45-70 Flying Freight Train 540 grain in 1895

[Hogokansatsukan]

So, I picked up a new Marlin 1895GBL to compliment the recent 1894CSBL, and off I went to NOE for some molds... I am rather addicted to the NOE molds.
First, I got a tiny boolit mold... the 460-396... but then I thought, if I want a light shooting load, I have the Marlin .357 for that... so back to NOE for the puny 460-538... the WFN is at 540 grains and the HP at 530 grains once powder coated and checked. Then poured over load books going back to 1967. Load... test...load...test...load...test... and I think I finally found a winner.
32.0 grains of IMR 4198 with a Federal LR primer in Starline nickel... because it's shiny and looks good.
Gave me 1435 fps, an extreme spread of 10 fps, and a standard deviation of 4 fps. No signs of pressure at all... and almost but doesn't quit make my ears flap in front of my face when shooting. Actually more pleasant than the 385 grain (those tiny anorexic boolits I first made) going 1800 fps.

I could probably push those 540's a bit faster, but then I might need an orthopedic surgeon... again.

247186

[ThomR]

540 grain boolit at 1435 fps is 2,470 foot pounds of energy. That's a stout load.
Any plans to hunt with this load?

[Walks]

Oh, To have an Intact Spine and Good Shoulders again.

[44Blam]

BIG BOOLITS!!!
That is more than 1oz!
You get about 13/lb...

[Land Owner]

Some days Go Big of Go Home is best. I like the title "Flying Freight Train". That boolit probably stings a mite going through...just saying.

[smithnframe]

I Shoot the same bullet in my 1895 with 42 grains of 3031.

[Hogokansatsukan]

540 grain boolit at 1435 fps is 2,470 foot pounds of energy. That's a stout load.
Any plans to hunt with this load?

So far, just the elusive and dangerous desert watermelon...


https://youtu.be/ZSxXlOjdJHk

[MrWolf]

Dang it, I as eatin that! Looks good.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Awesome looking bullet!

[robg]

Can't eat up to the hole.

[jmort]

I would/will be doing this at 1050 fps
Have not decided on a design, but will have Tom cut it at maximum
Will shoot it it at 1050
I like big slow bullets
Right now, goal is .450 SOCOM and .45/70 at 600 grains at 1050
Will see if that is possible

[David2011]

I Shoot the same bullet in my 1895 with 42 grains of 3031.

Wow! For comparison, an appropriate load for an M-1 Garand is 48 grains of 3031 but with a 150 grain j-word. Almost as much powder but almost four times the boolit. That HAS to get your attention.

[mehavey]

The math (Case + Nose length) says that this one "should" cycle in both my`95 and `86
when crimped into/at top-of-1st grease groove. (2.602" does cycle)
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-560L-D.png

Probably time to call Tom E again...

[Skipper]

My Doc says no more than 17 gns 2400 with a 500

When I was younger I might try your load, but not these days! :veryconfu

[a danl]

i have the marlin cowboy made by marlin and i shoot many different bullets and powder and they all shoot very well. the heavy loads can jar your teeth, but it is a great round and fun to load.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The problem I ran into with my Marlin is that it was just too light. The wood was close to balsa wood in weight. It weighed 7 lbs on the nose, so I put a Graycoil Recoil Reducer in the butt stock which helped alot and brought the gun up to 8 lbs. It really needs to be more like 9 lbs like an 1886 is for stout loads.

My goto load is 33 gr of 5744 with a 325 gr RCBS boolit at 1550 fps.. I can fire 40 of these in a morning shoot and still be able to eat lunch. I also put a 1" thick Pachmayer Recoil Pad on the gun which softens the jolt considerably. I could probably take a few .405's at 1550 fps, but the idea of shooting a 540 gr (1 .25 oz) boolit that fast bypasses me entirely. Maybe once but not twice.

By contrast I shoot 550 gr slugs in my shotguns all the time, but they are toned down to 1250 fps and are very tolerable because the Browning A5 weighs 8 lbs 2 oz and has a brand new 1" thick recoil pad on it, and the action soaks up some of the recoil to run the gun.

Your 540 gr boolits are going to go clean thru just about any game animal on the planet including Cape Buffalos and dump the remainder of their energy in whatever is behind said Buffalo. The slug will dump all it's energy in the animal instantly and not go all the way thru. IE: No lost energy! This is due to the frontal area of the slug versus the frontal area of the boolit. or about .400 on your boolits versus .735 on the slugs. It's called knock down power and is expressed as TKO or Taylor Knockout value. The ability of a round to stop or knock down a target.

For comparison a 550 gr 12 ga slug at 1250 fps has a TKO of 72 where as the 540 gr .458 dia boolit traveling at say 1500 fps has a TKO of 53. The major difference in effectiveness is in the frontal area, not the weight of the boolit or the speed. For comparison a 405 gr boolit at 1500 fps has a TKO of @40, the TKO percentage difference between the slug and the big boolit is nearly 40%, but the TKO difference between the 540 and 405 gr boolits is only @20% so once again there isn't that much difference at the target between the two .45 cal boolits as opposed to the 12 ga slug.

Point being you aren't going to get much in return for the punishment you will receive.

If anyone cares?

Randy

[Bad Ass Wallace]

My favourite 45/70 boolits from L to R 260gn, 420gn 520gn

https://i.imgur.com/YaFZpHB.jpg

Broke my neck about 5 years ago so I bought a Pedersoli 1886 which at 10 lbs tames the recoil. The small boolit is fun to plinkin!

[Hogokansatsukan]

I find the 385 grain at 1800 fps have more recoil than the 540 at 1435, which makes sense as the 385's have more energy. I don't find either one punishing and can easily shoot up 50-100 of the 540's in a session.

The problem with the Taylor KO value is that it does not take into account expanding boolits, which if you look close at the first picture, I have been casting these in both HP and FN.

Will use the FN on whales when they grow legs and move to the Arizona desert.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Will use the FN on whales when they grow legs and move to the Arizona desert.

Can I come on that hunt?

Randy