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The story about the bear attack in another thread got me excited. I'm a reloading freak....nay, a ballistics freak. I enjoy reloading, but I also enjoy knowing exactly how that bullet/powder/primer combination is going to act inside and outside of the barrel of my gun. You know those charts in the back of Nosler manuals that give all the foot-pound and trajectory calculations? I study those in my spare time.
Anyhoo...I digress.
After years of studying and reading hunting article after hunting article, I decided to go out and purchase my first big game rifle. I already owned a few that I inherited from my father, but now I wanted one that I could call my very own.
My first decision after that was on the actual cartridge. Since I'm a reloader, I wanted a cartridge that would give great performance and put a nice 'thump' on any animal I chose to hunt. Even the great African animals came into my thought process. This was to be the cartridge I could use on deer as well as Africa's largest game (with the exception of elephants).
I chose the .45-70 Government. Why, you ask? Such an old cartridge that's been around for over a hundred years? Of all the 'louden-boomer' thunder-thumping cartridges in the world, why the 45-70??? It seemed like an affordable cartridge that could get the job done when reloaded with premium bullets and a hotter charge than manufacturers could offer.
You see, as it stands, there are MANY rifles chambered for this cartridge in the world that range in age from 100+ years to 1 year old. So you may have an 85 year-old gun shooting a modern cartridge. Since that is the case, and older rifles lose integrity over time, manufacturers must take that into acount. If they load a cartridge that says '45-70 Govt' and load it too hotly, it could BLOW UP and older gun. So they load those cartridges as if EVERYONE shooting a 45-70 shoots a 100 year-old gun. Hence, the reason I reload.
My buddy reloaded dozens of cartridges for me with various powder charges and various bullets with various weights. Everything from 300 grain Nosler Partitions to 405 grain Winchesters. I even tried some Barnes bullets, which proved to be terrible in my gun.
As the targets will tell, the 300 grain Partition turned out to be the winner. Nosler makes a great bullet and is the standard by which the entire bullet industry is judged.
Beyond shooting an actual animal and seeing its effects, I wanted to see how this load would perform on something meaner and harder than a soft old grizzly or a puny little elk.
So the story goes that my friend and I are on the last day of our elk hunt in October 2007. He is shooting a 270 Winchester and using a great bullet: 150 grain Hornady Interbond. A sturdy, premium bullet travelling at around 2,900 fps. After hiking through the woods and finding no elk withing a 10 square mile area, we pulled up to one of the largest quaking aspens we could find. We estimated this one to be about 16" thick.
My buddy fired his first shot. The bullet entered the tree, but there was no exit.
Now it's my turn. I mosie up to the tree and send that 300 grain Partition flying. It entered the tree, exited the backside, and continued into the tree behind it.
What does that mean?
Well, I believe it says something not just about bullets and speed. But more about BULLET WEIGHT and MOMENTUM. Imagine a bowling ball travelling 200 feet per second flying toward your house. What kind of damage with that do? It is highly likely that the bowling ball will fly right through every wall of YOUR house and keep going through your neighbor's house. Although that ball will have ONE HECK of a rainbow trajectory, it's going to leave a HUGE swath of destruction, even travelling at a relatively low speed.
So that's why I chose the 45-70. I can even load up a 500 grain bullet if I wanted (maybe 1,500 fps). It's plenty gun for anything I will ever hunt in my life. BRING ON THE T-REX's!!!
Anyhoo...I digress.
After years of studying and reading hunting article after hunting article, I decided to go out and purchase my first big game rifle. I already owned a few that I inherited from my father, but now I wanted one that I could call my very own.
My first decision after that was on the actual cartridge. Since I'm a reloader, I wanted a cartridge that would give great performance and put a nice 'thump' on any animal I chose to hunt. Even the great African animals came into my thought process. This was to be the cartridge I could use on deer as well as Africa's largest game (with the exception of elephants).
I chose the .45-70 Government. Why, you ask? Such an old cartridge that's been around for over a hundred years? Of all the 'louden-boomer' thunder-thumping cartridges in the world, why the 45-70??? It seemed like an affordable cartridge that could get the job done when reloaded with premium bullets and a hotter charge than manufacturers could offer.
You see, as it stands, there are MANY rifles chambered for this cartridge in the world that range in age from 100+ years to 1 year old. So you may have an 85 year-old gun shooting a modern cartridge. Since that is the case, and older rifles lose integrity over time, manufacturers must take that into acount. If they load a cartridge that says '45-70 Govt' and load it too hotly, it could BLOW UP and older gun. So they load those cartridges as if EVERYONE shooting a 45-70 shoots a 100 year-old gun. Hence, the reason I reload.
My buddy reloaded dozens of cartridges for me with various powder charges and various bullets with various weights. Everything from 300 grain Nosler Partitions to 405 grain Winchesters. I even tried some Barnes bullets, which proved to be terrible in my gun.
As the targets will tell, the 300 grain Partition turned out to be the winner. Nosler makes a great bullet and is the standard by which the entire bullet industry is judged.
Beyond shooting an actual animal and seeing its effects, I wanted to see how this load would perform on something meaner and harder than a soft old grizzly or a puny little elk.
So the story goes that my friend and I are on the last day of our elk hunt in October 2007. He is shooting a 270 Winchester and using a great bullet: 150 grain Hornady Interbond. A sturdy, premium bullet travelling at around 2,900 fps. After hiking through the woods and finding no elk withing a 10 square mile area, we pulled up to one of the largest quaking aspens we could find. We estimated this one to be about 16" thick.My buddy fired his first shot. The bullet entered the tree, but there was no exit.
Now it's my turn. I mosie up to the tree and send that 300 grain Partition flying. It entered the tree, exited the backside, and continued into the tree behind it.
What does that mean?
Well, I believe it says something not just about bullets and speed. But more about BULLET WEIGHT and MOMENTUM. Imagine a bowling ball travelling 200 feet per second flying toward your house. What kind of damage with that do? It is highly likely that the bowling ball will fly right through every wall of YOUR house and keep going through your neighbor's house. Although that ball will have ONE HECK of a rainbow trajectory, it's going to leave a HUGE swath of destruction, even travelling at a relatively low speed.
So that's why I chose the 45-70. I can even load up a 500 grain bullet if I wanted (maybe 1,500 fps). It's plenty gun for anything I will ever hunt in my life. BRING ON THE T-REX's!!!
