Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers sighting in the 1895CB

I took the CB out today to do a little range work. All went well. I zerod in from 50 yds with groups of 3/4 inch. Not quite through the same hole but as good as it gets for me. I was shooting LEVERevolution 325gr FTX. After getting dialed in I decided to see what the 405 gr Remington SP's would do. Online but 10inches low. I couldn't believe it. Only 50 yds and 10 inches lower than the 325's. No problem, I will just make sure I am dialed in with my choice of mecicine before I go into the field. Just a little supprised at the difference.
Big Bore shooting is a new game for me. I love it, I just need some time with it. I am hoping to take a Bull Elk next fall with either the .444 or the 45-70. I am leaning towards the .444 with the 265 gr LEVERevolution. Need to do some more range work to see what I am most comfortable with. I have hunted with my .270 and 130gr wieght for 30 years, this big bore stuff is a world of differnce in tradjectory. Going to take some getting used to. Any pointers would be appreciated. I plan on using my range finder to help with shot selection.

Eddie

Do you handload??

That's normal because of the velocity difference which is very important here. Borrow a chrono and measure, you'll be surprised. If you go to handloading you can push those 400grs rather fast and you'll see the diffrence will be reduced by a confortable margin, but recoil will be a bit hard on your shoulder even with the weight of the CB model.

No I do not handload. I will in the future but right now, no.

Eddie

I figured velocity was slower but at 50 yds I am still amazrd at the drop. I am thinking about a chrono from Cabelas, want it for some work with Black powder loads. I think it's around 200. Are they any good?

Eddie

Heck I use a Chrony and it works just fine, under $100. I've used Oehlers etc in the past. For my needs the basic Chrony works.

hayman, the difference in impact is a combination of the bullet drop and the muzzle flip caused by recoil ( before the bullet has time to exit the barrel) One thing I have learned when shooting my '95 is that how I rest the rifle can affect the impact. If I place the rifle in a bench rest with the foreend and butt supported on sandbags, the rifle shoots much higher than if shot offhand. I think it has to do with the butt acting as a hinge point. After missing some deer by 2' I learned to sight in for hunting by using hunting style rests.

castnblast,
I used the bench for both. It was the difference in elevation that I thought was extraordinary.
I have used 130 grn in my .270 for many years. I have not had to make an adjustment on the scope for all of those years. Recently I hunted a ranch that was non lead only. Ended up down 24clicks and left16. Big difference. Put it back and I am still dead on with lead. Another guy shooting a 7mm had the exact same adjustment. Odd.

castnblast is right with barrel time and bench, causing impact changes. Not to have such problems i shoot my lever guns (i've some)on elbow's rest. My left arm being blocked by my Millet rest. I get enough accuracy (need to practice a little) and don't need to worry of accuracy problems created by going from rest to none. For sure you can expect change of trajectory between cast (i use Montana cast bullets) and jacketed bullets (mostly Hawks and Hornady)
Here are some of my lever guns, when hunting with my 86 extra lightweight 45-70 i use 350grs GC Montana, with a stout load of VN133 in Winchester cases and CCi primers.

Regards

Dom

Hayman I got both those calibers in lever guns but I would lean toward the 444 for elk in the dark timber, especially now days wtih the new leverevelution ammo. It made my 444 marlin a 200 yard deer rifle.

Now before hand, I handloaded for this rifle and never could get much over 2120fps using 265 grain bullets. Now with the new Hornady ammo, it shoots over 2300fps and that is a big surprise to me. I now have a rifle scope on this 444 Marlin to shoot across those corn fields if need be. I know it would bring an elk to their knees if hit in the vitals with that Hornady bullet.