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Old December 6, 2008, 05:29 PM   #1
The Terminator
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Reloaded surprises at the range.

I took 53 rounds this morning, 47 were reloads and the others were PMC 350's, very strong loads, 3500 lbs at the muzzle, I didn't remember the velocity.

My primers had caused me worry, they were not seated very well. I showed them to the range owner, an old, very experienced reloader and very wise man. He said that yep, they weren't seated well. I said that I really didn't want to put them in the mag tube, he agreed. So, I shot them all by breech loading them.

Here is the surprise, 90% of them didn't fire on the first pull of the trigger. Some took 3 pulls of the trigger. A hammer on a rifle is good to have at times like this. I don't know if it was because of poor seating, or because of them being old. I got them, with the other reloading stuff, a few years ago, and the boxes looked old then.

After wearing my shoulder out, don't let anyone tell you that 350 gr bullets with 50 grs of IMR 3031 is a "medium" load. It is quite stout. 1660 fps, and 2180lbs of energy whacked me good on the shoulder. I had my shoulders X-rayed yesterday, doc is checking for athritis in both of them. I was letting anyone who would, shoot the rounds off so that I could start anew with the reloading.

Greg, the owner, sold me a primer pocket brush, which I didn't have, and a pocket chamfering type of tool, it looks like a chamfer but fits the primer pocket. Another man said that the CCI primers were partly to blame, they were 1/1000 longer than Winchester primers. I don't know how true this might be, but I did take a box of Winchester large rifle primers with me.

I came home, set up, sized and deprimed 20 brass. I then used the pocket chamfering tool, it screws onto the same handle as the brush. I brushed, and then had nice, clean, shiny primer pockets. The primers seated very well this time, even a little below the flat surface of the bullet rim. I was a lot happier with this.

It sure is great to be able to learn from good people when I have a problem like this,
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Old December 6, 2008, 05:49 PM   #2
SKULLANDCROSSBONES65
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G'day. I've read that if the primer is not seated properly they may need to be struck a second time. First strike seats the primer, second strike ignites. Some primers are also harder than others.
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Old December 6, 2008, 05:50 PM   #3
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deja vu all over again. I just came from your other post--well,
one of them anyway.


He should have sold you a primer pocket uniformer and a lesson or two on seating primers.
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Old December 6, 2008, 05:52 PM   #4
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Thats it, he called it a uniformer. Thanks.
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Old December 6, 2008, 07:49 PM   #5
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Good story. I would guess most factory 45/70 loads are stout, with such a heavy bullet.

Remember, they're designed for a couple of shots, and by then, your game should be dead.

For shooting on the range load some light loads. The lightest bullets you can find, and light charges. Do you have the Lyman manual? They have 3 differet loading levels: 1873 Springfield, 1895 Marlin & 1886 Winchester, and Ruger No. 1 & 3.

I bet you could use lighter loads than what are published for the Springfield and your shoulder would thank you. Even the lighter loads are heavy compared to lighter rifle cartridges. They are all designed to be effective on large game. If you don't need to shoot large game, you can lighten them up quite a bit.
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Old December 6, 2008, 07:54 PM   #6
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Do yourself a favor...

For your next rifle, consider a 243 Winchester.

Light 55 gr. loads from a 243 Win are pretty nice; all day long.

If you really like lever actions, a 30-30 but they will kick twice as hard as a 243. Hey, the Browning BLR is available in 243 I believe...
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Old December 6, 2008, 08:04 PM   #7
The Terminator
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Smaug,
Its a 45/70 thing. Some of us nuts, are just nuts about it. It is my favorite, and putting up with strong recoils is what us 45/70 nuts just have to do.

For the range, I will load lighter loads next time, for sure. Going with heavy loads for over 50 tries is tough, and, I'm getting old. I need to get some dies and brass and bullets for my trusty NEF 270.

BTW, I saw one man (not a smart man) put his poor wife on a Thompson Center in 45/70 this morning. She cut her forehead better than good on the scope. He should have known better.
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Old December 6, 2008, 08:29 PM   #8
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Maybe he did and let her do it anyway. Some people are just morons.
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Old December 6, 2008, 10:00 PM   #9
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I too shoot a 45-70 (Ruger #1).
After reading many times how the Ruger could be loaded right up to almost 458 Win Mag levels, I figured, hey, why not try a couple?
I will say that, I still wouldn't want to shoot a mad elephant charging me with it, but, you just can't believe the recoil of these 500 grainers at near 2000 fps. They make the snot in your nose run...even off hand.
I pretty much prefer the 405 cast bullets at "reasonable" velocities and manageble recoil. My rifle is pretty accurate and I suppose I could shoot woodchucks with it, but, I don't need the negative comments about being "undergunned" either.
I did take an Elk in Arizona at around 75 yards a couple of years back, pretty much a bang/flop.
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