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Any tips on which projectile to use as a small game load for my Rossi Lever action 44mag?got 240g xtp bullets here and have some AP70 on the way.thinking 240g round nose cast ,got some ages ago but can’t remember where from.Want to stay subsonic but still enough poke to kill hares out to 50m. Thanks
Most any pistol powders would do the job surely? Titegroup, N320, etc etc You still out the bottom left hand side of the tron?
A starting load of AP70 with a cast 240 SWC is listed at 927fps from a 20" barrel? Easy to check
My AP70 load of 9 grains is supersonic, instead I use 7 grains of Trailboss for subsonic loads.
Both loaded under 240 grain flat point lead projectile, rather than wasting an expensive XTP (I cast my own as have access to free lead, but there is a guy on TradeMe who has a steller reputation!). I have found the flat point dropped game better than a round nose.
Probably just pushed them over! :-)
The starting load is listed at 6.5 - 927 fps, with max listed at 10.2 - 1374, so your load would seem to be super, yes. Dial it back a bit, you'll be safe at subsonic speedsQuote:
Originally Posted by Basenjiboy
16in barrel on the wee Rossi,don’t think Robert from tokoroa does a 240g bullet though,his 280g flat nose might be the way to go.i have trailboss but have heard the velocity spread is less with the AP70and the trail boss is really dirty burning,was like a black powder load in my other 44,had to wait for the smoke to clear to see if I had hit what I was aiming at and would sometimes go supersonic on me.
Great information!
My marlin is also 16 inch (down from the normal 20).
I have only used the AP70 load when hunting, the trailboss load was for Cowboy Action Shooting.
My 44Mag sub load is 7.6 gr of AS50 with a 300gr pill. Spread is 3fps from mean. I tried AP70 with 300's but there was too much spread. It might work for 240's
I use 2205 with 240g xtp as my Deer hunting load at the moment.kills deer well.
I have a 14” .44 Rem Mag running the 240gr XTP at 1050fps with 7.8gr of AP70N.
Deadly pig killer, good for all sorts. Obviously hares won’t stand a chance...
I have a 215Grain HP for the 44/40 would probably kill a hare, no GC but good for 1200- 1300fpsQuote:
Originally Posted by The bomb
sounds ideal.....for allsorts of stuff...poking holes in hares being just one of them.
So the AP70N does work ok with the 240's then. I have a new bottle for sale if anyone is interested. The AS50 works very well with the 300 gr Nosler HPQuote:
Originally Posted by Flyblown
What have you hunted with the cast and AP70?how well did they perform?Quote:
Originally Posted by Basenjiboy
Got the powder and placed an order with Robert for 100 of his 280g Cast flat points,gonna be interesting,determined to hunt deer with the big thumpers as well as subs for the smaller stuff.
Hey @The bomb.
You will find those 280 grain flat point cast bullets will pass straight through a deer with next to no deformation at all. If it’s a lung shot the deer is going to run like hell. The only way I would hunt with them is to shoot for CNS, so head or neck. Early on I shot two big pigs with this bullet and had it pass straight through the shield and both shoulders in a narrow wound channel resulting in slow deaths, albeit with dogs hanging off them until I got there. After that it was very close range head shots only with the flat point.
For general purposes the hollow point is a much better bet if CNS can’t be guaranteed. We use the hollow point for bailed pigs and various other applications, goats, occasional deer, plus farm culling. It opens up reasonably well and in doing so the cavitation is much better and heart/lung bleeds are noticeably bigger & death faster. That can translate to the animal making a good deal less distance.
Might stick with the 240g xtp for the deer then,the cast can be for the smaller stuff.were you shooting the 280g at subsonic speed or full power?
Both subs and full power, for each of the 240 grain XTP, Robert’s 270gr cast HP and his 280gr cast FN.
My favourite is the cast hollow point in both subs and full power. Deals an almighty blow and is very cost-effective.
The XTP will expand minimally at subsonic speed, but expands pretty well at full power. I’ve got a photo of a full power XTP I recovered out of a heavy pig shot from above, downwards into the front of the head, bullet travelled down the neck through the spine and was recovered out of the shield. I might be able to find it when I get home. Still got the bullet somewhere now I think about it.
I’ve never recovered a hollow point cast bullet from an animal as they’ve always passed through, but just by field dressing animals I can see that they make a decent hole on initial expansion and a reasonable sized shock cavity. What I like about them is that it doesn’t matter what you hit at the front end, humerus / scapula / pig shield / vertebrae, it’s going to push on through.
I've shot reds in the bush, and pigs in the open - also more than a few wallabies just for a change from my regular calibres.Quote:
Originally Posted by The bomb
I have often had pass thrus with the cast flat points, which doesn't worry me as most animals didn't go far (as the Yanks say.... Dropped Right There!!!)
I use the same lead cast with a hollow point which i thought worked better 25% of the time.
Have loaded up a batch with 7 g AP70 ,280g cast ,1 full turn on crimp die,1.64 col and another batch with 8g .bloody calving on the farm I test out my loads at though!!
Got a chance to shoot finally,funny thing the flat point loads with 8g AP70 shot 3 ft higher and 6in left of my full power xtp loads @ 50m???the trail boss subsonics With same cast 270g bullet shot 4in lower than the full power xtp loads..didn’t think there Would be so much of a change in poi just using different powder!!that sound right?
3feet!!!!!!! hells bells that is a long way out.... never had load go more 6" at most away from other loads....other than solids from U/O at thats diferent kettle of fish completely.trailboss load sounds easier to work with....
Yea didn’t even hit the 3ft high target board!!!could see the chunks of dirt flying high from the bank behind it.accuracy was good though all hit together..shooting with a red dot not scope but I’m not that bad!!!