45 cal huntsman

[LD]

Has anyone tried shooting saboted bullets in an older 45 cal Huntsman? With 1-56" twist what weights & charges worked best? My real question is, will the lighter bullets work? If so would it be at high charge rates? I tried to get H&R to tell me what these barrels where proofed at but they would not. I was also told that they could be loaded to 120grs. loose, same as side kick, yet it seems that the manual states only 100gr. loose pyro. ? If slower twist in centerfires is used for lighter bullets/higher velocity would the same be true for a muzzleloader? Or is the twist just simply to slow?

[bjgolfnut]

Good Morning,  If you go to page two.you will see a post, 1972 Huntsman question, in there you will find a lot of info on your question.  Have a great day.

[PHATINJUN]

120grains!!!!! WOW   I got a .45 Huntsman that last yr I started to work with a modified breech plug to shoot Blackhorn powder with and got up to 90gr and it packs a wallop kicks nearly as hard as the 20ga slug gun and at least as hard as my 30/06. I can not even imagine 120. I sure wouldn't pull the trigger. I have not used any sabot's n it as I shoot all full bore slugs but settled on a charge of 80gr and the 385gr No Excuses .451 bullet very happy with it out to 75yrds and with more practice and a new set of glasses may try 100yrds this yr. Busta may be able to give you information on shooting sabot's as he has tested many differant bullets with many ML's. I don't know all the particulars on why the twists won't work or why the plastic won't work but others here may .I would suggest a pure lead full bore 250gr heavy greased or even a patched conical of that 250gr could be made to shoot pretty good. Kurt

[LD]

I guess the priority question here is what pressure was the 45 huntsman proofed to? H&R won't tell me that, it seems to be propritory info. Savage, & some others will tell you, others will not. Who has more priority than me, the one pulling the trigger as to what the strength is. I know that the owners manual states 100gr. pyro so I guess until I know different I wouldn't go much above that, how'ever since it appears that to stabilize a lighter bullet the velocity would have to be more than what 100gr. would produce. I haven't bought a 45 yet to try that, wanted to get some idea of whether it would work before I bought one. The new 45's of seem to be @ 1-28 to 1-32 twist to shoot saboted bullets. I'm sure the 1-20 would do well with full bore bullets at low velocities. That is not what I'm looking to do.

[PHATINJUN]

Sounds like you are reading about something that does not exist. The only .45's that you may be able to find are from the 70's and 80's. They were at one time going to make some others but that never came to fruitition. Also at present time they are not making any Huntsmans or SideKicks . They have said they were going to do a updated model-models but I will believe that when I see it. This is the only twist bbl's that they have made.45/1-56 .50/1-28 .58/1-66. As far as proofing what they will take I don't blame anybody who owns the right to the Huntsmans for not wanting to give specific # that they could be legally bound to and with the .45 being a 1-56twist I am not to sure that anybody could put something togeather with 100gr of powder to make it shoot good. These are cast iron frames and at least as the urban legend goes at least one knuckle head has put a company into bankruptcy. I guess to try and answer your proofing ? I would ask you what do you have to measure the pressure? If you go the Faq's and look up the frame information for the preSB1 frames you will find they are something like and the same as the early shotgun frames low pressure .I just don't think the Huntsmans are the guns that you really want to use if you want to go High velocity and high pressure testing with.Kurt

[LD]

Thank you. The low pressure issue is what I was trying to get at, I think its Lymans that has pressure tested blackpowder loads and while I do not have the equipment to properly test my loads I can at least use theirs for guidance. Your right, I don't think the 45 huntsman is going to be what I had hoped it to be, and will need to look to a different gun. To bad, the Sidekicks have performed excellent for the cost, had hoped the Huntsman would work out as well. Thanks so much for your time. Also, you're right about the knucklehead, if he had asked questions before overloading maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.