Nosler 300 gr 45-70

[JEBar]

I did find a very nice load at 54.0. Average velocity 2125 fps... The group I shot today was 1.5" with one flyer. Apparently I pulled the one shot just a little, because the other three measured .367".

One important note: I examined all casings, looking for signs of pressure. I could not see any difference whatsoever between the primers on the 52.0 loads and the ones at 56.0. No flattening, cratering, backing out, etc. Nothing at all that would give me pause.

Keep shooting,
Brian

outstanding ..... truly outstanding .... we are spending the winter in Texas .... when we get back home in March, I will give this load a try .... large rifle or large rifle magnum primers ??? .... not surprised at what you found with the casings .... they are designed to handle Ruger #1 level loads .... really looking forward to you 200 yard reports

[bdbrown66]

CCI 200 primers.

[bdbrown66]

I may do some further tests with Remington and Winchester primers, just to see if I notice any improvement. Maybe later this spring.

[JEBar]

CCI 200 primers.

10-4 .... as noted, really looking forward to your future reports and to trying the load in our Henry .... as another question, how would you rate the felt recoil as compared to you other loads

[JEBar]

I may do some further tests with Remington and Winchester primers, just to see if I notice any improvement. Maybe later this spring.

I've never found that switching brands of primers makes any difference .... that said, I prefer CCI .... I have noted some difference in heavy loads in other calibers when going from regular to magnum primers

[bdbrown66]

CCI 200 primers.

10-4 .... as noted, really looking forward to your future reports and to trying the load in our Henry .... as another question, how would you rate the felt recoil as compared to you other loads

I could notice the recoil increasing somewhat as the powder increased, but it wasn't terrible. Still not anywhere near what a shotgun with slugs feels like. Let's put it this way: I shot a box of 20 and didn't even get a bruise of any kind. Granted, I was wearing a winter coat, but it wasn't bad at all.

[JEBar]

I could notice the recoil increasing somewhat as the powder increased, but it wasn't terrible. Still not anywhere near what a shotgun with slugs feels like. Let's put it this way: I shot a box of 20 and didn't even get a bruise of any kind. Granted, I was wearing a winter coat, but it wasn't bad at all.

good to hear .... did you fire enough quickly enough to heat up the barrel

[bdbrown66]

I could notice the recoil increasing somewhat as the powder increased, but it wasn't terrible. Still not anywhere near what a shotgun with slugs feels like. Let's put it this way: I shot a box of 20 and didn't even get a bruise of any kind. Granted, I was wearing a winter coat, but it wasn't bad at all.

good to hear .... did you fire enough quickly enough to heat up the barrel

I would fire a group of 4, with about a minute between each. Then I would pause for about 5 minutes before starting the next group. It was about 40 degrees outside. The barrel got a little warm, but never hot. And it seemed to cool down considerably between groups.

[JEBar]

I would fire a group of 4, with about a minute between each. Then I would pause for about 5 minutes before starting the next group. It was about 40 degrees outside. The barrel got a little warm, but never hot. And it seemed to cool down considerably between groups.

much the same with shooting our 45-70 .... barrel heating hasn't been an issue as it can be with our 44 Mag that holds 10 rounds

[bdbrown66]

Ok, so I decided to follow up my previous test with the same load (54.0 IMR 4198, Nosler 300gr BT), only changing the primer. I wanted to see if using Remington, Winchester, and Federal primers shot any better or worse than the CCI's, and to the same POI. Obviously, if I really wanted to do a thorough test, I would set up a ladder with various loads for each one, but I didn't want to go that far at this point.

First of all, I only had about an hour to shoot this morning, and I think I was not taking my time as much as I normally do, and it showed. My groups were not as tight as they are normally, but I still got some info worth knowing.

Before starting my test, I fired two of the HSM cowboy loads to foul the barrel, as I had cleaned it recently. Then I fired 4 shots with the CCI primers.

The next three were with Remington 9 1/2 primers. One note: These primers are pretty ancient, so a fresh batch of Remington's may perform better. As it was, I don't think I'll do anything further with these fit now, at least not with this load.

The Winchester's were next. Only two of them, but they looked to be very good. I'll load a few more of these up for further testing.

Last came the Federal Gold Medal Match (not Magnum). Again, only two shots. They did OK, I think with just a little tweak they would be good, but I'll put them on the back burner for now.

It should be noted that none of these primers showed any signs of excessive pressure with this load.

Also, here are some of the bullets that I dug out of the dirt behind my target. At the lower right is one of the HSM 405gr lead bullets. At lower left is one of the little plastic Ballistic Tips that are used to improve aerodynamics and initiate expansion. Based on what I see here, I would anticipate some pretty dramatic shock and damage on deer-sized game.

That's all for today. Keep shooting.

Brian

[JEBar]

Ok, so I decided to follow up my previous test with the same load (54.0 IMR 4198, Nosler 300gr BT), only changing the primer.

Based on what I see here, I would anticipate some pretty dramatic shock and damage on deer-sized game.

Brian

if I had of run the same test, I'd be hard pressed to say that the different primers made much difference and I find that to be a good thing .... my wobble could easily explain the shot group sizes .... must say I am impressed with the 300 gr Nosler and most certainly agree that it would it should be very effective on deer and other game

[bdbrown66]

So, I loaded up 6 with the WLR primers and went to the range yesterday. I fired 6 with the CCI primers and 6 with the WLR. Both shoot good, but the WLR seems to be more consistent and shoot better. I'm locking this load down with the WLR primers. I'll try going up and down by .5gr to see if I can get the same result with the CCI. For the record, here are the specs for this load:

Nosler 300gr BT
54.0gr IMR 4198
Starline brass, trimmed to 2.095"
Winchester WLR primer
C.O.L. 2.550" (crimping right on the cannelure)

Velocity is about 2125 fps.

CCI group #1

CCI group #2

WLR group #1

WLR group #2

[JEBar]

interesting .... did changing brands of primers produce any difference in muzzle velocity ? .... really enjoying your research, I know this will be heresy to some but so long as I've compared long rife to long rifle primers, I've never found a difference

[bdbrown66]

I wasn't shooting over the chrono yesterday, so I can't say for certain. But the fact that they shot to almost the same POI leads me to believe that velocity differences were minimal. The WLR groups seemed to impact just a little bit higher, so maybe a slight increase in velocity.

Now to work up a load with the 300gr Speer bullets for comparison.

[bdbrown66]

As far as changing primers is concerned, I've found that it's usually a slight variation, for better or worse, when changing brands. Sometimes it can be just enough to make a good load better, like some folks do by adjusting their seating depth.

[JEBar]

As far as changing primers is concerned, I've found that it's usually a slight variation, for better or worse, when changing brands. Sometimes it can be just enough to make a good load better, like some folks do by adjusting their seating depth.

info appreciated .... for me, I'd readily believe that my natural wobble would make it hard for me to tell a small difference ..