Ok, not really. David Clay is lengthening the action of my 1895 cowboy right now.
In February I had mailed the gun to him with a couple dummy rounds I wanted to it to chamber/cycle. The rounds I sent measured 2.75 COL using .45-90 brass trimmed to 2.3".
Well I got really excited after talking to him yesterday, because he said he has it cycling up to 2.85" COL. If this is true I can used untrimmed .45-90 brass with the 300 grain HP's I normally use (Horandy or Sierra). It will basically be a .45-90 Marlin, the only difference being that a .45-90 COL (for lever rifles)is 2.88" vs 2.85".
Well after I got home I punched the new numbers into my internal ballistics software and came up with a maximum power of 4,700 ft-lbs using a 300 gr HP and Accurate 2450.
I think that is .458 win mag territory in a lever action.
-JR
Do you actualy think that a 300 grainload producing 4700 FPE is equal to a 500 grain bullet producing the same 4700 FPE? Another great example of the uselessness FPE as an indicator of terminal performance
