Big Bore loading for Lori

[Oldtrader3]

Scotty, actually, I still have two boxes of 350's that I was going to give my son for his .45-70. If you want them Scotty, I will make you a good deal. One box of .458 Hornady RN's and one box of Speer Hot Core FP's. Let me know if you want them?

 

[FOTIS]

Scotty, actually, I still have two boxes of 350's that I was going to give my son for his .45-70. If you want them Scotty, I will make you a good deal. One box of .452 Hornady RN's and one box of Speer Hot Core FP's. Let me know if you want them?

.452 or .458?

 

[Oldtrader3]

Actually .458, I was thinking .45 Colt these are for the .45-70.

 

[SJB358]

All great ideas guys. Thank you very much.

As for the 45-70, that is MINE! HA! I am not sure what I am going to run in it just yet, but probably your 405's Dave or some 300 grain PT's. I wouldn't mind trying the 350's either, those shoot well out of my Guide Rifle as well.

Great idea about running a heavier bullet in the 444. I have some Beartooth 290's and Speer 300's along with Nosler 300's along with some of the Sierra 300's, so I am trying to avoid buying more bullets right now for this rifle. Plus, I have about 500 of the Sierra's as well..

I will for sure put one of the Sierra's into the jugs, to see what it looks like.

Shots over these baits could be as far as 200 yards, so I don't wanna go too slow. Besides the baiting, we will be glassing bears as well, so I wanna be prepared for both scenarios.

I ran the ballistics last night, with that Sierra at a modest 2000, it is 2.5" high at 100 and dead on at 150, and about 6" low at 200 yards. Seems like a very good trajectory and it packs the same energy at 200 as the 44 Rem Mag does at the muzzle...

Ton's of great ideas guys. Can't wait to see what they do at the range.

 

[onesonek]

Upon further review Scotty, I would go 1800 fps with the PT's, still keeping recoil down somewhat for her, if you have enough for testing and the hunt. Just guessing the BC of .200 on them, they should have a PBR of 170/7", is only 9' low at 200. And enough energy with a .429 250 gr. to get the job done imo. That being the same the .44 mag at 50yds.

Side note,,,
for what ever reason, I always believed that slower powder reduced impulse, but my program says otherwise. (still wonder however) I was initially thinking H-335 in the .444, but looking at it now, I try 42 grs. of the RL-7 for a start, might be close to the 1800 fps mark. It would keep it the same as your 45-70/405 chg weight if you are using that load,,,just a thought.

 

[SJB358]

Well, here are my results with the 444 today. It was a horrible day on the range, windy, raining so much I was having trouble keeping the targets pinned up, but anyway, I was on the range.....

Started with 41 grains of RL7, CCIBR2's, Hornady brass and the 250 Sierra Full Profile Jacketed bullets.

41 RL7

42 RL7

43 RL7

44 RL7

45 RL7

Overall, I was very happy with the rifle, it shot well from 42 on up. Didn't seem to like 41 grains much, cases were a little sooty.. Could have been the crimp, may need to give it another 1/4 or 1/2 turn, but overall, I was pretty happy.

Sorry, no chrono results, it was really to nasty outside in order to set it up. I am thinking that just about any of the loads would work just fine though. Probably go back to that 42 grain load and verify them and get a final zero on them.

Your ballistic calc's look the same as mine Dave. Thinking it would be plenty powerful to 200 yards and the recoil was a CREAM PUFF! I am pretty excited to get Lori behind the gun and let her practice some. I will load up a couple of the PT's, just to see how they group, but it seems to shoot everything pretty decently.

Here was a 3 shot group with the 300 grain Nosler JHP's, with 45 grains of RL7..

Thinking I might be about done. Any of those groups would do a bear in pretty well, I think.

Here is a shot of the rifle, with the old M8 4X I got from Earle. Very servicable scope. Thinking it might have a new home on this rifle!

 

[Guy Miner]

Interesting Scotty.

I've used those 250 gr Sierras with the full profile jacket from my .44 mag handguns. Good accuracy. It was developed for handgun metallic silhouette shooting.

My observations, just plinking at assorted "stuff" off and on, was that it didn't expand much at all. That doesn't mean that it won't be a good hunting bullet though, and I seem to recall it being used as such, quite a while back. Also, the velocity from the .444 rifle might make it open up better than I could manage at 1200 fps from the handgun.

Guy

 

[SJB358]

Here are a couple of the Sierras.. Pulled the pictures from Marlin Owners.. Pretty impressive..

 

[CatskillCrawler]

Those are from a 444? Lots of meat left on those bones! What was the mv?

 

[onesonek]

Some reason I missed you started out with RL-7 Scotty,, mind doesn't always focus as of late I guess. But looks good anywhere above that 41 gr. charge, as you say.

 

[SJB358]

Those are from a 444? Lots of meat left on those bones! What was the mv?

Yes sir, they said they were clocking 2200..

Some reason I missed you started out with RL-7 Scotty,, mind doesn't always focus as of late I guess. But looks good anywhere above that 41 gr. charge, as you say.

No worries buddy.

 

[FOTIS]

They look great to me Scott!

 

[Elkman]

Any of them other than the 41 gr load will probably do the job, especially at close range. Recoil will also be less.!!!

 

[JD338]

Scotty

Sounds like a good strategy.

JD338

 

[CatskillCrawler]

That's good performance at an energy level which doesn't invoke fear. Hope it works out for her.

The only experience I have with this cartridge is second hand knowledge. One of my fathers friends shoots the 300gr Speer bullet. He is looking for oomph tho and believe his velocity is in he 2200-2300fps range. He claims it bucks pretty good with he light Marlin. It is a slayer.

 

[SJB358]

That's good performance at an energy level which doesn't invoke fear. Hope it works out for her.

The only experience I have with this cartridge is second hand knowledge. One of my fathers friends shoots the 300gr Speer bullet. He is looking for oomph tho and believe his velocity is in he 2200-2300fps range. He claims it bucks pretty good with he light Marlin. It is a slayer.

Yeah, there is a noticeable difference in recoil between the 45 grains of RL7 and the lesser charges of RL7 and the 250's. Seems pretty decent though. Plan on loading some more up at 42 grains, refining the zero and then letting Lori have a go with it.