Minimum powder loads

[bigbird09]

I have some 385 grn hornady buffalo bullets and I was wondering what the minium powder charge I need to safely shoot them out of a cva eclipse magnum.

[moto357]

depends on your purpose?  shooting paper doesn't take much powder to get the bullet through the hole, but for a deer i'd say anything above 50gr assuming your not shooting far.. maybe 60gr neighborhood?  the deer i killed this year was shot with one of my cast 495gr bullets and 62gr volume pyrodex P.. bullet went through him with no issues 

[ohiosam]

No real minimum for safe firing. 20-30 grains would be like shooting a pistol round.

If you are shooting at a deer I would probably want to be at least 50 grains and limit shot to 50 yards or so.

[bigbird09]

ya its more for target, don't plan on hunting with these.  I just didn't know what the minimum would be to get them out the bore with out something bad happening.  The lowest I have shot with anything is 80grn of powder and I was skidish of that at first,  Still kicks like a mule with 250grn's

[moto357]

shooting a 50 should be easy to get to shoot light recoiling 250gr loads, easier yet if you use a fffg or equivlant.  if shooting at paper try starting out at a specific point, say 40gr, and work up in 5gr increments till you are satasfied.  recoil will still be light even at 60gr with a 250gr bullet, but you are sure to come accross something accurate prior to this point.  have fun and let us know what you find out

[bigbird09]

well the 250's are my hunting loads so I don't plan on going lower on them,  But I have a box of the hornady's and a couple boxes of TC maxi hunters and some TC maxi ball? that I wanna burn up,   might hunt with the TC's tho.  Also what about slugs that are over 400grns,  I have some that I got given to me that are like 450grn.

[moto357]

i love big bullets..  my smallest are 440gr

[bigbird09]

I'm pretty much the same way,  I would rather have a heavy slow bullet that hits like a freight train than a light fast bullet that hits like a f-1 car,  I was the same way with my archery set up.  If I could find the 348grn powerbelts I would prolly shoot them again.  The heaviest thing that I have found around here recently is 295grn powerbelts,  but I have been shooting these TC 250's cause theirs twice as many at the same price as the PB's.  Idk i have acouple different bullets a friend gave us a while back that I need to shoot up,  if I could sight this gun in and have it stay zeroed I could prolly use them,  but I don't have enough to zero,  keep checking zero, and hunt with.

[moto357]

if you are interested i could cast you up a bunch so you wouldn't have to worry about yer zero.. pm if you are interested and i'll let you know what bullets i can cast for ya

[bigbird09]

sounds interesting,  look for a pm!