1899 DH 16 /30

[Jim DiSpagno]

Bruce, I don't think you're aunty gun but your pictures make me want to cry Uncle

[Dean Romig]

What game are you going for Bruce?





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[Richard Flanders]

.38-55... nice squirrel gun Bruce! I'm planning on joining you in Montana. The only thing that will keep me here is if I get a moose late enough with my 1887 vintage Winchester 1885 High Wall .45-90 that I have to stay here to get it into the freezer, which is a major project by myself. I've spent a lot of time lately tuning loads for the gun with 300 and 400 grain cast bullets. Strangely enough, it shoots straight with both, which it's not really designed to do. Hoping to get a moose early enough so I'm not delayed. Planning to arrive in Denver Sept 25-26 and drive north from there.

[Dean Romig]

What game are you going to Montana for guys?





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[C.O.B.]

Dean I would guess that its deer, antelope or possibly elk. The antelope/deer season opens 10/1 in Wyoming and I'll be there with a couple of new rifles. I can't speak to the opening date for Montana but that's my guess.

Bruce this Michigander is getting his sporting rifles in good order....you know just incase were invaded by Democrats. The list so far Win M1894 38-55, Win M71 348, Ruger #1 450-400 N.E., Heym .500 B.P.E. and to many pre64 M70's to list. Be prepared I say. Off to the range to tweak the new 25-06. Good hunting to all.

[Bruce Day]

Rich, a 45-90?

No piddy 45-70's for you! Some serious knock down power there!

[Richard Flanders]

If I were really serious I'd have at least a .45-3-1/4"(120?). You can only use so much smokeless so going above a .45-70 is purely because you just like the looks of the longer cartridge and not because it has more power, at least using smokeless. I have to put a fair bit of filler and a card in behind the bullet to get consistent ignition at the velocities I'm aiming for. If you filled the case with smokeless you'd just blow the gun up and maybe break your shoulder in the process. It does have much more power if you use BP and pack it full for sure. The .45-90 was designed as an "express round" using 300gr bullets at higher velocity than the 400-500 gr bullets in the .45-70 going 1400fps +/-. I was pushing some 400gr cast bullets to almost 1700fps the other day, but it hurt to shoot them so I backed way off. I never intended to get them that fast. 1500-1550 is plenty. Strangely enough a load of 3031 that pushes a 300gr bullet at 1570 pushes a 400gr bullet up to as fast as 1695fps and with a much much cleaner burn. I also learned that Winchester WLR primers are significantly hotter than CCI-200's in the same load and up the velocities around 80fps. The only downside of shooting these large cast bullets is that you rarely recover one as they just go clean through whatever you point them at at just about any range. A good shoulder shot on a big moose with the 400gr will drop him like a ton of bricks where he stands and the hunt is over.

My dream moose gun is a long-bbl'd takedown 1886 lever gun in .50-110. I'm definitely a "big bullet" guy. They're out there but are pretty spendy.

[C.O.B.]

Richard have you tried any Trail Boss powder? I'm using it in a Ruger #1 450/400 N.E. 30gr of Trail Boss and a 41 cal 200 gr pistol bullet gets me about 1700FPS is very accurate to a little over 100 yards and pleasant to shoot. Plenty of power for a whitetail. I'm also using this in a double rifle and 365gr cast bullets in a 500 B.P.E. also enough for whitetails.

My gunsmith as a Winchester in 45-90 for sale in his shop. I've picked it a time or three. Tempting

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Rich Anderson

I'm using it in a Ruger #1 450/400 N.E. 30gr of Trail Boss

Rich, what are you using for a case filler? That's not a lot of powder for the size of that case.

[C.O.B.]

Surprisingly enough there is no need for filler. I questioned it as well but it works great just the way it is. I was using 70gr of 4895 and a 300gr Hornaday and it was a tad brutal after a half dozen shots.