Range Report: Winchester/Miroku 1886 Short Rifle

[JayF in AZ]

Well today was the day I finally got to break in the new 45-70. Loads were in Winchester brass, CCI primers, 5744 for powder, and 405 RNFP lead boolits. I loaded 10 rounds each at 24.0, 24.5, 25.0, 25.5 and 26.0 grains. The boolits are by S&S Casting, bought from Brownells. The price on them was very good for these days, $49.99 for 250. Here is a shot of one of them:

bullet.jpg

As you can see, there is only one skinny lube groove for a great big boolit, I figured they would lead my barrel like crazy. They did leave some lead behind, but I think since they came sized .459 (the one I mic'ed was .4592) they are big enough to clean up after themselves somewhat.

I got to the Joe Foss range at about 10:00 AM today, conditions were near perfect, 73 degs and just a little bit windy. Here was the setup on the bench:

bench.jpg

I set the target frame at the 50 yard mark and shot 5 rounds of each load at it's own target. I had to move the sight elevator to the 3rd notch for a good 6 o'clock hold. The most encouraging target was the 26.0 grain load:

26gr-target.jpg

Not all that great a group for 50 yards. I think the main problem is my eyes and the buckhorn rear sight. It was very difficult for me to get a good sight picture. I was planning on putting a receiver sight on this rifle and today has certainly confirmed the need for one. I also plan to get a mold as soon as I can and start casting some better boolits that have more space for lube! I believe my next round of testing I'll start at 25.5 grains (that group was almost as good as 26.0) and go up by 0.3 gr increments to near 27.0 gr.

Recoil with the crescent butt plate was not unpleasant at these trapdoor load levels, but I don't want to go much higher in velocity, that's for sure. The 50 rounds I fired today was about the limit of what I wanted to do from a bench. A good set of cross sticks is in my future too.

[Pete44ru]

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I got excellent accuracy from my Winchester/Miroku M1886EL - but then, I long ago gave up shooting boolits any heavier than 300gr-350gr in a .45-70, which IMHO translated into better/more accurate shooting for me. (YMMV, of course)

As a bonus, the lighter boolits have a flatter trajectory - a plus when shoothing game across a field, etc.


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[AJMD429]

Not all that great a group for 50 yards. I think the main problem is my eyes and the buckhorn rear sight. It was very difficult for me to get a good sight picture. I was planning on putting a receiver sight on this rifle and today has certainly confirmed the need for one.

Yep. Slap a Williams FP on it, and your groups will likely shrink nicely. Even their 'FireSight' front sights are kinda nice, though I often pick out the orange optic fiber, and put in a piece of more subdued green or yellow (MidwayUSA and Brownells sell replacement fibers cheap).

[Grizz]

Good report. I've always thought that windage is far more important than elevation in a hunting arm. Your target has 4 rounds in the same vertical line. That's very good shooting IMO.

I think the bullet hardness is more important than the lube with smokeless powder, do you know what it is?

My cast bullets are .460 and I have fired them from a lot of different guns, they swage to the bore dia. They are gas checked. But I think that's not necessary at velocities below 17-1800 fps, if the dia is correct and the alloy is hard. I have guns that I've never brushed, there is no evidence of lead buildup.

Grizz

[JayF in AZ]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Pete, I'll probably get a second mold around 300 gr or so as well, should be fun to play with.

Grizz, sorry I don't have a hardness tester. These are made to be shipped though so I'd imagine they're fairly hard, as is the lube..