Cast Bullets and Handi-Rifle

C

chewie146

New member
Hey all,

I've been around a block or two reloading, but I keep hearing stories of cast bullets shooting well in handi-rifles, and I can't seem to get my .45-70 to shoot them. I generally push them pretty hot. Is that the main problem. Does anyone have a pet load for that rifle that seems to handle cast bullets well? The 350 Hdy Interlock RNSP is a real tack driver, but the cast bullets pattern rather than group.
 
High pressure and poor fitting bullets are the two major causes of poor cast bullet accuracy. Look around for some light loads and see if accuracy improves. Perhaps try sizing your boolits one size larger. As was mentioned you can look into using a gas checked design. You don't give many details so that is the best advice I can give.
 
"...push them pretty hot..." That's likely why they're not shooting. Cast bullets that are driven too fast will lead the barrel. Like Crosshair says, the diameter matters.
 
Five or six years ago I tried one & couldn't get any lead to work.
Went the rounds with the company. They'd set the guns up for jacketed bullets & there was no way I could persuade them that a good percentage of buyers would be using lead.
"The gun will be used for hunting, and hunters use jacketed bullets."
"No, you'd sell more to people who'd be shooting lead." But they wouldn't listen.

I gave up & sold mine.
Denis
 
"...push them pretty hot..." That's likely why they're not shooting. Cast bullets that are driven too fast will lead the barrel. Like Crosshair says, the diameter matters.
Click to expand...

I know there is an upper limit, but I have pushed cast in .223s @ 2300fps without leading and currently shoot a cast for my 32WCF @ around 1800+ without leading and am reading of people pushing cast bullets to 2800+ successfully. Proper alloy and size should allow a person to shoot the 45/70 to 2000+fps with a gas checked bullet.
 
Some .45-70 Handis have micro-groove barrels. I know that mine has a 12 groove micro barrel. Others have traditional rifling. My buddy's buffalo classic has Ballard rifling. From talking with others at Graybeard's Forum, it seems that when the Handi was made has a bearing on which barrel you have. Handi's were mede by Marlin for many years and lots of them came equipped with microgroove barrels. Then, at some point, Marlin decided to switch to Ballard rifling in the .45-70 and made the switch. Nowadays Handi's are made in the Ilion plant under Remington's ownership. There's no telling what kind of barrel Remington is putting on them.

If you've got a microgroove barrel, then you're going to have to experiment a bit more to get your handi to shoot . Mine seems to like the Lee 457-405F pushed to BP velocities, but I've got some more work to do with it.
 
It took me about 3 month to work up a load for my 45/70 with micro groove rifling. I found that if you keep the load in line with the factory 45/70 velocity and use a 350 grain or 400 grain bullet you will get good accuracy. Hot loading a lead bullet will only strip out of the rifling.

Mace
Happines is a belt fed weapon with lots of ammo
 
Well, I took your advice and backed off on the 350 lrnfp loads a bit, and bought some Reloader 10x to experiment with. I also got some standard large rifle primers, as opposed to the magnums used to ignite the hefty H335 charges for the 350 Hornady Interlock RN bullets. From my informal 5 shot plinking session today, it seemed to work, as I was hitting reasonably sized targets at various distances (soda bottles, cans, etc.) This is a good improvement over the "pattern" I got on Saturday. I'll print some groups and work up from there.
 
We got my friends micro groove Marlin 30/30 to shoot well with cast. We sized them fat to .311 and they shoot great. The microgroove Handi's will surely be the same way.
 
I like mine lead bullets to be; soft, oversize, and HOT! You might try Paper Patch bullets...

Works well for many...
 
Good to hear that you are having success. Now that you have a starting point you can work your loads up in power, if you want to, until you find the tipping point where accuracy goes downhill or work to find what load gives the best accuracy, depending on what you want.
 
If you haven't slugged the bore yet, it's time to do so. I bought my .44 mag Handi rifle for shooting cast bullets. I've yet to try cast bullets in it but the bore slugged to .432" and that's .003 oversize. From what I've been hearing a couple thousandths over sized is considered within tolerance for NEF. I'm not pleased but if I can make it shoot OK with cast bullets, I'll deal with it...

I plan to order a .432 bullet sizer and lap out one mold to make over sized bullets. I've found polishing molds to be a good idea anyway...

Tony
 
Well, I admit I haven't slugged the bore, and didn't realize the tolerances were that loose. How would I best go about slugging the bore? I've heard a brass rod and some lead weights work for that, so long as I have the right size weight. It couldn't hurt.

Thanks
 
Do you definitely need a micrometer to measure? All I have is a dial caliper. I believe my buddy has a micrometer that I can borrow, though.
 
Well, I tried the new loads out, and they're around 4-5" at 100 yards. That's not exactly great, but it's on par with my old AK and my Mini-30. Those were minute o' coyote. I still haven't slugged the bore, but it's looking like i'm getting close. Those were minimum loads, so I may bump it up a bit and see what happens. Obviously there weren't any pressure signs from a load like this. I was nailing the 10" 200-yard gong as well, but they are dropping quite a bit at that distance, going so slow.
 
I shot my .44 mag Handi rifle today and while I didn't have any cast bullet loads, the 240 gran soft points shot great. If I can get cast bullets to shoot that well I will be thrilled...

Tony
 
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