45 cal proof load

[Skylark4]

So hunting with this young girl is out, is becoming a fun target gun. Will have to stick with my MODERN RIFLE ...,
Here is a pic of my hunting terrain. There is 10 white tail in that tan patch in center of pic. Thats 3/4 of a mile of short grass and wheat stubble to belly crawl across to get close enough for a shot.

 

[smokepolehall]

So hunting with this young girl is out, is becoming a fun target gun. Will have to stick with my 1...,
Here is a pic of my hunting terrain. There is 10 white tail in that tan patch in center of pic. Thats 3/4 of a mile of short grass and wheat stubble to belly crawl across to get close enough for a shot.

Your point is what ? Just get there before they do

 

[tenngun]

Keep in mind before horses plains Indians hunted those guys with with bow, atl atl and hand held spear.
Antelope can see the figure of a human at ten miles. Yet i and lots others on this forum, not to count God Knows how many plainsman took plenty of antelope on that sort of terrain
Before dawn be in the willows, be down at the end of the arroyo and work your way up.
Walk in a long circle till you find a low in the ground you can move in they will mind you, but only bolt if you’re moving toward them. Meander.
3/4 of a mile is about two hours of coverage

 

[Bad Karma]

So hunting with this young girl is out, is becoming a fun target gun. Will have to stick with my MODERN RIFLE ...,
Here is a pic of my hunting terrain. There is 10 white tail in that tan patch in center of pic. Thats 3/4 of a mile of short grass and wheat stubble to belly crawl across to get close enough for a shot.

Fortunately for us we have opposable thumbs and large brains. With enough observation and study of the problem I’m sure a solution will present itself with no need to resort to long range weapons. We regularly use wooen bows to take antelope in wide open terrain just like this. Good luck with your pursuit!

 

[waksupi]

Heck, try it with prickly pear. Adds a whole new dimension to crawling up on game.

So hunting with this young girl is out, is becoming a fun target gun. Will have to stick with my MODERN RIFLE ...,
Here is a pic of my hunting terrain. There is 10 white tail in that tan patch in center of pic. Thats 3/4 of a mile of short grass and wheat stubble to belly crawl across to get close enough for a shot.

 

[Panama Red]

Heck, try it with prickly pear. Adds a whole new dimension to crawling up on game.

Prickly pear! Just the fuzzy part will kill you… we’ll, maybe not kill you, but you’ll wish.
-Red, been there, done that…

 

[waksupi]

Prickly pear! Just the fuzzy part will kill you… we’ll, maybe not kill you, but you’ll wish.
-Red, been there, done that…

I also discovered once you get prickly pear spines embedded in your buckskins, they are nearly impossible to remove!

 

[Eterry]

Hi everyone, received a Sharon Hawkins in 45 cal for my B-day a few weeks ago. Now having acquired shooting supplies (powder,ball,patches,caps,etc) I am concerned about safety of using a near 60 year old used rifle. Going by online loading data powder range for 137 grain patched ball is from 60gr to 90gr. My thoughts are to sandbag the manure out of it and touch it off using 500ft of double line 100lb kite strings loaded with the full 90gr of FFF. Reasoning is I may never run full charge so if it handles it all remaining loads should be safe. And IF it fails I would rather be 500ft away than up close and in person.
Thoughts??

I dug out my Lymans Black Powder Manual and here's some interesting info.

Using a 28" bbl and 140grs fffg of Goex a patched ball has 2167 fps and 1322 ft/lbs energy at the muzzle.
At 100 yards it drops to 1153 and 378, respectively.
At 300 yards it has 578 fps and 95 ft/lbs energy, and drops 130 INCHES, right at 11 FEET.
Powerwise is about what the old 32 s&w short pistol cartridge has at the muzzle.
I'd never try to take an animal with that round at that range.

The 45 maxi ball at 230grs has a max velocity of 1831fps using 150grs of C&H fffg, and 1831 ft/lbs energy. It has 1127 and 680 respectively at 100 yards.
At 300 yards the maxi has 690 fps and 243 ft/lbs energy and drops the exact same distance, 129.35 INCHES. Very similar to the old 44 Russian powerwise at the muzzle. Still a very mild load by today's standards at that distance.

I know of no iron read sight that will give you 40 MOA of adjustment. You'd need to install a venier tang peep, and still very iffy. I fear a wounded animal would be the result.

I wanted to add some hard data to the conversation, and a little personal opinion. I hope this helps.

 

[smokepolehall]

Well i will add some more data from my 1980 T/C loading book. .45 cal prb has 110 gr 2 f Dupont black powder MV 2,158 fps n 1,324 ft. lbs.
Maxi 240 gr using100 gr powder MV 1,743, n 1,485 ft. lbs

 

[Skylark4]

Thanks for the info. Does the books list the Ballistic Coefficient of a 45 RB ? It must be very low. So I would figure the Max range for a 137gr 45 RB to be about 500-600 yards? While the little 40gr .22 lr is dangerous to mile and a half(as taught in wifes hunter ed course 4 years ago and printed on many of the boxes stored in ammo safe), very interesting.

 

[bronko220002]

My word man. You'd seriously attempt a 200-300 yard shot on a deer with a .45 cal and patched round ball? What are you thinking? Even in the off chance you did even hit the animal the chance of killing it are slim to none. Heck You'd be lucky to break the hide! If that ball left the muzzle at 2000 fps, at 200 yards you'd only have 163 ftlb of energy. (That's with an 80 gr charge of FFFg.) At 300 yards you may as well throw the ball at it.
Best you practice your stalk8ng skills and get inside 100 yards.

 

[Skylark4]

As I said earlier, hunting is out with this old girl. I get the point, at 300 yards a drive with a golf ball has the same impact. Tho it will be amusing to put a sheet of plywood out at 300 and see how it groups.

 

[smokepolehall]

As I said earlier, hunting is out with this old girl. I get the point, at 300 yards a drive with a golf ball has the same impact. Tho it will be amusing to put a sheet of plywood out at 300 and see how it groups.

Well a prb past 125 yds in a .45 is more of a wing n prayer. BC of the 127 gr ball is dismal at best. Now a conical with decent peep set-up it would have enough power to put the smackdown on a tick toter out to 125 n maybe a high powder charge to 150 yds. My limit using a prb from either of my .45's is 75/80 yds. Now there have been sharp shooters that have killed men during the Rev. n Civil war that could reach out to the 200-300 yds area

 

[smokepolehall]

In the real world the more you practice n shoot at longer range the better you can get

 

[64Springer]

Practicing makes a person more effective with their firearm.

Whodathunkit.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Now to work on getting it within a 6 inch square at 250 to 300 yards. Typical range on the whites and mules out here.

For hunting ranges like that you definitely do not want a traditional round ball ml rifle. Proofing is loading until you blow up the barrel. Then you will know limits. BTW, for whitetail deer a 65 gr. charge is very adequate. Probably also for mulies and black bear. Can say that from experience though. When and if you get those 6" groups at 250-300 yards let us know and send pics. I'll wait.

 

[Abarnes]

250-300 yards with a round ball? Seriously Clark?

Wow!!

 

[Billy Boy]

Hi everyone, received a Sharon Hawkins in 45 cal for my B-day a few weeks ago. Now having acquired shooting supplies (powder,ball,patches,caps,etc) I am concerned about safety of using a near 60 year old used rifle. Going by online loading data powder range for 137 grain patched ball is from 60gr to 90gr. My thoughts are to sandbag the manure out of it and touch it off using 500ft of double line 100lb kite strings loaded with the full 90gr of FFF. Reasoning is I may never run full charge so if it handles it all remaining loads should be safe. And IF it fails I would rather be 500ft away than up close and in person.
Thoughts??

That's not a proof load. An informal one I use is double max powder charge, two balls (or shot charges) and fire it (remotely) three times, measuring for breech area expansion each time or ’room’ on the threads.
Inspect the barrel inside and out, if nothing shows up, start working up a load. If you are at all uncomfortable locate someone experienced with these arms and have them go over it for you.

 

[Pete G]

I don’t see any sense in purposely overloading a production rifle.

 

[Billy Boy]

I don’t see any sense in purposely overloading a production rifle.

Neither do I