Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 45-70 with Speer 400gr. bullets

I only used it once also on a dink sow. At 9 yards and 1680 fps I shot an onside shoulder and the exit wound in the ribs was about the size of an Eisenhower dollar coin. I've gave up trying to find the bullets for sale a while back and went to the 300 gr. just because they are more commonly available.

Anybody else tried the Barnes 250 grain TSX's? The Barnes manual shows them topping out at about 2600 FPS from a 24 inch barrel! I've loaded some up and tried them in my 1895SBL. They're deadnuts accurate, but I haven't yet had the opportunity to try them out on game.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^used that load forever (old Elmer Keith load) in a couple of early 1895 Marlins, along with the 405 Win bullet............outstanding results.

The Win was a little softer & works fine on deer, the Speer is a little tougher & worked fine for elk. The Win 405 is no longer available as far as i know.

The newer 350's work very well too..............

MM

That's all I used to use. I got good accuracy with them and they were very effective on game. It seems I was using 3031.

EthanEdwards; thanks for the laugh

HillamHank; when I did my bullet testing the barnes bullet (I forget the weight) opened really wide and was the shallowest penetrating between the Speer 400 grain and the 300? grain Nosler partition.Not sure if that matters to yiu or not.

Like the one in the middle myself.





Don't worry yourself about the two on the right, they be a larger caliber and range 850-900 grains.

Thumper

Nice shooting Dan....what's the weight of that bullet? Loaded in front of charcoal i one of your uber-cool rifles?

Thanks GRF

Back in the '70's I bought several boxes of Speer and Remington 45 - 70 bullets for my Siamese Mauser. I used maybe 20 - 30 of each. Started casting my own starting with Lyman 400 grain, then Lyman 445 grain and never loaded another jacketed bullet in the caliber. I've used Lyman molds, RCBS, N.E.I.,, plain base, gas checked, full mag power down to light 250 grain plinking loads, there's no reason to use jacketed bullets, in my opinion. as i've seasoned my favorite bullet for the 45 - 70 is a 350 grain gas checked cast bullet with moderate load of IMR 4064. use cast you can shoot more and have lots of fun.

I've loaded the 400gr Speers in my Ruger #1 for almost 40 years. 57.5gr of 3031 gives me 1920fps.
This is in an older('85) red pad #1 and chambering was no problem when seated to the groove.
I can't speak for elk but I have literally knocked big(200# plus) hogs off their feet with them.

Ballpark 530 gr, 30:1 alloy over 60 gr Swiss 1.5 and 6 gr SR4759 w/ a .030 card wad. Compression around .050".

Good enough for most anything and I patiently await the return of the dinosaurs.

Thanks DD

Anyone want to share a really mild load with the 400 grainer? My Sin-in-law has shoulder and back concerns. It should put on a hurt for animals even traveling slowly. He wants to shoot his Henry inherited from his DAD. Maybe 1200 fps? Be Well. Packy

No but I use the 300gr TSX in my muzzleloader. It clobbers them.

Perhaps a lighter bullet of 300 or 350 gr would be easier on the shoulder.

Dan has long since been classified by the ATF as a destructive device.

Sorta like boxers vs leopard print g string.

Is that a bad thing?

No sir!

I strive toawrds that goal.

I am stuck in 405 grain land however.


Think I need a single loader.....

Lyman mold #457643 drops 430 grs at 30:1 alloy, it's my Huckleberry in the Marlin 45-70 or '86 Winchester 45-90 ..Very accurate with a tad more whipazz than the 405..

Does anyone shoot a Siamese Mauser in .45/70?