45-70 Handi Loads

So, I bought a sling from Eaglestroker and it had a 45-70 Handi rifle attached to it.

Now I'm trying to work up a load for it using 450gr flat nose boolits cast from wheel weights.
I'm seeing loads for 405 and 485 using H4198, but 450 seems to get skipped over.

Anyone got anything they'd like to share???


Edit: what's the general consensus of filling the case to take up the space?

Scroll down to the handi forum here, lots of handiholics there... myself and Joe s too. Lots of different loads get discussed regularly

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php

Thanks RW. I'll poke around there.
Sub, that was my plan if no one coughed up a load.

This should help you.

quigleysharps4570 wrote:This should help you.

Thanks!

Would like to hear a report when you can try them out.

miker84 wrote:So, I bought a sling from Eaglestroker and it had a 45-70 Handi rifle attached to it.

Now I'm trying to work up a load for it using 450gr flat nose boolits cast from wheel weights.

You are aware that 450 gr. bullet might not be pleasant out of that little light rifle? Can't speak for the 450 gr. but I loaded up some 535 gr. ones that a friend just had to have for his handi-rifle. I reduced the load that I shoot thru the Sharps and 2 shots is all he wanted.

I only had H4198 on hand, so I worked up a few at 28, 29, 30, and 31. I did fill them with cornmeal just for the heck of it. There wasn't a lot of space left in there anyway. Haven't been to the range to test them for accuracy. I did shoot a 29gr load just to see how it felt and it wasn't bad at all. I ran a patch through after that one round it was fairly clean other than a couple of tiny specks of burned corn meal. The case and primer looked good too.

I'm not planning on using this gun for long range and I don't see myself burning through 150 rounds at a time for plinking fun.

Thinking about trying some pyrodex or ffg and I will pick up some imr to try that too.

Cornmeal eh? Sounds familiar... The 405s(maybe 400s?) weren't unbearable so the 450's will probably be threshold in that rifle.

Eaglestroker wrote:Cornmeal eh? Sounds familiar... The 405s(maybe 400s?) weren't unbearable so the 450's will probably be threshold in that rifle.

Yep. I straight up stole that from you. Lol.
I was all prepared to make some sort of custom lard/wax cookies to put in there before you told me that.

miker84 wrote:Thinking about trying some pyrodex or ffg and I will pick up some imr to try that too.

Pyrodex is pitiful in one. Get some Goex, Swiss, Graf's (Wano) or KIK if you can. That chart is showing 63 grs. but with a drop tube and/or compression die you can get more in. I get 70 grs. of Goex Cartridge Grade in mine using a 535 gr. or 550 gr.bullet covering all grease grooves. IMR 3031 is the powder I use for my smokeless loads.

Alrighty. I quickly sighted in the Handi with an old Simmons 3-9 x 40 scope between rain. I didn't take the chrony with me, but the Hodgdon chart says I should be in the 1300fps range. All of the loads I listed above were quite mild compared to the factory Winchester X. Even the 31gr wasn't bad. The accuracy at 25 and 50 yards was the same. I could put them all inside of 4". (I don't consider that bad since this is my first outing with this gun and caliber). The place where I where I hunt doesn't have any shots over 50, so I didn't bother going out beyond that when I sighted it in. I'll get it to the range to see what it does at 100 and beyond.

Overall, I'm happy with the gun and the direction I'm going with the loads. I want to work up a pleasant load for plinking (think I've got that with the 29gr) and a harder-hitting load for hunting.

I tested some of the boolits on my Lee hardness tester. Not sure how accurate it is, but it is showing a BHN of 26. These were water-quenched and are a couple of weeks old.