How do Postelle bullets do as hunting bullets?

[Big Iron]

I have been mostly concentrating on 457125.459 520 gr RN bullets in my 45-70 Pedersoli Business Rifle. But today I shot a few 535 gr Postelle bullets and they showed promise of good accuracy, better than I have gotten so far with the 520 gr RN guys.

With that more pointed profile, will it still dump enough energy in a big critter on the way through to put it down as well as, say a 400 gr flat nose type bullet? The 535's are at 1220 fps. The 400 gr guys I have had some luck with were at 1320 fps or so.

Thanks,

Big Iron

[rdnck]

Big Iron--Keep the Postells at 30-1 alloy, and they work great as a hunting bullet. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Big Iron]

Thanks, Rdnck -

The problem is that I am limited to what I can buy. I am at least two years away from casting my own (job, house, place, time, etc.). The bullets I shoot now come from Buffalo Arms and they seem fine, but they advertise 20-1 mix.

Can anybody recommend a quality source for commercially produced 535gr Postelles at .459" in the 30-1 ratio ?? How big a batch would a commercial caster have to produce at 30-1 to make it financially viable for him? 1000? 10,000? 20 lbs of mix ~= 260 bullets, 200 lb ~=2600 bullets, 500 lb ~= 6500 bullets? Right?

I'm willing to make the investment in dollars. Its time and place I don't have to spend.

Any advice appreciated,


- Big Iron

[AlmostAQuigley]

Big Iron:

Check your PMs...


JR

[hatchet]

Sagebrush sells the Lyman's & the Paul Jones bullets 30-1.

[Big Iron]

AlmostAQuigley - check your pm.

Hatchet - Thanks. I have a couple hundred on the way form Sagebrush to try out.

- Big Iron

[pete]

I guess it all depends on what you want. A flat nose will definately expand more and not penetrate as much. But on antelope to cow buffalo size animals a flat nose has plenty of penetration with pass throughs if that's what you need pretty much common on antelope and deer and that's with pure lead. The only big bull buffalo I've shot was with a Lyman govt. round nose so can't really say with those big guys.

[Dang Long Shot]

Hey Big Iron,

How are you getting those big Postells to clock at 1,220 fps ? Who's powder and what charge weight...???? Best I have gotten lately with my 45-70 with 68 grains compressed & RN Lyman 520 grainers was 1,186 fps and that was out of my new 34" heavy barrel Shiloh. You were getting even better with the heavier 535-540 grain Postell's.

Maybe your using the new Goex Express powder..?

[Big Iron]

Dang Long Shot -

It is Black~Feather's recipe.

- WW brass, with flash hole drilled out with 3/32 inch bit. F-L sized.
- FC215 (B~F calls for CCI BR)
- 74.5 grains of regular Goex 2Fg, dropped through 24" tube.
- 0.030" veg wad (B~F calls for wax paper over wad, but I didn't have any)
- Crush, er, uh, compress the whole column to seat the bullet 0.575 inches deep in the 2.10" case. Compression was about 0.33-.36 inch. Slight crimp into the grease groove below the first driving band.
- Bullet was .459" Postelle at 20-1 from Buffalo Arms. Advertized wt is 535 gr, but I can't weigh anything over 511 grains! yet!

Velocity average (5 shots) was 1219, Es was 9, Sd was 3.5. Group size was 1 5/8 inches at 100 yards. It was the best group I have yet measured from my new Ped Business rifle.

I had been using Starline brass and 520gr 457125's. I only had the Postelle's 'cause I screwed up my first order to Buffalo Arms a few months ago. The WW brass on hand was from loading smokeless in my Marlin 1985. Now I have scrounged every WW case in my shop, about 85 pieces or so, and drilled out the flash holes and have ordered the 30-1 Postelle's from Sagebrush. It this proves out, I'll be getting a big batch of WW brass soon.

And, I am guessing from other testing with Express, that if I substitute about 72.5 grains of Express 2Fg (to match the volume of 74.5 grains of regular Goex 2Fg), I'll get another 20 to 40 fps. That will be a couple of weeks, but I'll let you know. . . . . . .


- Big Iron

[Big Iron]

DLS -

I should have also specified, the Ped Business Rifle has a 32" barrel.

[Dang Long Shot]

Big Iron,

Thanks for the info. My Goex Express is on the way...should be here maybe by Monday. I was going to try 70 grains with the same load regimin, but with WW mag primers or CCI Mag primers...thats all I can get my hands on right now. That load is with Remington cases alla Rdknck. Those Winchesters cases will hold a few more grains than Remingtons. That will compress the powder column to about .30" or so.
I have heard of folks pushing a load to 72.5 grains in the Remington cases...my ideas on that is they must be only kneck sizing the brass.

Again thanks for the input. Sounds like a good load for 1,000 yard shooting ifin the accuracy holds up at distance....most probably will given the ES & SD's you got. I am a believer that uniform ballistic's only enhances accuracy, especially at longer ranges. You can't defy the laws of physic's.

[Big Iron]

D L S -

I think that the drilled out flash holes are also part of the equation. I don't remember specifics, but the Spencer Wolf book on Trapdoors talked about the challenges associated with lighting off the full 70 (+) grains of powder with standard flash holes and gave the example of old original cases maybe being Berdan primed with 2 flash holes, the the combined opening of which was considerably more than the single hole currently in boxer primed cases.

I used to be a bold reloader that has accidently survived to be an old reloader. I am way more aware of safety issues than I used to be and worry a little bit about the increased possibility of blow back through the flash hole. I did not see any signs of it with this load, but maybe someone out there knows more about the physics involved.

Also remember that Regular Goex is denser than Express, that 72 grains of Regular takes less space in the case than 72 grains of Express, guessing an extra 0.04" to 0.05" of compression? That points to the load of 74.5 grains Express 2Fg needing 0.37" to 0.39" compression . . . . Is that reasonable? If it is, we're looking at potentially 1250 to 1275 fps with the Postelle's !!

How much compression is too much?? I guess velocity and accuracy as I work my way up in charge weights will tell. So far, my Ped rifle seems to like heavier loads than lighter, but it way too early to make any final declarations. If I am screwing up something here, Somebody please tell me.

I am really looking forward to trying all this load development on my Shiloh when it arrives (next summer!!). What difference will the 30 inch barrel make? What difference in the harmonics of the heavier barrel profile? Fun stuff!!

Have fun with it and good luck.

- Big Iron

[Dang Long Shot]

Big Iron,

I recon your right or close to being right on that compression with the new Express powder...but Goex tends to like a goodly amount of compression. I have heard of folks compressing a full .5" with Goex. I wouldn't be afraid of pushing it to .35" with no problem maybe even .4".

1,250 fps to 1,275 fps is probably acheivable, especialy if shot in my new 34" heavy barrel Rough Rider. My 30" heavy Hartford will lose probably at least 32-36 fps off that number. Either way a marked improvement over my 2F & cartridge grade loads. They aught to be much better at longer ranges. We are talking 45-90 performance out of the old 45-70.

I don't drill out the flash holes in my shells, I just use a flash hole uniformer, which kind of rounds them out and camfers the inside around the flash holes.

I'm sorry I didn't get back with you this past weekend...been breaking in my brother In law into the ways of the dark side {Muzzle loaders} Haven't been on line this weekend. Thanks for the information & kick back.