Speer 400 - 45/70 for bear

[JBC]

 Well just bought my first handi thanks to this board and I'm afraid i've caught the bug(just what my checkbook needed was another hobby, oh well ). My handi is a 2007(HX) in 45/70 - my question is has anyone had any experience with the speer 400 flat pt on small to medium black bear? I hunt bear in Pa. and after buying the handi I went to my local gun shop to order a set of lee dies and a factory crimp die and looked at the bullet shelf and happened upon one box of 50 with a very old price tag on them ($10.99!!) and bought them on the spot. There was three more boxes priced at $18.99 which is still 1/2 the price midway is selling them for so I would like to work up a bear load and would like all of your opinions. I keep varget around all the time for my 308's and I picked up a can of reloader 7 just for the 45. any help would be appreciated, Thanks in advance guys!

[AtlLaw]

Well, I dunno...    But I'll tell ya this.  I found the 300 Gr. Speers to be a little "soft" on deer outa my handi.  So I've gone to Rem 405's.  But the 45/70 hasn't come up on my deer killin' rifle rotation again yet, so I can't give ya my impression of it.  But I have heard that the 400 gr. Speer is also soft.  Mayhaps someone who has actual experience with that bullet will let you know.  If not, you may want to check out what I done hear-ed.

[GrampaMike]

JBC (another soon to be happy handi-holic  )

For the 22" 45-70 with the Speer 400 FN bullet.

Alliant Reloder 10x  (41.9 - 42.2) grains
VihtaVuori N120     (38-6 - 38.7) grains
IMR 4198              (37.9 - 38.3) grains

[JBC]

Well, I dunno...    But I'll tell ya this.  I found the 300 Gr. Speers to be a little "soft" on deer outa my handi.  So I've gone to Rem 405's.  But the 45/70 hasn't come up on my deer killin' rifle rotation again yet, so I can't give ya my impression of it.  But I have heard that the 400 gr. Speer is also soft.  Mayhaps someone who has actual experience with that bullet will let you know.  If not, you may want to check out what I done hear-ed.

Good to know- I only bought one box so if this stinkin' blizzard ever quits and when I get my dies I might load some up and give'em the wet newspaper test to check penetration before I buy the rest, although for the price I should probably buy them just for plinkers if nothing else till I get the barrel broke in enough to start playin with hard cast! Thanks for the info!

[JBC]

JBC (another soon to be happy handi-holic  )

For the 22" 45-70 with the Speer 400 FN bullet.

Alliant Reloder 10x  (41.9 - 42.2) grains
VihtaVuori N120     (38-6 - 38.7) grains
IMR 4198              (37.9 - 38.3) grains

Yep, handi holic is about right I'm already planning to order an ultra varmint, just have to decide on a caliber. Also once I get the 45/70 shootin' I will have to send it out to get at least a .44 mag barrel because that was the caliber I originally wanted but I luckily saw the warning on the website that the new .44 receivers won't accept accessory barrels before I bought it! so instead of just having a .44 (for which I already have all the dies,components and about 800 rounds loaded for now) I got a new to me caliber so I had to get everything new for! but I guess that is half the fun!!

[abner]

Hello

JBC, what part of the state are you in? I get most of my reloading supplies from TNT, he is in eastern PA. I have a 45-70 in a standard issue Handi and it shoots great, I am able to do three shot one hole groups at fifty yards with factory ammo. The ammo was Remington 405 Grain. I to got some of them speer 400 Gn. bullets just to try.  I have loaded using Varget but have not tried them yet. I want to reproduce the Remmy factory load.

http://216.15.64.227/


Have a great day.

Joe

[PHATINJUN]

Boy at that price ya might want to buy just for the brass Kurt

[JBC]

Hello

JBC, what part of the state are you in? I get most of my reloading supplies from TNT, he is in eastern PA. I have a 45-70 in a standard issue Handi and it shoots great, I am able to do three shot one hole groups at fifty yards with factory ammo. The ammo was Remington 405 Grain. I to got some of them speer 400 Gn. bullets just to try.  I have loaded using Varget but have not tried them yet. I want to reproduce the Remmy factory load.

http://216.15.64.227/


Have a great day.

Joe

HI Joe I live in northwestern Pa. I get most of my supplies from a small shop in Conneaut Lake called Bill's gun repair and also make the occasional trip to Sportsman's warehouse in Pittsburgh

Joe

[wgr]

how can the 400grain be to soft? now if you were hunting with a 45cal muzzle loader with a Maxie ball made of soft lead would be fine and both are going around the same speed. just my dimes worth

[handirifle]

The Speer 400gr actually has a tougher jacket than the 405gr rem bullet.  I've cut them both in half and shot them from my BC.  Never got to hunt with them, but shooting them into dirt, the Speers never seperated from the jacket, and the rem's almost always did.

The Speer was more accurate in my BC as well.

I'd find an accurate load at about 1600fps and it will be unstoppable.

Oh, yes, buy the rest of those bullets.  That's a steal.

[greg916]

I load the 400 gr speer for deer and like them. They are soft though. For a tougher bullet try the speer 350 gr.

[AtlLaw]

For a tougher bullet try the speer 350 gr.

This is exactly what I have heard/read and I have some on my Midway "wish list."  But I haven't tried them yet so I can't offer an experienced comparison.

[Lone Star]

how can the 400grain be to soft?

The 400 Speer is relatively soft - just read your Speer manuals.  We used to use it out of 14" T/Cs and it expanded very well on deer at that low velocity; Speer manual #11 even printed a photo of these bullets fully expanded almost to the base - not the type of performance that I'd want on larger game.



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