lead too soft for xlr 45/70?

[acsteve]

have made up a batch of both 10-1 wheel weight to tin 350 gr .458 ranch dogs along with some out of pure lead pipe. The pure lead boolits look really good and I would like to use them in my xlr at 1500+ft/s for deer. Not sure if the pure lead will expand at all? Any advice. powder to get to 1500+ with low pressure and consistent burn.

[mooman76]

Maybe you shold try cutting the difference. I don't know about the XLR but most 45-70s seem to like soft lead, somewhares around 1-20 to 1-30. Just mix you straight WWs 50-50 with soft lead and give it a try.

[6pt-sika]

I've shot the Ranch Dog 460-350GC in both my old 1895 of 1978 vintage and a much newer 1895CB of about 2001 vintage and they both did well with bullets cast from wheel weights only !

I load that bullet with XMP5744 for pretty decent results .

My load is the 460-350 with 34 grains XMP5744 and a CCI200 primer !

Now ........... I also have a 1895XLR but have never fired cast in this rifle and have no intention to do so !

But in the two I have shot this bullet ,one being ballard rifled and the other being Micro grooved they both liked this load pretty darned well !

[6pt-sika]

I'm not sure what the FPS for my load is , but I expect it's about 1600-1750 . Although I'm not sure !

The recoil in either rifle is not bad and neither rifle I shoot it in have recoil pads !

So with the recoil pad like is on the XLR this load should be a pussycat !

[acsteve]

Any reason not to fire cast in an xlr? I know from slugging the bore it is .457 and should shoot J's well.

[Lloyd Smale]

at 1500 you should see massive expansion with pure lead and still see some expansion mixing wws and pure 5050. Even straight ww may show some expansion at those speeds. Keep in mind though that with bullets that big expansion may hurt you more then it helps. Ive found that big bullets and expansion usually mean poor penetration.

[acsteve]

Do I need to worry about penetration on whitetail? My brother shoots through all deer with a 54 cal roundball at about 1500ft/s? He has even dropped down to 30gr FFF in a 54, which was his match load. Granted, he is an excellent heart shooter.

[NHlever]

I think that pure lead will have to be paper patched at those velocities. Paul Mathews had great luck with paper patched pure lead boolits in his Marlin 45-70, and wrote about it in one of the "Cast Bullet Annual"'s. He got great expansion, and accuracy. You can try it without the PP, but I would be prepared for a tough cleaning job.

[Bass Ackward]

Do I need to worry about penetration on whitetail?


The simple answer is, No.

[Four Fingers of Death]

paper patched pure lead bullets should be dyn-o-mite as that skinny african american guy used to say on that sit com many years ago!

[6pt-sika]

Do I need to worry about penetration on whitetail?

I used my 1895CB in 2002 loaded with a home cast Lyman 330 grain HP and SR4759 .

I got complete penetration with this bullet and it was cast of straight WW's .

[skin'erback]

I've lately been considering just such a load for the 444. TLC432-300 at 1500-1600fps should really be enough anyway. full loads are just devastating. similar loads are just fine in 45/70's right? also the 44 mag carbine performs well at this level. I haven't tried pure lead tho. what kind of lube for these soft bullets?

[Lloyd Smale]

no penetration problem if its just deer. I have seen bullets fail to penetrate on hogs and black bear though.

[skin'erback]

thanks Lloyd. haven't tried hogs yet but I sure would like to.


:castmine:

[acsteve]

my lube of choice is JPW, 2 coats, gas checks and sized in the lee .460. So should I consider going to a 1250ft load, It would still be more than a 44 mag anyway you slice it. It's not like I am going after big bruins. Isnt this pretty close to the classic trap door load for bison? I've spent many years wringing the most velocity out of a number of 30-06's and now that I am older, have discovered the joy of the lever.

[6pt-sika]

Any reason not to fire cast in an xlr?

I have all the XLR's that Marlin has made so far !

The only reason I choose not to shoot cast in any of them is that I have plenty other rifles in each caliber in which to shoot cast bullets !

It is my intention to keep the XLR's for the Hornady Leverevolution ammo only !

[acsteve]

While we are on the topic of xlr's, think there is any chance of marlin comming out with a jdj type cartridge like a 375-444? Wouldnt that add about 50 yards to the usefull range of a marlin.

[35remington]

The problem I've had with pure lead bullets in .45-70 (A Marlin, BTW) is getting it to shoot. We can talk about how ideal it is for various uses including hunting, but sometimes the low yield strength is a real problem.

[skin'erback]

you already own the hammer of thor. how much more do you need? I'm old enough that seeing another 50 yds is getting tough enough let alone shooting. I do think that sonething like the 375 would be very interesting.



:lovebooli

[Just Duke]

What are you sizing them to?

[acsteve]

my only sizer is a 460 lee, but I seem to remember my barrel slugged to 457.