45-70 Single Shot Government accuracy

[White Smoke]

I just picked up a 45-70 SSR and fixed it up with the usual accessories, including a Leupold 3.5-10 x 50 scope. My intent is to use it for deer at 150 yards. So far, the best groups I have gotten are about 2.5 to 3" at 100 yards. I'm a bit hesitant to go out to 150 and will probably just use my 308 until I get the 45-70 dialed in. My experience with other rifles is that they really don't dial in until you put at least 100 rounds through them. I've only put about 40 through it so far, with another 40 going through it on Tuesday. I'm shooting a Berry's 350 RS pushed by 44.0 grains of IMR 4198 as a plinking round and am trying a Hornady 250 MonoFlex for a hunting round. Best load so far with that one (about 2.5") is 55.0 grains of IMR 4198. Those groups were closing down as I progressed up in the loadings, so I am going to the max at 55.3 grains to see if it closes any more.
With that said, any suggestions? What kind of accuracy can I expect from the Hornady 250 MonoFlex? I can try the Barnes 250 or 300 grain TSX FN FB if the MonoFlex doesn't work out, but they are considerably more expensive.

[BigAl52]

Ive only shot the factory loaded Hornady flex tip and the accuracy was great. But a word to the wise the brass is shorter for that bullet and it was a 325gr. As far as Barnes go those TSX bullets are great bullets and the ones I use in my 338 win mag shoot great. If you reload Id try some 405gr bullets and see how they fair

[Travlin]

I would think that a 250 grain in a 45-70 would loose velocity very fast.

[White Smoke]

I sent the rifle back to Henry to fix a slight problem with the opening lever and to smooth out the trigger, which had a slight "hitch" in it. I got it back yesterday and am going to the range tomorrow. I'll be shooting 40 more plinkers through it (44.0 grains of IMR 4891 with Berry's 350 RS bullets) and about 10 "Mouse Farts" to finish seasoning the barrel. After that, I'm shooting a short ladder of hunting bullets (250 Hornady MonoFlex bullets using VihtaVuori N120). I'm hoping to get a better group for the hunting load. I'm not expecting half-inch groups from a 45-70, but something closer to an inch or inch and a half would be nice. If that doesn't work out, I will try the 405's as suggested. I would think a 405 on one of our small deer here in Kalifornication would probably field-dress it on the spot!

[White Smoke]

Back from the range. I shot four groups at 50.0, 51.0, 52.0, and 53.0 grains of VihtaVuori N120 with the Hornady 250 MonoFlex bullet at 100 yards. Best group was the 53.0 load at 1 3/16". Max load listed is 53.5 grains, so I'm going to load up some at 52.5 and 53.5 to see how they shoot. The VihtaVouri N120 is listed in the book as the most accurate powder and it seems it is for my rifle too. It was for my sons Henry lever also.

[White Smoke]

Back from the range today. Patterning was all over the place. I came home and checked everything. The picatinny rail was loose. Damn! Tightened with LockTite and all ready to go for the next range session. Have to load the last ladder again. Hope this does it.

[5shot]

Makes my shoulder hurt just to read this thread although maybe it's not so bad with a 250 gr. bullet over 50 grains of powder?

[Vaquero]

Makes my shoulder hurt just to read this thread although maybe it's not so bad with a 250 gr. bullet over 50 grains of powder?

RP

[White Smoke]

Another setback. I went to the range to shoot the ladder, but the scope mount broke after a few shots. I don't know the brand of rings, but they were a split-ring model with two screws that held the base to the rail. The rear two-screw base plate cracked and split along the screw holes. When I came home, I ordered some new rings and then had misgivings. I did some research and then ordered a Monstrum Deadlock Series Dual Ring Scope Mount. It is a one-piece mount with four screws holding the full-length base plate to the rail. The recoil isn't going to hurt this one! It is arriving on Tuesday and the rain stops Wednesday so Thursday is another Range Day!

[cpaspr]

Now I'll admit that I'm using a completely different setup (405gr LRN/27.0gr of 5744 powder), but Dang! 50gr of powder with a 250gr bullet? That's got some serious recoil!!!

[White Smoke]

Great range session! I was worried about the wind, but it was basically dead calm when we shot this morning. I re-sighted the scope at 50 yards and then moved out to 100. The ladder was from 52.0 grains of Vihtavouri N120 to 54.0 grains using a Hornady 250-grain MonoFlex bullet. I know, I know...54.0 is just over max, but my groupings dictated that I shoot it to see. There were no pressure signs and all went well. 53.0 grains grouped at 1.5" (4 rounds) and the 53.5 grains grouped at 1 5/16" at 2533 f/s. I am DONE! Just as an FYI, I talked with the techs at Henry about the accuracy expectations and some other stuff. That was absolutely the BEST customer service I have ever encountered. Those guys were amazingly helpful. Another FYI...My plinking loads are 44.0 grains of IMR 4198 with a Berry's 350 RS 45-70 bullet at 1788 f/s and my "Mouse Fart's" are 30 grains of IMR 4198 with the same Berry's bullet at 1200 f/s. The Mouse Farts still kick a bit, so I might drop them down to 25 grains in the future. Now to go out and try the hunting load on a coyote. I'm suspecting the innards will be like jelly!

[5shot]

I'm glad you got it sorted out! I've played with heavy .45/70 loads myself. In a Ruger #1 the 400 gr. Speers were popping out at over 1900 fps and out of a BFR 10" revolver they were over 1500 fps. Of course I was younger and more foolish back then......in my early 60's.

[Hatchdog]

I'm glad you got it sorted out! I've played with heavy .45/70 loads myself. In a Ruger #1 the 400 gr. Speers were popping out at over 1900 fps and out of a BFR 10" revolver they were over 1500 fps. Of course I was younger and more foolish back then......in my early 60's.

Those were the days.

[White Smoke]

Now that all loads are confirmed and set, I switched all the scopes back around to where they should be. (I was using a higher power scope on the 45-70 during load development and sight in. Now that it is all done, I went back to a "short range" 3-9 for the 45-70 as its "regular" scope). I then had to sight in three rifles, so that is what I was doing this morning. I sighted the 45-70 in at 100 yards and got a 1 3/16" group using a Berry's 350 RS bullet and 44.0 grains of IMR 4198 powder.. Then, wondering what the drop would be at 150, I moved the target out. The drop was exactly 3" and the four-shot group size was 1 7/16".

[cpaspr]

Sighted in at 100 and only dropping 3" at 150 it sounds like you are hitting 100 on the upslope and coming back down through 150. Probably peaking a tad bit high at 105-110 yards.

[Hatchdog]

Now that all loads are confirmed and set, I switched all the scopes back around to where they should be. (I was using a higher power scope on the 45-70 during load development and sight in. Now that it is all done, I went back to a "short range" 3-9 for the 45-70 as its "regular" scope). I then had to sight in three rifles, so that is what I was doing this morning. I sighted the 45-70 in at 100 yards and got a 1 3/16" group using a Berry's 350 RS bullet and 44.0 grains of IMR 4198 powder.. Then, wondering what the drop would be at 150, I moved the target out. The drop was exactly 3" and the four-shot group size was 1 7/16".

love the moving scopes around, gives us a reason to get to the range and do some work. Right now I have all my loads developed and scopes sighted in. I need an excuse to go to the range once the weather warms up.

[White Smoke]

Slight correction on that last post. The drop at 150 was 3.5", not 3.0". Anyway, I have a new bullet on order...a Speer 400 grain SPFN. My hunting club is going on a campout in March and we will be setting some gongs out at 100 yards. The plinker load is pretty light and the 250 MonoFlex load is right about mid-range. I want to give the guys an example of a full-bore 45-70 to give them the "experience" of one, so I'll make up some loads with 54.5 grains of IMR 8208 XBR with the 400 bullet. That's a max load which should give them a very nice "experience"! That will give me three loads for the rifle, plus the Mouse Farts. When I get the 400's in, I'll run new drop tables for all three main loads. This should be fun!

[5shot]

Makes my rusty old joints cry out for an extra strength Tylenol just thinking about that load.

Kinda reminds me of a quote from an old cowboy...."When I squeezed the trigger the rifle plum backed right off that bullet".

[White Smoke]

Well, we had a bit of a change of plans. As y'all probably heard, there was a bit of a heat wave out here. The temperature was forecast to be 107 all weekend with no shade and no air conditioning. I'm going on 87 and my wife TOLD me I didn't want to go. She was right. The campout was cancelled. In the meantime, Midway notified me that the Speer 400 grain FNSP bullets came in. Here is where I need some advice.
My Kalifornication-legal hunting bullet is a 250-grain Hornady MonoFlex PST using 53.5 grains of Vihtavuori N120 (max load) for a velocity of 2533 f/s. That gives a 100-yard energy reading of about 2200 ft/lbs. The 400 grain Speer FNSP at 1900 at the muzzle gives a 100-yard energy reading of 2350 ft/lbs. Either one is a xxxx-load of Texas whoop-ass! But I think I just answered my own question. I need to build them both. One for Kalifornication and one for the rest of the free world.
Any comments or suggestions? Thanks

[White Smoke]

Back from the range! Working on the MOAB (Mother of all Bullets) heavy load for anything North America has to offer. The bullet is the Speer 400-grain SPFN. The final load was the max load listed...46.0 grains of IMR 4198. It produced a velocity of 1919 f/s and a 100-yard energy rating of 2135 ft-lbs. It shot a three-shot, one-hole group using a peep sight at 50 yards. Not too shabby! I'll take it.