I haven't shot my Henry 45-70 since last year when I first bought it.

I had sighted it in at 50 yds (bear hunting over bait) with Federal 300 gr bullets.

Yesterday I went to a local indoor range (limited to 25 yds) and fired one round with the Hornaday 325gr FTX (2000 fps) and one round with the Swift A-frame 350 gr (1770 fps).

The Hornady cut the 1 inch bulleye on the upper left line.

The Swift hit absolutely dead center.

Once I get to the bear camp, I will do a final sight in at 50yd (they have a nice 50 yard range), but I am please that the gun kept its sight in over the last year.

The gun weighs 8 lb 10 oz empty and recoil was not an issue, although I did notice the Hornady had a little sharper kick than the Swift (230 fps faster).

Can't wait to set the sights on a big black bear.

BH63

Nice rifle. Going to give the 400gr Barnes Buster a try in my .45-70 Marlin loaded at 1800 fps muzzle speed. See how it performs compared to soft nose bullets. The Buster should be a good alternative to a hard cast bullet.

That is one nice setup. I would have bought the Marlin, but I got a really good deal on the Henry.

One interesting thing about shooting the Hornady 325 FTX was that it keyholed at 25 yds!

Several posters have complained how the Hornady 325 FTX blew up on the shoulders of various deer-sized game.

Perhaps they are just not stable at close range?

BH63

Interesting results with the 325gr FTX fired into ballistic gel. Recovered bullets as shown which surprisingly didn't track straight (see 07:55 to 10:35 in the video). However the bullets expanded in a controlled manner.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbQGTZ3jYzU&t=114s

That is a great video. Must be nice to have a place to shoot with ballistic gel, etc.

If you ever test fire a 45-70 Swift A-frame (1770 fps) into gel, please let me know. I've used them in .416 Rem Mag on cape buff and they work perfectly, but I am interested in how they hold up in the 45-70.

Thanks.

BH63

400gr Swift A-Frames recovered from Elk at impact speeds shown that I shot with my .45-70 Handi Rifle. Pretty good bullet integrity.

Those 400gr Barnes Busters that I'm going to try would have likely shot clear through in both instances. Not so sure a blunt and heavy .45 bullet needs to expand very much if at all to stomp heavy game.

Pity Scott didn't have more ballistic gel. Things got kinda compromised after a few shots. But, in the virgin blocks, the pistol bullet certainly showed up very well.

Most impressive performance from the wide meplat .45-70 430gr hard cast. Impacted like a hollow point, penetrated straight through 5.3 ft of ballistic gel and exited.

Can that 430-grain hardcast be bought ready-made? If not, can you remind me of the mould?

Rounds made by Underwood Ammunition, 45-70 Government +P 430 Grain Hard Cast Lead.

https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...-gas-check-box-of-20

quote:

Originally posted by 4sixteen:
400gr Swift A-Frames recovered from Elk at impact speeds shown that I shot with my .45-70 Handi Rifle. Pretty good bullet integrity.

Those are probably the same bullets loaded in the Remington .416 Rem Mag factory loads.

The 350 grain Swift A-frames loaded in the Swift factory 45-70 govt, are supposed to start opening up at around 1200 fps.

I sure hope I get a shoulder shot on a bear next month. I can't wait to see how they perform.

BH63

Hornady 350gr IL RN recovered from Bull Moose at impact speeds shown. Not bad performance. However the Swift A-Frame does better to limit expansion for deeper penetration at higher impact speeds compared to the Hornady Interlock.

quote:

Originally posted by 4sixteen:
Most impressive performance from the wide meplat .45-70 430gr hard cast. Impacted like a hollow point, penetrated straight through 5.3 ft of ballistic gel and exited.

I bought some HSM Bear Loads that are hard cast (430 or 460 gr, can't remember) and move along at a very good clip.

I will be using them as "stopper" loads in case a wounded bear charges (not likely, I know).

BH63

Thanks for the info 4sixteen. With luck Midway imports them into Australia and that those 430-grainers will work with the short throat in my Miroku Win 86.