02April06/1100
Weapon tested H/R Buffalo Classic 45/70
Departures from H/R specs? Yes:
1. Rear and front sights formerly Williams, changed to Pedersoli/Soule, with an aperture front sight of ~.100"
Chamber reamed to conform to brass specifications rendering a straightwall chamber extended forward .030
2. Cartridge ejector reconfigured to extractor function only
Ammunition specs. as follows:
1. All brass used as Star-Line 45/70 gov't.
a. sized to -5mils of maximum spec. to 2.100
b. all primer pockets cleaned and buffed
c. all brass tumbled to factory finish
2. All primers WW Large Rifle
a. All primers seated with Lee ram primer. Ram primer is an elegant and simple accessory to the loading bench that is a welcome and low cost addition; it fits any of the commercially available loading presses. Lee ram primer tools will give a very sensitive feel to priming and seat primers uniformly. They are "Not" made for production run.
3. Powders used Hodgdon Varget and IMR 3031
a. Varget 42 grs. loaded to appx. 1300fps
b. IMR 3031 38.5 grs. to appx. 1300fps
4. Heads used:
a. 535 gr. Lyman "Postell" #2 alloy chill shocked at casting to 20 Brinnell
b. 500 gr. Lee "variant" #2 alloy chill shocked at casting to 20 Brinnell
Lee "variant" so typed as it is not a Postell in its geometry nor is it a Schmmitzer, but entertains some of the physical characteristics of each in its geometry. It is a flat base bullet with four driver bands and three grease grooves; the four driver bands occupy 60% of its overall body length and terminate just short of the ogive with a short sharp nose.
5. Over all length of each round:
a. 535 gr. Postell --2.940"
b. 500 gr. Lee "variant" --2.938"
6. Total rounds loaded - 40 rounds, 20 per powder group with 10 rounds dedicated to each weight in the group.
7. Lubricant--Lyman Alox on Lyman 450 "lubrisizer"
8. All brass mimimally flared
9. Reloading tools "Lyman"
Range conditions at time of firing test:
a. cool weather with temperature appx. 55 degF.
b. humidity at 70%, felt on the face.
c. wind 5 to 7 right to left intermittent, occasionally quartering to 12:00 in the face.
d. light conditions high overcast flat grey
e. test firing done by bench
f. Zero range @100 yards
Cleaning, not remarkable, standard factory bore cleaning solvent used before test firing, 12 passes with phosphor bronze brush. Passes sufficient with cotton patch to render a clean patch with little or no "rifle" on fabric. Cleaning done during firing, None, with the exception of a pass with a clean dry patch before changing powder/head groups.
Problems ecnountered, two:
a. cheek weld-- cheek weld is different than standard smokeless military weapons, while the drop on the comb is not excessive, firing from the bench can be clumsy at first until a chek weld is developed by the rifleman. This is a function of time
b. Eye relief and target acquisition during aiming, is somewhat problematic for the shooter who has not become accustomed to the Pedersoli/Soule tang/front sight duo. Once learned though the Pedersoli/Soule sights really make the H/R Buffalo Classic a very competent and accurate weapon and will more than make it a reasonable competitor in the hands of a properly trained and motivated rifleman.
After 25 yard testing, shooting in and sight setting a firing test was done with 535 grain Lyman "Postell" bullets. Both loadings were fired with little or no difference noted in the spread of Varget or 3031IMR. A six round group was fired with an extreme spread of 2-1/2inches with the center of any round to the center of the group being no less than< 1" nor more than> 1-1/4 inches from the center of the group, the mean radius of the group was 1-1/4 inches
Lee "variants" were fired with consistent three round groupings of 1.00 inches.
Of note, there is a noticeable difference in the felt recoil between 3031IMR and Hodgdon Varget. The Varget is noticeably smoother than the 3031 IMR; however the latter is not objectionable and is quite manageable. Having checked comparative burn characteristic tables it is my feeling that the Varget is smoother because it is a little slower in its burn rate.
Loading to Springfield 1873 specs. it is quite within reason to develop a 45/70 loading that is not characteristically heavy recoilling as is the common perception of it as forty rounds were loaded here for this test and there was no felt trigger slap, target panic, or flinch fatigue from extended firing, forty rounds being a comparative National Match Standard.
Of inerest, next reporting will develop on weight sorting or brass and heads as none was done at this time.
Anchor's Away/Semper Fi
CPO Bull
