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OP
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If you hunt in Louisiana, it's now legal to hunt the archery season with a cross bow or mechanically drawn bow due to a law passed by Gov Bobby Jindal.
He also passed the use of a single shot break action rifle that has an exposed hammer and a design prior to 1900 as legal weapons during the primitive season, formerly called the Muzzle loader season. There is a list of the legal rifles on the LADFW website. TCs and rugers are not allowed. H&R handi rifles are and all of these rifles must be of caliber larger than .38.
I think a H&R in the 444 Marlin w/ the new HDY Lever-revolution would be a nice combo.
Have a Good One,
Reloader7RM
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Reloader, across the River in Mississippi we did this a 3 or 4 years ago. And it has worked out pretty well. You can get the Handi Rifle in a .44 Mag, a .444, and a .45-70. In the H&R 1871 Buffalo Classic Rifle you can get a .45 Colt and a .45-70. There also some used Buffalo Classics in .38-55 floating around. I would stay away from the .38-55s. They hard to load for.
Last edited by cole_k; 07/10/08.
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OP
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Cole, Two of my good buddies hunt in MS and both own the Buffalo classic in 45-70. One is shooting the new Hdy Leverevolution 325 grners and the other the Remington 300 grn Corelocts. I'd be loading my own as I do with the rest of my guns, but the only down side is Hdy will not sell the pointed .458 LR bullets. I like the BC of that bullet and it's on game performance, but don't like the thought of $30+ a box of 20!
I don't much care for the heavy BR with the super long 32" bbl, I bet it would be a bear in the brush or a box blind. Although the guys I know that have the BR say they tend to shoot alittle better than the cheaper handi with the 22" tube.
I like the H&R 444 Marlin with the Syn stock, recoil pad, no open sights, hammer extension, and weaver rail. I bet my 2-7x32 3200 would fit it nicely.
The 265 grn Hdy LR round has some impressive ballistics. As for handloading, I don't really see any bullets other than pistol bullets that are HPs or Flat nose. For that reason, I'm not sure if the 444 would be the best choice. My primary big buck area only has a Mler season during the rut and it's only 1 week long, the rifle season is prior to the rut, so we take most of our big bucks with Mlers and shots out to 200 yards are very possible.
I may not even get a handi as my Savage ML10II smokeless Mler is very accurate and good to 200 easily. The ease and convience of the H&R would be nice though. I sold a laminate handi in 25-06 last year that shot pretty good and had a nice trigger, guess I should of held on to it and just bought an extra bbl.
Have a Good One,
Reloader7RM
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It's not a break action (falling block), but how about an 1874 Sharps 45-70 loaded with BP?
1Minute
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Sharps and its clones with or with out BP are legal in Miss and I think in La.
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I've got a 45-70 buffalo classic that I use in the primitive weapons season in MS. I've been shooting the leverevolution for the last couple of years and have killed a couple of deer with it, it does a good job. I'll probably start reloading for it this year but the main problem with reloading for the 45-70 is the lack of spitzer bullets, every component bullet available is a flat nose or round nose except a couple offerings from barnes and they're VERY expensive. Barnes makes a 300 grain spitzer original that I'm going to use but they're so high that money wise it's almost as cheap to buy the loaded leverevolution ammo as it will be to load the barnes. I wish someone other than barnes would make a 275-300 gr spitzer for the 45-70. Just a plain old lead core jacketed bullet would be fine, no need for anything fancy at 300 grs and 2300 fps on deer. The 45-70 is a decent 200-250 yd deer rifle with a spitzer but if you load it with a flat nose it's pretty much done by 150.
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Bad news for TC (S&W) and Knight. MS law change a few years ago decimated the muzzleloader sales in this state. Word is Greg Ritts even visited one of the larger sporting goods stores in person here to ask why orders/ sales of his Encore had fallen through the floor.
On the other hand, huge news for the crossbow manufacturers. I also hunt TN where they were legalized a few years ago during entire archery season.
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If you want to go with a cross bow, I can tell you that the Excalliber Recurve crossbow is the bomb in Alabama. It is almost like cheating when it comes to bow hunting. Alabama legalized crossbows a couple years ago here.
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Reloader7RM, if you are buying reloading supplies, you might checkout www.lockstock.com for the Hornady Leverevolution ammo. If you combine the purchase of them with other supplies the freight charge won't be as much per item. I reload also but those bullets perform great in my 45-70 therefor I just use them instead of handloads.
Last edited by ddurst; 07/14/08. Reason: sp
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At one time I owned and shot both a Handi rifle and A Buffaslo Classic ,both in 45/70.I found no appreciable difference in accuracy at 100 yards with either one.The handi,being shorter and much easier to handle in a stand,won out and I disposed ofthe BC.Just my two cents worth of experience.
Stan
The more I listen,the more I hear....and vice versa.
45/70,it's almost a religion.
If you have to take a second shot then you probably shouldn't have taken the first shot.
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I fired a Handi in 45/70 a couple of years ago. It was one of the brutalist recoiling rifles I have ever shot as it had a crap recoil pad and weighed about 5 pounds. OUCH!
Redistribute my work ethic, not my Wealth!!!!!
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