New Rifle or start re-loading

[BRL]

I posted this in the reloading section but thought I'd get the hunters point of view as well.

I have become really interested in big, slow moving bullets for close in deer/hog hunting. I have been thinking seriously about buying a .35 Remington. I, especially, like the looks of Buffalo Bore's load for the .35 Rem....220 grain moving at 2,200 fps. I have seen other factory ammo with 200 grain at 2,100.

Here's what I have already for hunting...I am left handed and don't currently own a bolt gun.

Remington 7400 auto in .30-06
Browning BLR (lever) in 7mm-08
NEF Handi in .243
Bushmaster AR-10 in .308

Last night I was really pondering rifles and calibers to fill my void. All of a sudden, I thought...wait! I could just buy a new re-loader (I already own a Dillon Square Deal B for handgun calibers) and load the .30-06 or .308 with 180 grain or 200 grain at the same velocities as the .35 Rem. For the amount of money that I would spend on a Rifle and scope, I could get a pretty nice loading set up. Then, my ammo down the road would pretty cheap too. Whatever I choose I could load light...all the way up to full with either caliber.

Any thoughts on this idea? Both the .308 and .30-06 are autoloaders. Might I run into problems loading for those? Would it be better to leave loading for those types of actions alone? I know it's done but would I not get good results or become frustrated with other roadblocks?

Thanks for any thoughts!

[cbourbeau32]

I only load for bolt and single shot so I too would be interested in knowing if a lighter load would cycle the auto-loader.

[torpedoman]

 How light you can go will depend on the individual gun. you can even change springs to get lighter loads to work. I'd go with the reloading gear.

[BRL]

I've shot the Remington "Managed Recoil" load from my 7400 auto. It didn't have ANY noticeable recoil at all, but did not cycle the action. I had to manually cycle the action after each shot. But those are really light loads. If I remember correctly it was a 125 grain bullet at something like 2,600 fps.

I'm leaning more toward a loading set up. Too many options to ignore. All I'd need is a new set of dies to load each caliber and I'd be set for any game, anywhere...and a lot of great shooting. Of course, that probably still wouldn't prevent me from buying more rifles down the road. But it would take more convincing to do so.

Thanks!!   

[Land_Owner]

I don't know the .35 Rem. but I have manufactured 10's of thousands of loads in a variety of calibers for handguns, rifle, plinking, paper target, and hunting on both single stage and Progressive loaders.  For hunting, Quality (not High Volume) is the objective.

Consider the number of hunting cartridges you will manufacture.  In a Progressive press you will have higher initial cost and a great potential for high volume output with less control over powder charge.

Hunting rifle cartridges made on a single stage Rock Chucker (or equal) allow you total control over the powder charge weight, which is the single most critical variable that you control on a single stage.  Quality comes with attention to detail.

Handguns are a different matter altogether.

[Oldshooter]

I'd go with the reloading equipment for sure, no doubt about it, yep thats the ticket the reloading equipment! Now the 35 Remy aint a bad idea either so maybe that would be the way to go, you can load the 308 down to 35 remy stuff but you never know when you may need a good lever gun in 35 Rem. Yea thats the the ticket the 35 Rem for sure thats the way i'd go for sure. But then you run into the fact that the 308 will do everything a 35 will do so maybe................. Well you know what I mean!

Hope that helped! 

[billy_56081]

Get "Modern reloading" a book by Richard Lee, it has a great variety of loads listed, look down the chart to see if they have loads listed with the lower velocities you desire, but still have good pressure, your autoloaders are made to cycle within certain pressure limits and should work fine with the lower velocity loads as long as the p[ressure is up to a certain level.

[BRL]

Good input, thanks for the posts!

[Halwg]

I'd get the reloader and the 35 Remington.  You can load the 220 gr Speer in the 35 at about the same velocities as Buffalo Bore.  I get 2160 fps out of a 20" Marlin 336 carbine.

[bigoledude]

Most rifle-die sets come with a full-length sizer die.  For pump and auto-loaders, it is a good idea to purchase a separate "small-base" sizer die.  This sizes the brass down a tiny-bit narrower.  This makes the cycling process much more reliable for pumps and autos.  Some folks claim that it results in over-working the brass.  Meaning, you may not be able to reload the brass as many times.  I bought a lot of brass initially so, I'll probably never reload every brass I have 3 times in my life anyway!

As far as a big-bore rifle, buy yourself another inexpensive, single-shot H&R "Handi or Buffalo Classic" in caliber 45-70 AND the reloading set-up.  You can get a 350 to 400 grain bullet up to 2000fps!  Now, that's big-bore at high speed!   

I had been hearing about the fine old 45-70 for years and never did buy one.  Then, Louisiana legalized using the 45-70 during "primitive weapon" season.  I bought one and now enjoy shooting this great cartridge more than any caliber I own!  Everything you shoot will be breathing and bleeding from two LARGE holes!  My friends can consistantly hit swinging brake drums from 300-plus yards with their 45-70!  I use iron peep sights and, 300 yards for these old eyes is a stretch.  But, I do hit my fair share.  

[snapcrackpop]

For about $120 you could pick just about any handi barrel you want.....

[bigoledude]

I just went back to your original post and saw where you said SLOW MOVING large bore.  Well, the 45-70 barrel becomes even more attractive. 

A friend of the guy who just built the chest-rig for my .44 RedHawk, out in Montana, just shot a young bison (about 1000lbs) clean through the shoulders with a 419gr. wide-flat-nose cast bullet at only 1200fps!!!  It was actually a ranch and, the rancher allows you to kill your own buffalo if you wish.  The friend wanted to use the 300 win mag of another "hunter" . 

The rancher took him aside and suggested he shoot it with the leather guy's 45-70.  I know as well as you that the 300 win mag would've got the job done.  But, the rancher convinced him and, it worked.  The animal acted as though he'd been shot with a BB gun, took two steps, quivered a little, and keeled right over!   

There really is no need to punish the shoulder if this kind of performance can be had at 1200fps.  I will never need more penetration than needed for a 1000 pound bison!  Making me rethink my future reloads for sure.  Wes Daems, the leather guy, says he can shoot these loads all day with no ill effects.   

[BRL]

You're right. I was, however, looking more at the .35 caliber with around a 200 grain bullet as it would be used mainly for deer. I was leaning more toward the thoughts of the .45-70 being a little more than necessary. Although, it could easily be loaded with a nice 240, 250, 260 grain load I'm sure.

I met a guy at the range once that only shoots 300 grain cast at 1,000 fps out of his 7.5" Redhawk at deer. He said they go right through out to 75 yards. I shot a few of his rounds through my 5.5" Redhawk that day and the recoil was less than my .38. He said..."no reason to get beat up just to shoot a deer".

The thing that does attract me to the .45-70 is the straight wall case. I don't know why, but I feel a lot better about loading those than bottle neck rifle cases. Maybe it's just because I've only loaded straight walled cases.

Thanks!!

[yellowtail3]

....

Thanks for any thoughts!

sounds like you're pretty well equipped for hunting. I'd say get the .35, just so you can have a Marlin 336.

[encore4me]

I deer hunt and reload for my 45-70 and find it just the ticket for deer. I have a Marlin Guide Gun and my Son has an Encore with the Katadin barrel. We shoot 300gr hollow points to 520gr wide flat nose bullets with no problems. These are very easy to load for. Go to www.marlinowners.com and you will find out all you want to about the 45-70.



Matt