The Firearms Forum banner

I need a little help with ballistics form a 32" 45/70 rifle.

3K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  carver 
#1 ·
My brother is gearing up for a bear hunt, and I'm trying to help him out a little. What I'm looking for is a ballistic chart for the Hornady Leverevolution 325 grain bullet fried from a 32" barrel. Any help would be appreciated.
 
#3 ·
If you can chrono the round you can figure the rest using the Hornady Ballistics Calculator. The bullet weight is 325 and the BC is .230 so that's what you enter.
There in lies the problem! No crono, and the advertized speeds of Hornady's bullets are from a much shorter barrel. I've been searching for a blog, or forum, where some one has cronoed the 325 gr Hornady Leverevolution bullet from a 32 inch barrel. So far, no luck.
 
#4 ·
The problem is that every barrel is different. That particular bullet isn't going to carry energy well at long range so to me it's almost a moot point. I am assuming that based on the barrel length your brother is shooting an 1885 or a Sharps. Both of those guns would be far better served shooting a much heavier load. There are numerous choices out there from other ammo makers that should prove more potent on bears.

You really need to chronograph the load in your gun.
 
#5 ·
The problem is that every barrel is different. That particular bullet isn't going to carry energy well at long range so to me it's almost a moot point. I am assuming that based on the barrel length your brother is shooting an 1885 or a Sharps. Both of those guns would be far better served shooting a much heavier load. There are numerous choices out there from other ammo makers that should prove more potent on bears.

You really need to chronograph the load in your gun.
What he has is a break open H&R. Louisiana says that the single shot rifle in 45/70 is OK for the extended Black Powder season. He's headed out this weekend for a bear hunt, and wanted to know what to expect from the rifle on longer shots. All information on ballistics that I can find are from a carbine, nothing from a 32" barrel, zeroed at 100 yards. I know we need to crono the rounds, but neither of us have a cronggraph, and neither of us know anyone that does.
 
#6 ·
Actually, for sight settings, the best thing is to stake out 150, 200 and whatever other yardages you want to know and shoot it.

The energy from a 325 gr. bullet isn't going to be very impressive on paper once you get past about 200 yards, if that. That short, fat bullet is going to shed velocity pretty quick. I have to agree with myfriends, a much better load with a heavier bullet is available.
 
#7 ·
Actually, for sight settings, the best thing is to stake out 150, 200 and whatever other yardages you want to know and shoot it.

The energy from a 325 gr. bullet isn't going to be very impressive on paper once you get past about 200 yards, if that. That short, fat bullet is going to shed velocity pretty quick. I have to agree with myfriends, a much better load with a heavier bullet is available.
A part of the problem is that he is shooting the Hornady Leverevolution ammo. It don't act like short, fat bullests, and it don't shed speed like regular 45/70 ammo.
 
#8 ·
For 45 caliber, 325 grains is short and fat. The sectional density is going to be abysmal and the BC isn't going to be much either. It will certainly retain velocity better than a HP, roundnose or flat nose of that weight but shed velocity quickly it will.
 
#9 ·
Book data is normally for 22'' to 26'' if you use approximately 15 fps per inch that can give you a ball park figure. For example if you use the data of 22'' and add 15'' for each inch which is a total of 10'' (32" - 22'' = 10) this should give you a rough estimate of about 150 fps.
 
#11 ·
Book data is normally for 22'' to 26'' if you use approximately 15 fps per inch that can give you a ball park figure. For example if you use the data of 22'' and add 15'' for each inch which is a total of 10'' (32" - 22'' = 10) this should give you a rough estimate of about 150 fps.
I don't think I'm going to find published info on the 32" barreled rifle, so this might be as colse as I get for now. Thanks! I will have a chrono this summer!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top