45/70 contender carbine loads

[skeeter]

I have a Russian wild boar hunt scheduled in Feb.  I want to use a 45/70 contender carbine.  I want to use a 350 grain bullet.  I think the 300 grain bullet is too light or rather the jacket is too light.  I beleive that I need to keep loads in the trapdoor range.  Does anyone have a good load for a 350 grain bullet?  What is the maximum pressure that a contender can be loaded to?

[throttleman]

Skeeter,

I have the same outfit.  I was told by the T/C support staff that the Contender is only rated to 28,000 cup (trapdoor load).  Sorry, I don't yet reload, but I gather that you plan to.  If you are only looking for a factory load, my suggestion would be a 405 grain Remington.  I had a one shot kill, complete pass through on a buffalo with this load.  Another interesting factory load is the 350 grain Cor Bon @ 1800 fps.  This may be within your pressure limit.  

Good luck,

T-man

[Camp Cook]

For my 22" barreled T/C Contender carbine my top load is with 400gr Speer Jacketed bullets and 49grs of H322. I have gone up to 52grs but the recoil was just a bit heavy for me. I also load a 430gr hard cast with 48grs H322. These are my very top loads in this gun. If I shoot a 300gr bullet my top loads are 55/56grs H322. I don't remember the velocities right now but these loads are very accurate in my rifle, and I have fired hundreds of these rounds with no wear on the rifle.
Good luck in your search,
Cam

[Lone Star]

Boar are hardly armor plated.  A 300-grain Nosler will shoot through one - or two - easily and with less recoil in the light weight Contender.  The CorBon 350-grain ammo is relatively high pressure, iffy in the Contender.  A factory 300-grain load will work fine, as will the 405 loads.  Handloaded, the Nosler Partition or Barnes X-bullet are difficult to beat.

Note that the load referenced in the post above (400 Speer and 49 grains of H322) is well in excess of what Speer considers as safe pressures for a Contender - that load is in fact the maximum load listed for Marlin lever rifles.  Speer specifically warns NOT to use it in Trapdoor-level rifles.  Fifty-five grains is maximum in a bolt action .45-70!   Risk your own rifle if you wish, but first warn others that it is a potentially unsafe load before recommending it, please!

[Redhawk1]

I have a Russian wild boar hunt scheduled in Feb.  I want to use a 45/70 contender carbine.  I want to use a 350 grain bullet.  I think the 300 grain bullet is too light or rather the jacket is too light.  I beleive that I need to keep loads in the trapdoor range.  Does anyone have a good load for a 350 grain bullet?  What is the maximum pressure that a contender can be loaded to?

You can take one down with a 300 gr bullet, no problem. I took one down with my 44MAG with 300 gr. XTP.  

[throttleman]

Update on the Cor Bon.  I e-mailed them and the reply was that ALL of their .45-70 loads are safe for the Contender.  I did not get pressure stats however.  I also know Garrett makes a 420 grain @ 1650 fps which they say has a pressure safe for the Contender.  Seems hot to me, but they say it meets SAAMI specs.   :eek:

[Lone Star]

I also know Garrett makes a 420 grain @ 1650 fps which they say has a pressure safe for the Contender.  Seems hot to me, but they say it meets SAAMI specs.

Part of the confusion is that the big loading factories do not load the .45-70 to SAAMI specs, they underload it in the 18,000-22,000 cup range.  So, has T/C tested with Federal 300s loaded to ca. 20,000 cup, or with SAAMI-spec ammo loaded to 28,000 cup?  Another issue is the throat length - my two-year-old .45-70 barrel has a very short throat, yet an SSK barrel I owned years ago had a much longer throat.  The long throat will give lower pressures - which throat did CorBon and Garrett use?  The darn .45-70 is still not fully understood after 130+ years.....!

[Thebear_78]

The winchesters supreme load with the 300gr Nosler is plenty of bullet for any hog.  There has been a lot of moose being shot up here with them every year.  I've also heard of people shooting  thru buffalo on the marlin owners forums.  In my Encore I shot some pretty hot loads in the 45/70.  My marlin guide gun shoots a 405gr remington with 52gr of H322 in starline brass exceptionally well.  It will keep 3 shots within 1 1/4" at 100 yards regularly, sometimes a little better.  For the price you really can't beat the Remington 405gr bulk bullets.  $12 a 100 at midway.  They say the trick with the remington 405gr bullets is to keep them below 1900fps.  They perform like jackhammers in that 1200-1800fps range.

[Camp Cook]

Boar are hardly armor plated.  A 300-grain Nosler will shoot through one - or two - easily and with less recoil in the light weight Contender.  The CorBon 350-grain ammo is relatively high pressure, iffy in the Contender.  A factory 300-grain load will work fine, as will the 405 loads.  Handloaded, the Nosler Partition or Barnes X-bullet are difficult to beat.

Note that the load referenced in the post above (400 Speer and 49 grains of H322) is well in excess of what Speer considers as safe pressures for a Contender - that load is in fact the maximum load listed for Marlin lever rifles.  Speer specifically warns NOT to use it in Trapdoor-level rifles.  Fifty-five grains is maximum in a bolt action .45-70!   Risk your own rifle if you wish, but first warn others that it is a potentially unsafe load before recommending it, please!

The loads that I posted where taken from an article in Shooting Times magazine that was written by Dick Metcalf and worked up to slowly by me.
One of his final comments in this article was that all of the loads where safe in his T/C Contender  and only the wear and tear on the shooter was a problem.
Cam