subsonic 45-70

[publius]

Want to hunt with my new suppressed H&R 45-70. Anybody have a good load for whitetail?

[725]

Make the payload heavy and map out the trajectory path well. It will arrive like a freight train.

[Harter66]

1100 fps with about any 500 gr takes 1000 ftlb past 300 yd .
I haven't yet worked it up with the 45-500 yet but 12 gr or so of Unique should get you in the ball park .

[hlvabeach]

Opening day, PA buck season. CVA Scout V2 45-70 suppressed (Rugged Obsidian) using 11.5gn Red Dot and Lee 405gn. 115 yard lung shot.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210102/687135c9605727ffb86e28bc61a2da17.jpg

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[publius]

HLVAbeach, did you get good expansion out of the bullet?

[Deadeye Bly]

You don't need much expansion with a 45 caliber bullet. It is already bigger than a .243 bullet will ever get.

[jeffsmith13]

Congratulations on the buck !

[legendhunter]

hlvabeach, I have the same rifle just not suppressed. What's is the muzzle velocity of your load and what range did you sight your in for?

[publius]

Good point, Deadeye.

[GregLaROCHE]

You don't need much expansion with a 45 caliber bullet. It is already bigger than a .243 bullet will ever get.

I was thinking the same thing. The advantage of a large diameter boolit is that expansion becomes less important.

[hlvabeach]

hlvabeach, I have the same rifle just not suppressed. What's is the muzzle velocity of your load and what range did you sight your in for?no idea if it expanded or not. I had sighted it in at 100 yards. I originally used 12 grains of RD but thought I heard the supersonic crack so reduced the charge which did the trick. All three shots at 100 yards were almost touching. This is my second CVA (300 blk) and I am very impressed with their accuracy.

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[ChristopherO]

Congratulations on the fine buck! I suspect the impact was louder than the report of the rifle.

I cast those same Lee 405 RFN for target practicing. They are hard and pencil through 9-10 water jugs with 12.5 grains of Unique. If I were to hunt with them the alloy would be much softer for some expansion. Having lived and hunted in a slug only state for over 30 years I've seen much bigger, heavy slugs than a 45 caliber boolit spill buckets of blood on the ground, and still the deer can run along way. Having butchered dozens of deer for my family and that other's have shot I've been amazed of monstrous wound channels in the vitals from 12 gauge slugs but the hunter had a hard time finding the animal right away. That quip that keeps getting tossed around that a 45 caliber hole is big enough, it doesn't need to expand, is not an accurate statement. A non expanding 45/100 of a hole has much less frontal diameter than the shotgun slugs. A 72 caliber (12 gauge Foster slug) hole through the chest is what I call big.
The smaller calibers are expected to expand, yes, and they are also expected to impact at a much greater velocity, as well, at least jacketed bullets are. The comparison isn't apples to apples. These medium big, heavy, slow moving projectiles from a subsonic 45/70, or insert your caliber here, does not work the same as a high velocity bottle neck cartridge. An 1,100 FPS 45 has considerably less frontal impact than a 20 gauge (56 caliber) slug starting off at 1,400 fps. (maybe at 100 yards the fps is negligible) The Lee bullet may have a flat nose, but it isn't all that impressive, especially if it doesn't expand upon contact, imho. When I fire the 45/70 at a deer the boolit is cast from an Accurate mold with a huge meplat that isn't rock hard. Even then I've seen muscled up Bucks take a pounding and not topple over instantly. Would I hunt with the Lee 405 RF, yes, but I would have to cast up quite a few that are dead soft for the velocities I shoot them at. Ramblings from someone who truly enjoys my 45/70.

[gumbo333]

For some subsonic data check out gmdr.com/ lever/ lowveldata. Read the story too, very interesting. I've had very good results with 405 gr cast with red dot, blue dot, unique, and more. Also 300 gr cast. Never tried the 500 heavys. I'll bet a lot of buffalo hunters trying to same a bit of powder shot big cast boolits in the 900+ fps range.

[ChristopherO]

For some subsonic data check out gmdr.com/ lever/ lowveldata. Read the story too, very interesting. I've had very good results with 405 gr cast with red dot, blue dot, unique, and more. Also 300 gr cast. Never tried the 500 heavys. I'll bet a lot of buffalo hunters trying to same a bit of powder shot big cast boolits in the 900+ fps range.

Good information. Thanks for sharing. Currently I use Unique and 2400 with great satisfaction. Unique for the BP speeds and 2400 with .5 grains of dacron for medium velocity (1,600 fps) A spare can of Bullseye is tempting me for something in the speed equaling Unique as I looked at that data for the 405 grain loading. Yet, Bullseye is quite a fast powder and still makes me leary to utilize it in the 1895 with 405 grain pills. Funny how scanning load data is always an exercise that brings enjoyment.

[memtb]

This should be an interesting project....may it work as planed! memtb

[publius]

Thanks guys. My can (Silencerco Hybrid 46) is in jail until probably May so I won't get to use it this season, grrrr. Will have plenty of time to work up a load and test them on some beavers and muskrats. This will also be my initiation into casting. Have a good source for wheel weights, just need to find some pure lead and tin. Would love for some of you to post your favorite hunting bullet ( model of mold and some pics of finished bullets) I love this site!

[Norske]

American Rifleman magazine had a mention of a Hornady subsonic load; 410gr bullet @ 1000fps. You can do this with a 400gr cast bullet and 10 Grains of Unique.

[ChristopherO]

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=46-405DG
Sorry to take so long to respond to your request for molds used. I believe this is the mold I use when hunting. (was thinking it was the 405C, but that mold's meplat is too small) I made certain that it will cycle through the 1895 action, which is does flawlessly. For subsonic the gas check isn't necessary, but can still work just fine. I don't see any pictures in my computer of the finished product.

[wildflilghts]

405 gr cast over 13.0 gr of Trail Boss is right at 1,000 fps. Straight off the hodgdon reloading site.
It's over hodgdons listing for Trail Boss but I've ran up to 15.0 gr. Those are right at 1,080 fps.