Thursday - August 21, 2008
.45-60 Range Report
Hey, we’re still alive!
Not that there was much real worry about that, but there is always that tiny little concern in the back of your mind the very first time you shoot a new rifle. Especially one built on an antique action not known for it’s excessive strength, and using hand loaded ammunition that came from a computer program that only roughly approximates reality. But we did everything very cautiously, and the program actually did a very nice job of calculating things. Four different loads at four different pressure levels, and all of the predicted results were within 50 feet per second of what the chronograph reported. That’s not bad at all. And we didn’t blow anything up, which is a definite plus. And the gun didn’t mysteriously start shooting up any schools or crowded malls, so I think the media might have been misleading us. Just a little. But we’ll beat that dead horse some other day. Let’s go off into the woods and play with guns, woo hoo!!
It was a fun time. Doc F. had not loaded any ammunition in a long long time, so I had to show him the ropes all over again. And with the both of us working at just one reloading press, we might have made some minor errors. But I don’t think we did, and all the ammo we built fired off just fine. We didn’t get any spectacular groups on the targets, but today was more of a “let’s see if we can do this and not blow the damn thing up” kind of field trip. We’ll work on building accurate powerful loads later.
The very lightest load was one known to be safe in both the original 130 year old rifles and any of the new reproductions. Back in 1876 this rifle fired black powder cartridges, but this was a load using smokeless powder. A mere 25 grains of IMR 4198 pushed a cast lead 300 grain bullet to 1250 feet per second, just a little slower than what the original guns could manage. This is a wiener load; popgun stuff. But that’s where you start out, with the lightweight no-risk stuff. Still, this is about equal to what a modern .44 magnum can do. Even this load is more than enough to kill medium deer out to about 150 yards. If you can hit them that is; the bullet is moving so slow that it’s trajectory is better measured in feet rather than inches. It’s a big lead rock and it drops like one too.
The next batch of ammo used 43 grains of IMR 3031. 3031 is a slower burning gun powder than 4198, and in this cartridge that means you can use more powder and get more velocity, but at only slightly higher pressures. This is not true for any cartridge! Every one is different, and there are no “general rules”. Follow what the load manuals say, and do everything with lots of caution. Ok, given that caveat, I’ll mention that this load pushed the same 300gr bullet more than 300fps faster, to around 1575 feet per second. But recoil was still really really mild, since the rifle weighs nearly 11 pounds. So we bettered original performance easily, and we’ve just begun. This is still a very low pressure loading, and ought to be safe in original rifles in good condition.
The third load used 35 grains of IMR 4198 and got us into the low 1700s for velocity. But there was quite a lot of variation between shots, what reloading folks call “extreme spread”. While a mere 5 rounds isn’t enough to make a perfect judgment, I’d say IMR 4198 is not the right powder to use for this cartridge in this rifle with this bullet. Pressures for this round were still fairly low, about what would be maximum for an original Colt SAA .45 “peacemaker” pistol. Not that any pistol was ever chambered for the .45-60; I’m just mentioning an equivalent known pressure level for another old black powder using gun. This is probably about as hot as you’d want to go in any original .45-60 rifle, and that’s Ok. An extra 400 feet per second worth of velocity is a significant amount. This load is enough for close range shots at elk, large bears, or even buffalo. And it’s more than ample for any deer that ever was. In the big 1876 rifle the recoil here is still mild, but creeping into the “you know when it goes off” realm.
The fourth and final load used 43 grains of XMR 2015. Calculated pressures were about the same as the third load, though velocities were a bit higher at 1750fps. But the extreme spread was quite low, only 25fps. Recoil is about the same as the third load. This one is worth looking into. With a bit of tuning we should be able to make it quite accurate, and possibly get another 100fps with another few grains of powder. We were very happy with this one. Now I just have to run over to Pennsylvania and get another jug of this gun powder. I used up my last dregs of it making these rounds. Cool, not only do I develop a good load right off the bat, I have another excuse to go to the gunpowder store!
After that we were out of .45-60 ammunition, so I got out the .356. Remember that free ammo I got the other week? This is what happens about a millisecond afer you pull the trigger:
Hey, since he gave me the ammo, I figured it was only fair if he got to shoot some of it off and share the “adventure”. The recoil pad I put on makes a helluva difference, but after 5 or 6 shots he’d had enough. Me too. We went through a box and a half of those bullets, then put the gun away. It’s fun, it’s really accurate, but the thing still has a pretty ferocious bite.
And that was it for the day. Now I’ve got to go out to the garage and clean guns and have lunch. But not at the same time. 
Posted by Drew458
on 08/21/2008 at 03:29 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
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