Handi 45/70 with barnes 250 TSX

[turkeyeye]

Wow, is all that can be said.  I was out shooting this afternoon with some of my buddy's.  Me and another one have handi-rifles in 45/70, and he had loaded some Barnes TSX  250 grains with H4198.  Those will shoot into one big hole.  What was funny was that we had Ruger M77's, Browning A-bolt's, and TC Encores.  The $220 gun with a 150 year old cartridge shot as good as the best of the other bolt actions.

[quickdtoo]

Another feather in our cap!!  

Tim

[turkeyeye]

The only down fall to them is their price.  They are about $18 for 20 bullets.  Kind of like the nosler partitions.  I am going to work with some 300gr. Sierra's and IMR 3031 this week and see what I can get them to do.

[GrampaMike]

Turkeyeye, I use the Sierra 300 grain in the 45-70 BC.
My most accurate load is 47.6 grains of Reloder-10X, gives me 2094 fps out of the 32" barrel.
Mike

[MSP Ret]

My all time favorite loading for my 22" barrellled Handi in 45-70 is the one I have spoken of many times here. A 350 grain Hornady RN or FP ahead of 28.0 grains of 2400. A sweet, easy shooting load and VERY accurate, clover leafs at 100 if I do my part. Try it, you might just like it also....<><....

[azmark]

How about lighter weight cast bullets?  What options are available for light-recoiling handloads with cast bullets?

[quickdtoo]

The lightest cast bullet I know of is the collar button.

http://westernbullet.com/cbip/b457130.html

Low velocity cast data is available at Greg Mushial's web site.

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

Tim

[edgemark]

How fast can you push the 250 TSX in the 45-70?

Any load data?

I found 60 grains of 3031 with a 300 grain Remington to be pretty accurate without too much kick. Did not chronograph but suspect it is right around 2,000 fps.

edge.

[quickdtoo]

Barnes data shows the 250gr XFN at just below 2400fps in Ruger levels, the TSX should be a bit faster. You can email Ty at Barnes for specific data.

Tim

http://www.barnesbullets.com/information/load-data/

[edgemark]

Thanks, but this keeps surprising me that 250 grain loads are so slow!

Hodgdon shows a 300 grain bullet @ over 2400 fps in their "lever action" loads ( 40k max).

I would think that there is some combo that would push a 250 grain bullet to 2600 without getting any higher???

edge.

[quickdtoo]

The answer to that is what pressures the data is based on, depends on who is doing the testing. Barnes doesn't post pressure levels, but they probably use a more conservative level for each of the 45-70 levels, trapdoor, levergun and modern rifle like Lyman and Speer use.

Tim

Trapdoor
Hodgdon - 28,000
Hornady - 25,000
Speer - 21,000
Lyman - 18,000

Levergun
Hodgdon - 40,000
Hornady - 40,000
Speer - 28,000
Lyman - 28,000

Modern Rifle
Hodgdon - 50,000
Hornady - 50,000
Speer - 35,000
Lyman - 40,000

[edgemark]

I guess part of my complaint is that there just are almost no loads.

Hodgdon only shows a 250 grain bullet for the 450 Marlin and none for the 45-70!

edge.

[mattparliament]

I've also been tempted to tinker with these bullets.  I don't think 2600 fps is out of the question after seeing the gains I (and Quick) made with the 225 grainers in the whelen's.  Heck I get 2424 fps with regular hornady 300 grainers in my 45-70!

[quickdtoo]

All I got from Ty at Barnes was the current info from their #3 manual, they just recommend using the XFN data, which could end up a fair amount faster if they shoot anything like the 225gr .358" TSX, their load work recommendations are on the Barnes web site. Anyone wanting the XFN data, pm or email me and I'll send it to you, it's in .pdf format.

Tim

What load data should I use for Triple-Shock X-Bullets?
Loading data is in the process of being created for the Triple-Shock X-Bullet. Until this data is made available, we suggest you use standard X-Bullet data. In some cases, pressure will be reduced, allowing you to add a couple of grains (in 1/2 grain increments) of powder to the maximum loads listed for the X-Bullet, while watching carefully for signs of pressure.

http://www.barnesbullets.com/information/bullet-talk/faq/

[Mac11700]

I tried some of these in my Optima Elite..and got them up to 2345fps...The group was impressive at 100 yards & no wind..

..

I would watch you cases very closely looking for case head expansion..

You can see the rest of my range session with it here...Both the 250 & 300 TSX's did good...but I haven't found a more accurate bullet for the 45-70 than the 300 grain Nosler Partition...http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,115587.0.html

Mac

[Lazermule]

I loaded the Barnes 300 grn over VV133 and Remington 300 grn HP's over the same load of powder.  At a distance of 100 yds, the Branes shoot 10" higher than the Remington's do.  Both group well, just hit different points.

Anyone had this same experience? 

I just bought this Handi 45/70 new a couple of weeks ago, and mounted a nice Nikon on it.  I only had a 50 yd range to do the initial sight in and then I took it hunting.  After missing my 2nd deer with it, I took it to the range and found that it was 10" high with the Barnes and the Rems shot POA at 100 yards.

Having not missed a single deer in over 15 years, this was kind of a bummer as the deer count where I hunt was way down and nearly all of the deer were nocturnal even before the season started.  Looks like beef for me this year.

[Smokin Joe]

Here's the Barnes data:

Leveraction

http://www.barnesbullets.com/images/45-70Marlin1895Web.pdf

Ruger

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