45/70 Subsonic

405grn RCBS design at 1060fps . . 197grn .30cal on left
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first blood today at 50yds
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107yds shoulder shot Fallow . . . smashed it
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bullet exit . .
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very happy with the new Marlin Guide . . its early days but accuracy looks like 1.5MOAish, good enough to stretch it a bit further yet.
on paper energy figures are impressive for a blunt nosed bullet . . . 1000lbs at the muzzle with more power at 600yds than my .30 caliber sub guns have at the muzzle.

present scope for the time being is a 6X Leupold with 80MOA remaining of elevation which could get me to 500yds if i was feeling dangerous ... .

Yep. About what I would expect. Older brother used to hunt with a Ruger No1 in 45/70 and it destroyed more meat than we ever took home. Was wicked on possums - massive muzzle blast, 2m of muzzle flash, wait 10 seconds for the shower of bits to start coming down!

Nice little exit wound, a big slow lump like that does less tissue damage than a supersonic one. No lead snow storm, and as I once heard someone say you can eat "right up to the hole", but he may have been talking about something else

Mean shoulder damage there. The goats must do some awesome cartwheels being hit with a 405gr slug.

After reading the post it got me looking at ballistics but I couldn't find much online for the 405grn how much energy has the beast got ?

I`s the guide guns Marlin action larger than a 3030 one and stronger, maybe I could rebarrel my 3030 with a 45-70 barrel. I always thought the 45-70 would flamox anything it hit, great stuff, instant field pizza.

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very happy with the new Marlin Guide . . its early days but accuracy looks like 1.5MOAish, good enough to stretch it a bit further yet.
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Tried paper patching?

Mine is just off at SSRNZ getting a DPT can put on it. I'm starting with 325 Hornady projectiles for my sub loads. I'm going to use it for some 'sensitive area culling'.

It's a mans rifle and I'm a boy! I cut my finger with it the first time I fired it!

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Nice little exit wound, a big slow lump like that does less tissue damage than a supersonic one. No lead snow storm, and as I once heard someone say you can eat "right up to the hole", but he may have been talking about something else

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only my opinion here but i do think the nose profile of the bullet has a lot to do with the results . . a good meplat will cut/disrupt thru tissue while others such as round nose or non explanding profiles will part tissue at sub speed.

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Originally Posted by tikka

Mean shoulder damage there. The goats must do some awesome cartwheels being hit with a 405gr slug.

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no cartwheels . . . smashes thru both shoulders, bullet exits, dropping them hard . .. the sledgehammer effect of a well placed heavy .45 bullet


bit of a ramble here loaded with opinion, not saying they're facts, just my thinking based on my experience . . . others will differ

some say its a waste, somehow wrong to have incomplete transfer of energy with full penetration . . . which sounds kinda right from a efficiency point of view . . . but i don't care about efficiency in this case, if its heating a house yes, i don't with shooting, its about terminal performance
with the subsonic .30 calibers with their lighter bullets you need a lot more care, knowledge to make it work successfully, they don't have the weight to smash thru in a straight line and anchor an animal of any size, it gets worse quickly as the range increases . . . with the BIG calibers its best to look for information from the big bore handgunners and African shooters who use the heavies at modest velocities, their bullets and techneques are more appropriate . .. to many people try to transfer their knowledge from what they know, high velocity cartridges, it doesnt work, theyre different beasts . . . ramble over

R.

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Originally Posted by homebrew.357

I`s the guide guns Marlin action larger than a 3030 one and stronger, maybe I could rebarrel my 3030 with a 45-70 barrel. I always thought the 45-70 would flamox anything it hit, great stuff, instant field pizza.

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i would consider the wildcat .35/30 @homebrew.357 or a .44mag/.45LC which would be cheaper with available factory ammo . . . handloading/casting is the way to go.

give Nelson a ring at Status Guns in Invers if rebarreling is an option you might like . . . good guy and always willing to talk guns

R

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Originally Posted by craigc

Mine is just off at SSRNZ getting a DPT can put on it. I'm starting with 325 Hornady projectiles for my sub loads. I'm going to use it for some 'sensitive area culling'.

It's a mans rifle and I'm a boy! I cut my finger with it the first time I fired it!

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i didnt realise DPT did a .45 suppressor, thats interesting, thought i was stuck with a GunWorks maximus as the only option . . . be interested to see how that goes for you . . . and the 325s

R.

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Originally Posted by Boaraxa

After reading the post it got me looking at ballistics but I couldn't find much online for the 405grn how much energy has the beast got ?

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i will try to get a screen shot later of the balistic chart of the load . . R

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Originally Posted by Cordite

Tried paper patching?

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funny you should mention paper patching . . these 2 on the left should be good candidates, meplats look perfect. . .
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I think my mold is for 500gr bullets, I was thinking I could hollowpoint them to make a oversized .22 subsonic
either that or cast two bullets and melt them together, 1000gr sounds even better in my head
my 45/70 is only a single shot so easy.

before all that I still need a fireing pin