I had a wonderful day...with my CVA today
I made it to the range Tuesday morning with the as yet unreleased 45-70 barrel Mark of CVA was kind enough to send me...I want to thank him for the opportunity to get to preview one for you guys...It was well worth the wait...The temps were a little cool starting out at 8am right at 55'...but warmed up nicely as the morning progressed..up to 78' when I stopped at 11am..There was no wind at all till I started shooting at the 200 yard range..but even then they were very light...between 5-7 mph...It was enough to move the bullets a 6"..but still allowed some darn impressive groups.
I shot all my handloads today..and hopefully will get to put some factory fodder thru it this weekend..weather permitting..We will be getting in on all the rain the southern states have been inundated with this past week..
This barrel is a awesome shooter..and with the Elites stock design and great recoil pad made shooting my heavy hand loads very tolerable...I haven't added any lead to the stock..nor added any soft cheek piece to it..I put 75 rounds thru it this morning...shooting free recoil for the first 40 rounds in a short sleeve shirt without the aid of any extra pads or padding...I'm a little sore to say the least...but nothing as compared to what I would be shooting my Handi's in the same configuration. Comparing it to my 45-70 XLR which is a few pounds heavier set up as it is..it does recoil more than it...As best as I can compare it..I would rate my heaviest reload as the equivalent to shooting a Federal 12ga Baby magnum 2-3/4" shot shell.. Muzzle climb was as bad as I had thought it would be...with my heaviest load..it climbed approximately 3"-5"...and on just 1 shot(my first) of my heavy Cast Performance load barely touch the bill of my cap with my 4-12 VX-1 Leupold scope set at 9 power.. I shot in 3 shot groups today for expediency at 100 yards..I had an mandatory meeting to attend at work in the afternoon and had to leave an hour earlier than anticipated
Well that's the preliminaries...now on with the good stuff...
First up was the Barnes 250 grain TSX...Group size is .360"...2345fps
Somewhere between the range and home..I lost my 100 yard group for the 300 grain TSX..I did record the group in my log book at the range..it was .375"...and clocked at 2250 fps...I'll re-load some and shoot again this weekend and post that group along with those for the factory ammo...sorry..
Next is my 300 grain Nosler load...group size is .382"...this one clocks at 2400fps
Here's some of those perinial favorites...some Remington 405grain SP...group size is .690"...it is going 1975 fps...
For those cast bullet lovers...my brusier 405 grain Cast Performance 405 grain WLNGC...group size is .672"...this one rocks...2115fps...I stopped shooting free recoil after shooting one time for this group..
Here's were I moved out to the 200 yard mark...The first picture is shooting both the 250 & 300 grain TSX on it..
I was getting a bit tired by this time...but..the 250 grain TSX 5 shot group m,easure 3.4" and the core 3 shots measure 1.580"...The 300's did a little better measuring 2.7" for the 5 shot group...with the core 3 shot group coming in at 1.10"
Lastly...the 300 grain Partition loads..This load is just amazing..the 5shot group measures 1.573" and the core 3 shot group measures .850"...It has never disappointed me..or anyone else I have loaded this for...
All in all...this is the most accurate 45-70 rifle I have ever shot...and I can't wait to own one of these barrels...The triple shocks loads will get refined some..and bullet depth will be adjusted to see if I can shrink the groups down even further...They do like to be shot in a clean barrel..and I simply used a bore snake between different bullets and the 2 weights..This is also with just 1 powder type and in 1 grain increments ...with the bullet seated .050" off the lands..There is no short throat in this barrel and allowed plenty of room to seat them out long...The Cast Performance load and the Nosler load was held to 2.550"
Mac
