new handi addict

[nolalu hillbilly]

Hi all,

Thanks to lurking on this site for the last 7 months I broke down and ordered 3 new handi's today.A 25-06....45-70 and a 17 mach 2. I was surprised being in northern ontario i was able to find them for a really good price.I have one question regarding the 45-70. I do not hand load as of yet and am wondering what the best factory ammo to get is. Everything I read says that all the factory ammo is only good for small deer and thats it. I hunt moose,whitetail and black bear. We have shots that are way out there but i use my 7mm for those. What im looking for is a good factory bullet that will be allright to use on moose out to roughly 100 yards.

Thanks for all the great info

Scott

[cwlongshot]

45-70 factory loads will handle ALL those critters, with in range, NO PROBLEM!!!  Say 100- 150 yrds, you hit them right and your freezer will remain full.

BTW,  WELCOME!!!

 CW

[nolalu hillbilly]

Thanks for the quick reply and thanks for the welcome. This is by far the best site that i have been on.
Good to hear that the factory loads will work until i can get some loads worked up from my chum.I was told the factory loads wouldn't work as they were loaded light due to the old guns not handling the pressures and that they were not much good for anything besides paper and small deer.


Scott

[cwlongshot]

 Them being loaded light well, the SAME can be said for ALL OLD TIME cartridges. Thing is the 45-70 is a really old one and yes there is quite a number of old guns chambered for it still around. But saying that its so anemic in these loadings that its only good for targets or paper...PURE RUBBISH!!!

 You can and will get better performance (if you so choose) with hand loads. But you will be fine even with factory equivalent loads.

 Good lock,
 CW

[LaOtto222]

I do not shoot a 45-70, but have hung around this site for some time. I guess that means I learned a few things. Quick has had quite a bit of experience as well as others with the 45-70 and larger stuff too (45-120). When you talk about factory loads, I think you are talking the standard Remington type. I would buy the heaviest, flattest nosed bullet I could get. These are loaded for the old trapdoor guns. You can buy other loads that are quite a bit more powerful. Copy and paste link below for just one example. They come at a steep price. With that said...when using large caliber bullets, there is something about a slow moving flat nosed bullet that just seems to poleaxe game. Even a 44 mag or a 45 Colt with flat nosed hard cast bullets (large meplat) seem to to a heck of a job on game. There has been a lot of big game taken with those two rounds out of a handgun (including moose). They are really limited on range. A 500 grain slug moving at 1500 FPS will put down anything on this continent. The trick is to have just enough speed to punch through the game, but what a job it does. If heavy enough they will crush bones on the way through too. Often there is not enough velocity to open jacketed bullets and the round nose pushes through rather than transfer energy. The flat noses will transfer plenty of energy. Why don't we all use flat nose bullets? Because they are rather limited in range and they do not work on the smaller calibers as well, but they do a heck of a job in the big boys, within their range. Good luck to you.

http://www.garrettcartridges.com/products.asp

[DalesCarpentry]

Very well put!!!!!!!!!!

[EVOC ONE]

Welcome!

Sounds like you're off to a great start as a new Handi-holic.  Of the three you mention, I have only the .45-70.  I've not done any reloading yet and have only fired factory Rem. 300 gr cartridges.  I find the recoil with those rounds very acceptable and three shot groups at 100 yards in the 2"-3" inch range with open sights. 

[nolalu hillbilly]

Thanks for all the advice.I figured this was the best place to get proper answers instead of listening to all the naysayers.My 2 hunting partners shoot ultra mags and wsm's so they are going to be a little surprised when I show up with my 250.00$ handi in 45-70 for moose and my 25-06 for the deer.After spending the last 2 weeks underground im looking forward to getting out in some sun and experimenting with a bunch of different ammo in the big bore getting ready for aug 15th bear opener

thanks again for all the info and now my kid wants a handi in 7mm-08

scott