I don't get it. Why in the hell do you want a reduced load for anything?

Who uses a .458 Lott for squirrels?

Use a cartridge appropriate for the game being hunted.

Practice only with full bore loads.

If you want less, step down in bore size and power.

JMHO.

Because using reduced loads in your biggie increases your range time when you're practicing your manual of arms. More precisely, using them will help you to instinctively operate your bolt or DR w/o getting fatigued trying to hang on to the biggie while lighting it off. When I use full loads, I'm only good for about 20 rnds before I start to get fatigued because holding the rifle in the right position and keeping from it from getting away from will physically tire you out. When shooting in the field, all that practice pays off as your muscles toughen up enough so recoil won't bother you.

Because it's fun. And I can also shoot 40 lights and 20 heavies in an afternoon (or vice versa) if I want, which equates to more shooting time. If you want to shoot 60 full house loads in a 375 (or whatever other big bore) in an afternoon, go for it.

Well gee...

I love shooting. I like to hear feel the buck of the firearm under recoil and hear the roar of the report when it fires. What I don't like is to get the snot beat out of me every time I go to the range.

With what little time I've been at the range lately, I have really enjoyed shooting because its something I don't get to do much anymore. I shoot some reduced loads and don't mind it much because I'm at the range and I'm shooting. There's plenty of time for full house loads between now and hunting season. Why not do something you enjoy often and stay in practice without wearing yourself out?

Also a great way to introduce teenagers to shooting! Nothing beats bragging rights to having shot a 375H&H ... I just dont tell the kids its a reduced load.
Cheers...
Con

Yea....I just love it...

ARPoster January 1: Look at my new .960 tuskerbuster. It has a jillion ft-lb of energy at 9,000 yards and that's not even loaded hot.

ARPoster February 1: Anyone have any reduced loads for a .960 Tuskerbuster?

I forgot to mention, I shoot sage rats and the occassional rock chuck with a 375 H&H and reduced loads. Too much fun!

mrlexma,

Hey, I shoot digger squirrels with my Lott Might not be full house but a 405 at around 2400 still gives you a push and sure hydraulics the little guys I save the full patch 500 gr loads for gravel pit fun!

I have quite a few rifles to choose from, and yes I shoot squirrels with everything from 22LR, 17HMR, 17Rem, 223, 220 Swift, 25-06, 338 Lapua, 375 H&H (another squirrel great!) I love shooting the little suckers with the Lott.

ANY shooting you can do with your big bore is a benefit as far as I'm concerened.

When you are out hunting for big game, and you want to knock the head off a grouse or 3, you don't need 300 ++ grains of bullet!

quote:

ANY shooting you can do with your big bore is a benefit as far as I'm concerened.

Beware of the man with one gun (and different loads to suit the target !)

I guess someone is feeling cranky.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Yea....I just love it...

ARPoster January 1: Look at my new .960 tuskerbuster. It has a jillion ft-lb of energy at 9,000 yards and that's not even loaded hot.

ARPoster February 1: Anyone have any reduced loads for a .960 Tuskerbuster?

ARPoster March1: Classifieds "Nearly new .960 Tuskerbuster for sale, cheap"

Does the term "detached retina" and 'nerve damage disease' ring any familiar notes?>>>



Dr. S

quote:

Originally posted by AzGuy:

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Yea....I just love it...

ARPoster January 1: Look at my new .960 tuskerbuster. It has a jillion ft-lb of energy at 9,000 yards and that's not even loaded hot.

ARPoster February 1: Anyone have any reduced loads for a .960 Tuskerbuster?

ARPoster March1: Classifieds "Nearly new .960 Tuskerbuster for sale, cheap"

ARPoster late march/early april: posts pictures showing off .960 Tuskerbuster that he got such a great deal on. Appears to have been shot very little and in like new condition.

I like Tuskerbuster, you should come up with a new cartridge and name it that.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
Who uses a .458 Lott for squirrels?

JMHO.

guilty...


switch to a slower powder and make BIG muzzle flashes!!

just shoot 45-70's

A fun reduced load for the Lott is 90 grains of 3031 behind 300 grain hollow points (2800fps). Huge report and muzzle flash, mystifying results on 5 gallon water pails:


(photography by HogKiller)

mrlexma, in my case it is not so much reduced loads as cast bullet loads. Cast lead bullets are much cheaper than the roughly $1 per bullet that premium hunting bullets cost, and, I like to shoot!
Peter.

FWIW I only shoot full hunting loads. I want to practice with the real thing.

To each his own; I can see merit in reduced loads.

One of my gunsmith friends (Wendell Simpson)uses his .460 Wby for everything, including gray-diggers (local ground squirrels).

I use reduced loads sometimes in my large bores. For me, it is for the same reason I do not drive my 400+ hp Porsche with the pedal to the metal at 7,500 rpm all the time, everywhere I go. Both my guns and my car are more flexible than to be limited to just one application.

As Peter posted, using cast bullets are for much cheaper shooting. To those he-men out there who shoot nuttin' but full power loads, more power to you. BTW, how many full power rounds do you shoot before your shooting accuracy(ability to hold) starts degrading?

If I wanted to shoot reduced loads, I'd shoot a 45-70. Big guns deserve to be shot at full power. Thats where all the fun is.
If I wanted to go slow I'd drive a Honda rather than a supercharged Viper. Oh Yes I never ever exceed the speed limits either!-Rob

Shit, Rob, you're the exception to the rule. It's obvious that recoil don't bother you. I don't shoot the real biggies like you do, only the lowly 375's to 470's.

quote:

Originally posted by Robgunbuilder:
If I wanted to shoot reduced loads, I'd shoot a 45-70. Big guns deserve to be shot at full power. Thats where all the fun is.
If I wanted to go slow I'd drive a Honda rather than a supercharged Viper. Oh Yes I never ever exceed the speed limits either!-Rob

Well, Rob, I agree they deserve to be shot at full power. But I don't find that the ONLY way to shoot them.

P.S. I was being very conservative about my Porsche. I actually stuffed an aluminum LT-1 with LOTS of tweaks/mods into it. Its HP/torque/weight ratio is as good as pretty much anything currently out there and it corners better than most....especially since doing all the suspension upgrades. Plus I have about $50-60 large in pocket money left over compared to paying the prices some of the cars that can't touch it sell for.



Of course, I never speed either. but even if I did, I sure wouldn't do it all the time, everywhere.

Alberta Cannuck- I should send you pics of my PRO STOCK firebird. 1650HP out of a 632 in a 2300lb car. I've done 198 at 7.125 in it. Like my guns, its capable of 6's at over 200. However, at some point my survival instinct kicks in and I back off a LITTLE.
The porsche with a tweaked LT1 sounds way cool. You can make probably 550-600 at the wheels with a Novi 2000 in one of those. Do you have any traction? My Viper loses traction in 1st and second with 657 hp at the rear wheels. Any more than that is a pure waste without much more expensive suspension mods. I'm running a Penske system now. It never ever exceeds the 55-65 mph us speed limit. But it gets there in oh lets see about 3.1 seconds or so. If it would ever hook-up it would beat that.

yeah, and I have only had my XZ-12R over the speed limit once...the Idaho State Police radar clock was 179.6. It just lets me go to the store for a gallon of milk and get back home before it gets warm.

Rich
DRSS

Not trying to steal this thread for a car topic, but Rich, I am encouraged to hear that MAYBE I don't hold the record for one of the worst tickets ever. (What ever happened to the Gremlin you used to drive? That's quite a change....)

Had my Gulstrand/Traco 'Vette out once when some jerk tried to cut me off from the right hand side. So I eased the throttle open a tad...and immediately spotted los fuzz ahead. Got off the power and well into the brakes, but still went cruising by them at a clocked 118 in a 30 zone even after a LOT of braking. Luckily I had enough sense to pull over and just wait for la policia to arrive. The other guy tried to take off. HE went to jail. I got off with showing them what was under the hood, their regrets for having to tag me, and a $125 ticket.

I add that was many years ago when I was young and foolish....now I am just foolish. At least now I have learned how to drive safely on the streets.....

RobGun - Your stuff sounds like the kind of stuff I have always liked...in the real old days I was a Mopar-hemi builder for my own use, then got into the European iron, Lotus 11 and other Loti, modified E-jags, Mercedes sports coupes enlivened slightly or not, re-worked Volvo P1800s, and so on. But these days I am back to my roots. I.E., there ain't no sub for C.I., unlerss it is even more C.I. + more revs too!

Wish I lived where I could come drool on your stuff, but for the nonce even a 60-mile drive is a long one for me.

Best wishes,

A.C.

quote:

Originally posted by Con:
Also a great way to introduce teenagers to shooting! Nothing beats bragging rights to having shot a 375H&H ... I just dont tell the kids its a reduced load.
Cheers...
Con

A big PLUS on that one!

That´s how it should be done, that´s correct thinking!

These will be the Kids ( grown ups ) that support our ( gun ) rights and buy our ( used, but well maintained ) big bores ...

Do it again, Sam!

H

I agree with MrLexma and Rob..If I want to shoot a reduced load then I will drag out my 7x57 or 30-06, they are the same Mauser as my .375, or 416 Rem...

If you shoot a big bore full house, that is the best way to cure a flinch IMO..I shoot my .470 a bunch and my 416 feels like a maindens caress. I like that approach to recoil.

If shooting reduced loads helps one handle a big bore as many here profess then how come some guys that have been shooting an 06 or 35 Whelen for years flinch when they shoot a .375..

Recoil is all in the space between the ears lads.

remember the old jet boater's adage... "there is no replacement for displacement".. same applies to big bores...."go big or go home"