eldeguello

Think I've found an acceptable cast bullet load for my CZ 416 Rigby. It consists of 112 grains of AA8700, the BULL SHOP .417" diameter 350-grain flatnose gascheck bullet with a Brinell hardness of 22, what appears to be NRA-type ALOX lube, with Federal 215 primers in Jamison cases. MV was 2100 fps average. Tried 100 grains too. This 100-grain load gave 1950 FPS, was less accurate, and gave some hangfires. No hangfires with 112 grains, though!

bigcountry

Excellent, you got ya a high powered marlin 45-70 now.

eldeguello

Agreed, it is very close to .45/70 performance. (Nothing wrong with that!!) But it gives me a relatively low-cost round for practicing with the .416, whereas jacketed slugs for this beast are pretty expensive!! These only cost me $20.00 for 100, instead of $23.00 for 50 of the cheapest jacketed bullet, the 350-grain Speer Mag. Tip.

bigcountry

Thats pretty awesome. I am just shocked it takes so much powder to burn.

James B

That load should out penetrate anything else you could shoot in it except maybe the solids. The 45-70 with hard cast bullets will out penetrate the 458 Win, 458 Lott and the 460 Weatherby. Tests show that velocity below 2000 fps is optimum. Starting at about 1600 fps. This is for basic non-expanding cast bullets. In fact the 45-70 in tests by Garret, penetrates 50 percent more.

Velocities above this point start to expand the bullet and starts to curve its path thus limiting expansion. When using flat point bullet with a large Meplate, tissue damage is massive without the high velocity.

James B

http://www.garrettcartridges.com/penetration.asp

eldeguello

Well, if you examined a 416 Rigby case, you would not be so surprised at the amount of powder this thing takes! In addition, AA8700 is pretty close to the slowest stuff there is. For example, I loaded 58 grains of it in a 7X57mm case with 175 grain bullets, just to see what would happen. MV, barely 1900 FPS!!

eldeguello

That's pretty interesting! Puts the lie to those who claim that the .45/70 is not adequate for dangerous game, doesn't it?? Most who say this have never even tried it for that purpose!

Thanks for the article. Sounds like I need to SLOW THAT BULLET DOWN to optimize its' performance as far as penetration goes, as the current Mv is 2100 FPS. However, since it doesnot have a particularly efficient form being a blunt flatnose, perhaps by the time it has reached the 100-yard marker, it has slowed enough. I don't know the B.C. of this bullet. I guess I COULD put the Chrony at 100 yards and see what happens! I haven't shot the Chrony yet, and it is about time for a new one anyway!!

Agshooter

Wait a second, how can a 45-70 out-penetrate a 458 Lott? Not that I don't believe you, but what am I missing?

bigcountry

Its kinda like when a diver jumps in a pool from 5ft. He goes a certain depth. But if he jumps from 100ft, then surface tension of the water changes in porportion with the force impacted even though the diver Friction coef doesn't change.

But I am not so sure with a barnes solid thats the case however.