy target type bullets.
I loaded 12 each of the following bullets, sized .457, all from Lyman moulds:
457659, 500 gr. pointed bullet
457132, 540 gr. semi-pointed Postell bullet
457676, 550 gr. nose-pour tapered point bullet with small flat point
446187, 480 gr. Round nose bullet which I paper-patched and sized .457 in a Lee push-through die.
All except the paper-patched 446187 had a 1/8" card wad in contact with the base of the bullet.
As an aside, a plastic bag full of 48 heavy-bullet .45-70's is a hefty supply of ammo to tote along.
Results were gratifying. Groups of 5 shots at 100 yards with the iron sights (peep & post) were as follows:
Best - 457658 pointed, 1.7 inches.
Good - 457676 nose-pour, 2.3 inches.
Good - 457132 Postell, 2.9 inches.
OK - 446187 paper-patch, 4.5 inches, but two of those were strung vertically and may have been my fault.
This is the only rifle I have which is suited to these heavy bullets, so it is very pleasing to have it group well with them - I picked it up at a gun show for $200 bucks in new condition, and they are about a thousand bucks less than the Browning highwall BPR or the cheapest Sharps replica. All in all, a good day on the range.