Range Report 460S&W, 30-30AI...follow up on SS 45-70 Ultra Hunter

[quickdtoo]

I made it back to the range today, took the SS 45-70 Ultra, 460 S&W BC Carbine and the 30-30AI. The 45-70 shoots very well after remedying the headspace issue, although the PMC ammo still wouldn't fire, tried two of them and neither would work even tho they had good pin impacts, must be dud primers in them, I've shot much older ammo and never had a problem, I've only had this stuff 4yrs. Got great results with the 300gr TSX-FBs at over 2300fps, and the Winchester Silver box stuff right at 1800fps.





The 460 S&W doesn't appear to like the 250gr SST w/H110, although it shoots acceptable, nothing to write home about, but the 45Colt didn't care too much for them either. Velocity was impressive tho at just under 2500fps, too bad the accuracy isn't so good. Next will be the 300gr SST and the 275gr XPB




The 30-30AI didn't do too bad considering I only had a dozen fireformed pieces of brass to work with, shooting the 125gr Sierra ProHunter, I got a touch over 2700fps and an 1¼" group, but the load steps were in 1gr increments, I fireformed a bunch more brass, so next time I'll load some in the ½gr increments and hit the loads I skipped over. I can also use a bit more powder, the primers look pristene except for the pin dent!! QuickLoad tells me that I can go to 39.5gr and stay below 60kpsi which is the working pressure for 375Win brass. The 150gr Hornady Interlocks showed more promise at a lower velocity in the last fireform loads, so they may turn out to be a better choice.

More later...

Tim

[dpe.ahoy]

Thanks, Tim.  I think I have a 30-30AI coming back when Wayne is done with it.  Waiting to talk to him.  DP.

[tykempster]

VERY nice groups with those TSX's in the 45-70!   Good shootin', obviously there was no flinching, but I bet recoil was getting up there.

[quickdtoo]

Yeah, but the Leadsled was takin it like a man!!!

thx,

Tim

[tykempster]

Aww man, a cop-out!  Don't worry me too, every time, especially after I went 5 rounds in the ring with the 45-120 off sandbags.  I'd say she won the fight.

[kevinsmith5]

What's the load on those TSX's in the 45-70?

[quickdtoo]

It's H4198, data is from Barnes.

Tim

http://www.barnesbullets.com/images/45-70RugerNo1Web.pdf

[stimpylu32]

Tim

Have you considered going to a Cast bullet with a G/C in either 335 , 360 , 395 grain for the 460 , from the guys that I have talked to with this round in a handgun these do very well .

Just an idea .

stimpy

[quickdtoo]

Actually I have Stimpy, but I kinda want to fill in behind the 45-70 with a bullet less than 300gr since the 45-70 pretty much has that covered. The BTB 265gr .453" WFNGC seems to be a good looking candidate, but the 240gr XTP Mag may also work well. I was hoping the 250gr SST would work out to be a good "longer" range round for the 460 being a pointy bullet. I'm gonna load some more up with Lil'gun to see if it works better than the H110 as well as the 300gr SST and the 275gr XPB.

Thanks for the suggestion, it's on my list of bullets to try,

Tim

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/details.php?id=123

[tykempster]

I was under the impression that TSX's gave lower pressure than similar weight jacketed bullets.  Barnes says their data is to 55000k pressures, but only 57 grains H4198 in Starline brass.  With a jacketed bullet this wouldn't be too much more than 40k, if that.  With Remington brass you can go all the way to 60 grains at 40k pressures, granted with slightly "larger" brass, but a 3 grain, 15k pressure difference, how does that work out?

[quickdtoo]

Solid copper bullets are longer than their respective jacketed bullets, so they take up more powder space and thus increase pressure, notice the COL is 2.770" compared to 2.640" for their Original. Also the start pressure for solid copper bullets is 6525psi compared to 3625psi for jacketed bullets.

Tim

[tykempster]

PM about to be sent.