.45 cal GMB
 

I was talking to a forum member today on the telephone and they sparked my interest again in my stainless steel Green Mountain Barrel .45 caliber with a 1-28 twist. The rifle wears a simple Simmons Pro Diamond 4x32mm scope. But it is a good shooter normally. I had gotten in some new Harvester Crushed rib sabots for a 40 caliber/10mm bullet. I happened to have a large supply of Speer Deep Curl 180 grain projectiles. And since it was a beautiful day, and even though I had hit the range once already, it was a good reason to shoot instead of doing yard work. The only real draw back to the 60 degree weather was it was very w i n d y and I was not sure if that was going to effect the travel of this bullet to a large degree.



I had not shot the rifle for some time as the barrel was in the back rack of barrels. So I was really unsure where it was sighted in or how it would behave. The rifle kind of surprised me.



I started out at 25 yards just to get used to the rifle again. I took the first four shots and they looked good. So just to see if I could do it, I adjusted my POA and shot #5. Nice to see I could do it.

I then marched the target back to the 50 yard marker (I put markers now on the range because I am tired of shooting distances every time I shoot.) and then proceeded to shoot five rounds there. Those would be 6-10.

I then went back to 100 yards and set the target up. I wanted to shoot at the lower end of this one. So ...



Why #5 did what it did had me puzzled. So I checked the scope mounts. All in order. I then checked the barrel fit and noticed a large amount of play between the barrel and the stock. Since this was in a Renegade Stock, I almost wonder if this barrel is not a 15/16th. I also noted that I had addressed this very issue before with a make shift kind of bedding using duct tape (what would I do with out the stuff).

So I put some more duct tape in certain places on the barrel. Then remembered I had nothing to shoot at back there to test my theory. But then looking through the scope I noticed the 100 yard marker sticking up out of the ground..



It looks like I might have fixed that fit problem real well... next time on the range I will try 85 grains of Goex 3f as my notes told me that is the favorite powder charge. I was shooting 95 grains of course to day. But over all this is a nice rifle.

What is your opinion on the hunting/game taking ability of a 180 grain Speer Deep Curl? I have no idea of the velocity of 95 grains of 3f on that bullet but I would guess it would be pushing that somewhere in the 1800 fps .. maybe?

Besides the stock fit being a surprise.. the 25 yard hits are under the bull. The 50 yard hits are above and in the bull. Yet the 100 yard hits are still in the general area of where I suspected the 50 yards would be hitting. For the .45 caliber shooters.. are these rifles normally this flat shooting?

Nice shooting. I think the Speer 180gr Deep Curl would do the job on a whitetail.

Dead whitetail deer with that bullet and load..Ray

Dave
I use a 15/16th Gm 50 cal in my Lyman Deerstalker. Don't you have a percussion Lyman that you could try it in.

No actually all of my Lymans are Flintlocks. But I do have a .50 caliber T/C Hawkins I can try it in.. thanks for the heads up.

John... when you installed that barrel in your Lyman.. did you have to shave the hook a little to make it fit in the tang?

I don't know Cayugad. But I sure intend to find out next Fall and hope to be able to post a detailed harvest report on a nice fat doe.

By the way, the one-inch blue barrel on my .45 LRH Sinful Sister Renegade shoots better with the Harvester smooth sabots (H4540B) than it does with the crush ribs (H4540BR)

I checked my file and don't have a velocity reading for a 95 grain load. But here are the readings I got with 85 grains of GOEX FFFg.




I have my 85 grain load sighted in for "dead on" at 100 yards.
It hits three quarters of an inch high at 50,
a half inch high at 75,
one inch low at 125,
and four inches low at 150.

Nice shooting, i love the 180gr GD too with around 90gr.. Im kind of surprised the Crushrib version shot that well. Ive had better luck with the smooths or MP tan in that load combo.

Its my favorite fun load. Im still waiting on some of "Short barrel" version of the 180gr. Its a little longer and has a larger HP....i think. They should be fun for vaporizing jugs. :D

Semisane

The 180 Gold Dot/Deep curls shoot great for me, but I am using a 110 grains of T7-2f, a MMP tan sabot.

I am shooting them at an of 2150fps...

The last time I shot them in the rock pit I was shooting clay pigeons... and then to make them a little tougher to hit @ 100, I even turned them sideways. Then when you get done breaking all of the full birds you go back and start shooting the pieces... twice the fun.

There is now doubt in my mind that hey will do a whitetail.

Those Harvester Crushed Rib sabots were stiff to load.

Semisane, I see no reason why if that little 180 grain was put in the right place, should not take a deer. The other thing this rifle shoots well are the 200 grain Hornady XTP but I ran out of them and they are kind of hard to find lately in the online stores.