45-70 load for deer in Brown Bear central

[djharteloo]

This year I brought my marlin 45-70 and my kimber 280ai to elk camp. No insight for use against bears, just solid choice in rifles

 

[osprey]

I couldn't get a hold of any 300 gr hornady hollow points as they seem to be out of stock everywhere. I have however loaded up some of the 350gr hornady flat points and some 300gr barnes tsx's to try out at various powder charges. With the hornady's I used h4198 and with the barnes I used a1680. Hope to get out to shoot them this weekend.

 

[DizzyJ]

Those TSXs are badass!

 

[osprey]

Those TSXs are badass!

I really didn't want to pay that much for bullets but I had some cabelas reward points to burn so what the heck they were free right.

 

[orygun]

I really didn't want to pay that much for bullets but I had some cabelas reward points to burn so what the heck they were free right.

I have the same issue with bullet costs.... And then I remember what I want just one of those little things to do. I've only used Barnes bullets in a couple of rifles. What I found interesting was they printed to the right of a "normal" bullet. At 100 yards it was about 1-1 1/2". I found that strange.
Today I will dig thru my old notes and see what I can find in the way of RL7 loads.

 

[Twodogs]

I run the Barnes 300 gr with 50.0 grs of RL-7, also use the same charge with nosler 300 gr.

 

[osprey]

Well I snuck up to the range for a little chrono work this afternoon in the snow. It just started snowing lightly when I got there turned to a sideways whiteout by the time I left. Was blowing in and covering everything on bench but i did get some meaningful data. First off I only shot 3 of the barnes tsx 300gr as they were loud and had excessive muzzle blast which I think was the reason for the erratic chrono readings. I will pull the remaining barnes loads with a1680 and write it off as not a powder for the 45-70. I ran the ladder of loads with the 350gr hornady flat points and took chrono data. I started with 48.5 gr of h4198 and ended with 50.5 gr. The 48.5 gr load yielded 1799 fps avg with a sd of 31.4. The 50.5 gr load yielded 1885 fps with a sd of 10.8. The two notable nodes were at 49gr with a sd of 13 and 50.5gr with a sd of 10.8. As is common, the lowest sd loads gave the best accuracy, with a nod to the 50.5 gr load. It gave a 50yd three shot group of 5/8". I am a little suprised the velocity was not higher as these are Hogdon loads which are already well above everybody elses max. According to horgdon data I can go up to 54 gr of h4198. I will chew on this data for a bit and come up with a plan to move the load developement forward. I feel I should be able to get just shy of 2000 fps safely with this bullet and powder combo in a 18.5" barrel. I think I will switch to rl7 with the barnes bullets and start over with load work up for them. Any constructive thoughts?

 

[Twodogs]

All ways had good luck with IMR-3031 for the 350 gr hornadys ,and RL-7 for the 300 gr barnes and noslers.
I shoot 525 gr Beartooth bullets with 44.0 grs of IMR-3031 at about 1600 fps , if I was wanting to knock a big bear off it's feet that would be my load.

 

[osprey]

I was a little worried about the barnes tsx minimum velocity for expansion with the 45-70, as the only reference I could find was online banter of 1600 fps. This would only get me out to 130yds or so, well short of my 200 yd goal for deer. So, I put a call in to barnes this AM and it turns out both the 250 and 300gr Tsx flat nose bullets will expand down to 1050 fps. That puts the effective range well beyond any shot I would ever take with me ol' lever, so all is good and load developement with the barnes will continue!

 

[DirectDrive]

For that hunt, I would load a penetrating bear load in case I wanted (read needed) to penetrate a big Brownie's skull.
And have one in the chamber.

"Mr. Brownie, can I have a minute to switch out my expanding deer loads ?"

 

[osprey]

Kind of my working plan is to hunt with my 420 gr hardcast loads in the gun. If a longer shot on deer presents itself and there is time, I would change out to the lighter deer loads. This of course is all predicated on having an acceptable zero for both loads. Right now it is just a good winter diversion to develop some good loads for my 45-70. It is a work in progress and nothing will be in stone until I jump on that plane. Another interesting data point. Hornady claims a minimum velocity of 1600 fps is needed for reliable expansion of both the flat nose and round nose 350 gr interlocks. I have read conflicting info on the web about the flat nose expanding down to 1200-1400 fps. Anybody have real world experience with lower than 1600 fps impact velocities with the flat nose hornady? If it truly is 1600 fps, that only gets me to 110yds or so, well short of my 200yd goal.

 

[osprey]

I run the Barnes 300 gr with 50.0 grs of RL-7, also use the same charge with nosler 300 gr.

Do you happen to have the oal you load the barnes tsx Twodogs?