Explain this, .45-70
 

Ok, mounted a Bushnell Elite 3500 on my marlin 1895. This will be my primary deer rifle for Ohio now since straight walled cartridges were legalized...


Shot it in today. Started out with the leverevolution 325gr.


First, I took two shots at 25 yards to see where I was at. They were touching, and inch low. Good, this should be easy.


Moved back to 100 yards and shot a 3 shot group. Nice group. 9" low. Adjusted scope up 10"


This group was right where I wanted it and about 1.5". Pretty happy with that.


Then I shot groups with two other brands of ammo. All hit within 3" of each other. I was happy with that as well. Then I shot a 6" steel gong I have hanging up. It's fun shooting steel with the .45-70.


Alright, now for the question...


Rememember, there was about an 8" difference between my first 2 shots at 25 yards, and my first 100 yard group. So, I went back to 25 yards, and shot three more shots to see where I was hitting up close.


All shots were touching, about an inch below center... So, what happened to that 8" between the first 25 yards and the first 100 yards?


This rifle is shooting good, and handles nice. I think I'll really enjoy hunting with it this year. Just wondering what happened to that 8" I adjusted for.


-Jake

I shoot the 325 grn Hornady LE out of my 45-70 Marlin Guide gun. I shoot for center at 25 yards, I get nowhere near an 8 inch drop between 25 yards and 100 yards, I get around 2 1/2 to 3 inches. Something is strange with a 10 inch elevation adjustment at 100 and little change at 25 yards as well as dropping 8 inches at 100 yards the first time around.

Yes, the first time is what is throwing me off. When I saw the initial 8" drop I checked all of my mounts, because I thought something had moved. But, it hadn't, everything was tight. And the subsequent groups confirmed everything was tight.


When I went back to 25 yards I expected there to be a significant difference (Because I had adjusted for the drop in the scope, so the 25 yard POI should have changed as well.) but there was no significant difference.


I put around 40 rds through it. Everything shot and grouped fine. Just strange how that happened.


-Jake

Do you like the LE ammo? Have you got to use it on deer yet? I've used it in the .44 mag and it did well. I think I'll stick with it for this season. It had the tightest group out of all the ammo I tried. Next year I'll be handloading for it and will work up a load next offseason.
-jake

Yes I like it, I have killed 8 wild boar with it and four deer. With behind the shoulder shots on deer, in the crease it makes small pieces out of the heart and lungs, basically, the chest cavity is soup. One of the last two hogs I killed a 153 pounder, with the ammo was shot right on the shoulder because I was running out of daylight, I always go for a head or neck shot but since the light was really bad I took the biggest target and went for right behind the shoulder. When I shot, down he went, a few kicks and it was over, the bullet went through, came out and killed a small hog, about 25 lbs standing directly behind it that I could not see. Strange thing was the entry and exit wounds were in exactly the same place on both hogs, the bullet entered at the crease behind the shoulder and exited the shoulder on the other side. Had I been on the ground instead of about 6 feet up in a stand, I would have shot right over the little one. I felt bad about it, but he ate pretty well roasted whole. I think you will like those rounds. Here is the piggy.



Here is the pass through victim.

I love the old .45-70 Jake. I have a few. Not exactly sure what the velocity of your LE ammo is I took a wild guess. And punching the numbers into a ballistic calculator I bet it you have your rifle set up for a 50 yard zero.
This is assuming your sight height is at 1.5". The 325 LE has a BC of .230 and I guessed the velocity to be about 1800 fps.
Actually with this ammo you should have been 1.4 high at 25 and 1.6 high at 100.
I sight my 45-70 dead on at 100 because I rarely get a shot beyond that.

were you on the same magnification both times you shot at 25?
RR

I was going to asked the same question RR.

Ah. That may be it.


I figured it would be something dumb that I would realize after it was said. I'll check that out tomorrow.


Off the top of my head I think I was, but that could definitely be it.


I'll find out tomorrow and report back.
-Jake

To clarify for tomorrow, I should sight in on 9x , then go back through and shoot at various powers to confirm POI. That correct?

Thanks for the help, enjoy the holiday tomorrow
-JaKe

Jake, always sight in at distance on your highest power, at 25 yards if you were on 9x the parallax could have caused the difference in POI, You were dead on at 100, scope height of say 1.5", you should somewhere around 3/8" low at 25 yards. I wouldn't waste the ammo, I'd vice it, put it on target and turn the power selector and watch the crosshairs, its prolly fine I'm going with parralex being the culprit at 25 which without an AO you can't really test, your test would most probably have the same results as your original session, because of how your eyes percieved the the target picture due to excessive parralex. Every long range shot on deer that my students have missed with my rifle has been attributed to improper focus setting, they miss, I get on the rifle, set the focus, they connect the next shot
RR

I shot it at 25 yards at 3,6, and 9X. Then did the same at 75 yards and was satisfied with the group.

-Jake

Good deal. Now you have to put those new rounds to good use.

Leveroltion has greater BC. You need to compare that between bullets. It should be flatter. Some think a flatter bullet, will caue more trauma.

This year I am going flat 350 hornady interlocks, with reloader 7, couple grains below max marlin loads, around 16-1700 fps.

About 3/4 high at 75 yards, on at 50. Should be maybe 1.75-2" low at a hunder. Doubt I will shoot it that far/

Jake if you're bringing that 45-70 up to the camp for bear that will make 3 of them. Mine, my cousin's and yours. Although I'll have mine there I will likely use my .58 cal muzzleloader again.

I'll be bringing it for sure. But I'll likely carry my .30-06. My grandpa gave it to me back in 2005. He's got cancer and is in his mid 80s. He'd be tickled if I got a bear with the '06. So I'll be carrying that just in case I happen to get lucky. That would make his day I'm sure.
-Jake