Rossi Results

[elkstalkr]

Seen a couple of guys post looking for info on the rossi, thought I might share.

Ok guys, I am already thinking (obessing) about deer season. Pathetic huh? Anyway, I am changing my wifes load in her Rossi .45 youth. The 175 grain powerboobs she was shooting were most unimpressive on the deer.

So I shot some Hornady 200 grain SST's today. At 100 yards I could consistently keep them on an 8 inch target and that was about all! So I am gonna have to try something else.

Thinking about getting some 180 SST's

Just not alot of AFFORDABLE choices for the .45, in what I need. I mean I really don't want to pay $15 for 12 rounds!!!!

I have to keep my load light or the recoil is just too much for my wife to handle, so I am trying to keep the bullets 200 grains or less.

I may have to try loose powder in the gun, currently I am shooting 80 grains of pyro pellets. I wanted to stay away from powder for her sake and keep it simple.

[oneshotonekill]

I don't have a Rossi so your results may be greatly different than mine, but I played around with light loads in a 45 cal T/C looking for something my wife & kids could shoot.  I wound up trying several pistol bullets/sabot combos (all over loose powder).  One of the more accurate combos was a cast 158 gr .357 SWC in a blue MMP sabot over 70 grs of pistol pyrodex.  It shot consistantly under 2 inches at 100 yards and had very little recoil.  I don't know how well it would do on deer but it was fun on the range.

I would buy a couple bags of sabots and try some different pistol bullets, you should be able to find somethig your rifle will like.  FWIW my T/C shoots the 200 gr SST and 180gr XTP very well (usually just over 1 inch at 100) so if your Rossi didn't like them it may not like the other bullets that worked well for me either.

Do you know the twist rate for your Rossi?

[elkstalkr]

Bought some Knight 175 grain 45 Red Hots (Barnes) to try out in my Rossi.  Using 80 grains of pyro pellets.

Was very pleased with the results. At 100 yards I shot about a 3 inch group.

Guess I will let my wife try these for deer season. Hopefully they will give me better results with the deer than the powerbelts did.

[equinoxbuilders]

My 10 yr old daughter has a Rossi Youth .45 in stainless.  I sited it in at the indoor range to 25 yards using 195g Aerotip Powerbelts with 50g Pyro Pellet.  I let her shoot to 15 yrds. 
I've been reading some bad stories about powerbelt performance.  I also have TC 155g .40cal shockwaves hollowpoint sabots that shot ok and Hornady 158g .38 XTP hollowpoint sabots that are a pleasure to shoot, but shoot 2 inches higher than the PB at 25 yrds.  We are hunting large Whitetail only out of a 2 person treestand, and her shots will be kept to 15 yrds.  The 5 bucks I have taken out of this stand have been high 170's lb. dressed weight.  And I can see from some of the trees being rubbed there this season, there is one pushin 200+
I haven't let her shoot the Hornady XTP's yet.  But I'm thinking of doing this with 50g T7 pellet.  This combo should shoot like a .22 .
At 15 yrds teaching her shot placement high back part of shoulder out of treestand should do the trick. 

"Lester" the resident .357 mag hunter here at Graybeard suggests Remington 158g. softpionts, but I don't think out of a treestand.   He prefers, from what I've read, from the ground the shoulder to shoulder passthrough for easy trailing.

Yes, the PB are easy to load.  The easiest for me. and make one ragged hole at 25 yrds.   The Hornady's are the toughest in my gun, and I have to be very careful about proper bullet seating in the supplied sabot.
I would like to try some of the PR Dead Centers in both .40 and .357 but haven't got around to ordering some.

Please keep us posted this season with results.  I'll do the same
good luck this yr.

[elkstalkr]

equinox,

Man those Knight bullets (Barnes) did the trick!!! I highly encourage anyone to switch to those.  Wife shoot two does earlier this month and both had excellent pass thrus and blood trails!

Those solid copper bullets DO NOT fragment!

They were 175 grain "red hots". 

BTW, 15 yards!!!  She should easily be able to shoot that load out to 50 yards with clean kills.  As long as she practices and you feel comfortable having her shoot at that range.

[equinoxbuilders]

can you give us more details on the two does.  What powder charge with the Barnes 175g?  80grains?  Where were they hit and how many yrds did they travel after being hit?
I'll try some of those if I get some shooting time this Friday night.

I wouldn't let my daughter shoot past 25 yards.  I've only let her practice to 15 yards on an archery 3D whitetail target.  She is very comfortable shooting the Hornady 158g XTP atop 50g T7 and hits the center of the vitals.  I load 1 and 1/2 pellets of powder for hunting without telling/showing her.
Her shoulder will start to bother her with larger bullets and more powder after about 3 shots.  She doesn't admit this, but I can see it.  I've taken her many times to the range in the last month and let her shoot only 3 - 4 shots then wait 3 days and then let her shoot 3-4 shots...etc.  I've learned to call it quits on her after 3 shots with the last being dead center vitals.  I don't want her starting any bad habits. 

Hopefully she will bag a buck this Sunday.  I'll definitely give the RedHots a try when I get some.

[elkstalkr]

Yes 80 grains of regular pyrodex pellets and a 175 grain Barnes (knight red hot) sabot.  One 50 grain pellet and one 30 grain pellet.

The first doe was hit perfect broad side right behind the shoulder, ran maybe 30 yards and folded up.  The second doe was hit at an angle.  Wife just clipped the last rib and the bullet exited the stomach.  So not a good shot.  It ran 20 yards and dropped.  We walked over to it, and it jumped up and ran off.  We backed off, gave it two hours and found the deer not 50 yards from where it ran off.

Both deer had a nice big exit hole and when I gutted and later butchered them I never found one bullet fragment.  Granted this is only the results of two does, but I was pleased with the outcome.