Knocking Them Over

I said yesterday that at the Lewisville ELGS I purchased some hot loads in .45-70 Govt for a future hunting trip (S. Texas hogs, maybe?).  As there was no Buffalo Bore on sale anywhere, I went with a local reloader:

As a benchmark, I’ve used the PMC 405gr (“Cowboy”) load.  Here are the stats, from left to right, according to their data:

PMC 405gr:  1550 fps (muzzle velocity), 1639 ft lbs (muzzle energy)
Tx Wheeler 405gr:  1750 fps, 1845 ft lbs
…and a lighter bullet:
Tx Wheeler 300gr:  2100 fps, 3105 ft lbs

(yes, that’s a .45 ACP cartridge at the end, for size comparison)

I can’t wait to do a little oomph!  testing of these bad boys on some “solid” targets (e.g. wet newspaper bundles wrapped in heavy canvas or denim).

And if the unspoken question is:  “O Kim… are you sure your rifle can handle such power?”, then this picture of my Browning 1885 High Wall should reassure you:

Watch this space.

9 comments

  1. I’m no expert, but I’d say with some hot .45-70-405 loads you could safely take a mastodon, if you could find a mastodon. I guess large, feral hogs will have to suffice.

  2. Kim; It isn’t whether your rifle (a very nice hi wall – God bless JMB) can handle the load, but whether your
    shoulder can handle the results of the load.

    1. It’s not like I’m going to shoot a hundred of these things at a time… and I will probably be shooting them from a gun sled anyway.

      1. First thing I did with my Sharps, after the first range session, was fit a recoil pad.

        No, it’s not period-looking, but it makes it far more comfortable to shoot, even with heavy loads and a 500-grain bullet.

  3. Bowling for pigs. Oh, yes please!

    I started handloading and casting bullets for 45-70 in ’78. My first rifle was (and still is) an original Trapdoor. Having several rifles in that caliber, my standard load is at the Trapdoor level, just to be on the safe side.

    The lines of the Browning are beautiful, and I lusted for one until I got a chance to shoot one. I found that the last bend in the lever tended to smack my ring finger under recoil. It was enough of an annoyance to put me off my feed for owning one. I also got to shoot a Ruger #3 in 30-40 Krag. That was a real sweetheart. Shoulda bought one then, but at the time I was not that excited about and “old” cartridge in a “new” rifle.

  4. Americans. Obsessessed with firepower and horsepower! Even when shooting sweet classics like the 1885! 🙂

    Indulge me, Kim: a 405 round nose, sailing along at around 1350 FPS… and nothing that walks the earth is beyond reach. They were dumping buffalo with that load back in the day. Keep your ranges under 200 yards and do your part and it’s a done deal every time.

    I run that in my Remington Roller and she works like a hot damn. I’m trying to get it to run on the classical black powder load… but casting and reloading BPCR is a different can of worms.

  5. Ummm, your Boerish dudeness, I’m sure you know that that is NOT a round of .45 ACP. Not to be an ammo pedant or something…

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