350 gr. in 450 Dakota? Any experience?
Just wondering if any of you guys have any experience with a 350 gr. in a 450 Dakota or in
a 460 Weatherby since the two are almost identical.
If the 350 gr is stable and accurate in the 450
Dakota I was thinking I would have a good "one gun" for elephant, buffalo and plains game. Should
be able to get the velocity up enough to shoot pretty flat unless the ballistic coefficient is too poor.
I do know one thing. The 500 gr woodleighs knock hell out of things!
Thanks
Wes
10 August 2002, 06:51
Mike375Wes,
I used the 350 hornady in the last 460 I used. I can'r remember the exact loads, but i mainly used 4064. From memory the velocity I got was just under 3000 f/s, less than one would expect, but often yoy find efficiency drops away with very light bullets for the calibre.
I never used it a great deal as accuracy was never as consistent as with the 500 Hornady. What was interesting was that it never knocked kangaroos around as much as the 500 grainer.
I would think the 450 Dakota would be better for consistent accuracy because the 460 Wby has a huge amount of freebore and that does not go hand in hand with consistent accuracy across a range of loads with very light bullets for the calibre.
By the way, I got very good accuracy with the 400 grain Barnes X and velocity was just under 2850 f/s and that was using 4064.
Mike
10 August 2002, 07:13
<Paul Machmeier>DWS
Had some experience with using 350 gr bullets in .460 Mark V Wea. The bullets were 350 gr Barnes X. After shooting a few 500gr in the .460, I opened the box of 350 gr. The spread went from 1.5 inch to 8-10 inches. I couldn't believe it and attributed it to my getting tired or worse yet, developing a flinch as this was off the bench. So I rested and proceeded to repeat the cycle--same results. Asking Federal about it and they had other complaints, seems that 2700+ can affect the "X" accuracy.
No experience with the DAK in that regard, but the .460 Wea down loaded and the 450 Dak as is are great DGR, except I prefer the Dak because of controlled round feed and the 3 -pos safety, which I wouldn't hunt without.
MY ADVISE IS TRY SEVERAL BULLET TYPES WITH A CHRONO AT DIFFERENT YARDAGE AND SORT OUT THE PERFORMANCE. Good Luck, pm
11 August 2002, 12:50
Ken ClineI loaded some 350 grain X bullets for my 450 Dakota with 107 grains of 4064. These should go about 2900, and the accuracy was 1 1/2" 3 shot group at 100 yards. I know the load was more accurate than I was shooting it. I am going to try this load on whitetails one of these years.
13 August 2002, 04:32
N E 450 No2DWS I have used the 350 Hornady RN in my 450 No2 at about 2330 fps on deer and pigs with good results. I have only recovered one bullet that hit a pig head on in the face at 43 yds. Bullet was recovered in the back flank, expanded well and held together good, it had hit a lot of bone. I do not think I would want to drive them any faster than this, as they leave big enough holes now and still give good penetration. I have also used them in a 45/70 No1. they give excllent accuracy.
15 August 2002, 05:39
<JOHAN>A good 350-400 grain bullet will work fine for all plains game. My buddy used 350 grains barnes for lepard, Eland and other plains game. I loaded the ammo for him. Trials showed that 3050-2900 fps vere no problem in 450 rigby rimless. This gun had 25 inch barrel. Final load were 2900. Keep the heat in mind.
Use the heavies possible for buff and other thick skinn game, 600 grains should penetrate all buff long
Good luck
/ JOHAN