zaboo

we can use break action 35 cal rifles now im thinking a cva or handi rifle which is more accurate and i dont want to spend the money on a tc for 2 weeks

Savage Sniper

absolutely nothing wrong with a handi rifle. there are better guns out there ,but for the money, they are hard to beat.

Tundra10

That's primitive?

Mojotex

I suspect that you have searched the net for info .... but here goes anyway. Unless you have a custom barrel made, then the TC, CVA, NEF, H&R , etc. standard chamberings that are 35 cal. or larger are limited to a handful .... if I recall correctly, which at my age is a question, the 44 Mag., 45/70 Gov., 444 Marlin and 375 H&H are about it.

Of these I have first hand experience in center fired rifles chambered for the 44 Mag., 45/70 and 444.

I have a Marlin "Guide" in 444 Marlin and love it. But a wiser choice of these 4 cartridges in my opinion is the 45/70 Gov. The 44 Mag.'s effective range is just too limited in my book. The 35 H&H is way beyond the pall for deer sized game, and I can only imagine the recoil ! Factory ammo for the 45/70 is much easier to find than the 444 Marlin stuff. (If you hand load , then I'd say these two are about even.)

If you go for the 45/70 Gov. cartridge, be sure to try the Hornady "Leverlution" stuff. Shoots great out of my Guide and is a rock solid deer and hog killer from near point blank to 160-165 yards (longest shot I have taken with my Guide gun). I have killed feral hogs and deer at 20 yards or less, with full pass throughs for sure and no evidence of jacket separation. The 160 +/- yard shot was a hold over because my rifle is dead on at 75 by choice. The hit was a tad high, but the nice buck fell dead within 30 yards or so. The bullet was found under the skin on the ff side .... nearly perfectly mushroomed.

triglet

We have the same rules for primitive weapon! I shoot a .35 whelen in a handi rifle with the hornady 200gr. ammunition. It packs a nice kick so if you are recoil sensitive might wanna take that into consideration. Take into considerations what distance you will be shooting also!

zaboo

im not recoil sensitive as i shot 338s but how accurate is your handi rifle triglet

BarnesX.308

In PA, our primitive season requires the use of an open-sighted flintlock. For many years, we had to use a patch and ball as well. A few years ago we were allowed to use conicals.

A center fire rifle for primitive weapons season? Sounds like your state wants to lower the doe population.

Mojotex

I took a look at the NEF website. I don't see any of the 35 cal. or 338 cal. family of cartridges. I am not sure where you are hunting ... but did I guess correctly that the bullet must be 35 cal. or larger ? If so that pretty much linmits you to the 40 ca. + stuff.

I agree that a 35 Wheelen would be nice, but go look for factory ammo ??? Tough to find at the "usual" outlets.

As far as accuracy ... I have firsthand shooting expeerience with only 4 Handy rifles ... 308 Win. (1), 243 Win. (2) and 30/30 Win. (1). The owners and I tried a few factory loads for each. i do not recall which ... been 6-7 years ago. My recollenction is that all 4 shot decent enough. One of the 243's was a very nice grouping rifle using a particular factory load .. I'm 95% sure that it was a Winchester Supreme load using a 100 gr. bullet ... but I do not recall any details.

I worked up a load for the guy that had the 308 Win. Came up with a nice grouping round. As I recall it was a 165 gr. Game King at about mid-velocity of a Speer handloading manual.

zaboo

yes the law is that the cal has to be 35 or larger. the 338 ive shot is not a nef hr. im hoping to get one soon in 35 whelen the ammo is very common down here because it is used alot just like 444 and 45/70 are very popular here

furgitter

Ive got a 58 cal air rifle made by Haley out of Mississippi. Its a monster of a gun, and kicks like a mule! People are killing Elk and Bison with these things! Now why should I call that a primitive rifle? There were air rifles out there before there were cap and ball rifles. Lois and Clark had one on there expadition when they went west. As a matter of fact, it may be the reason the natives allowed them to pass without a fight. It fired a 41 or 42 cal ball, and had 20 rounds in a tube mag which made reloading real easy. Alot more intimidating than a musket they had to reload in several steps.