Beartooth Pile-Driver 45-70 bullets

[Naphtali]

I am having a 45-70 rifle customized in the next ten days. Has anyone had experience with the two WLN 45-70 bullets Beartooth named "Pile-Driver" and "Pile-Driver, Jr.?" These bullets have meplats of, I believe, .374 or .375 inch on weights of 425 and 525 grains.

If anyone can furnish/sell to me three or four of either Pile-Driver bullet, I would furnish them to my gunsmith to make sure they feed flawlessly.

[crs]

May I suggest you call or email Beartooth Bullets? They might send you a sample of each bullet for you to try.
My experience with other Beartooth bullets is that when they tell you they will feed through a specific action, they will cycle properly.

[Naphtali]

Simple and effective solution. No wonder I didn't think of it. Many thanks. I'm on it.

[crs]

Please let us know how this contact works for you and if you are satisfied with the response.

Also, how about some details about the rifle you are having customized? What is it now and what will it be when you get it done?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Rusty]

What kind of rifle are you having made up?

[C. Cash]

Grizz will hopefully chime in on this, as I remember he uses those and even made a nifty video of their penetration on water jugs.

[Naphtali]

Please let us know how this contact works for you and if you are satisfied with the response.

Also, how about some details about the rifle you are having customized? What is it now and what will it be when you get it done?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I called Beartooth and they are sending four bullets.
***
The rifle started life as a M1895GS. It was to become a .50-caliber -- until I put a micrometer on the barrel's chamber wall. I am aware that 50 Alaskan and 510 Kodiak Express conversions are not uncommon. Having measured metal mass, rather than accepting such conversions as routine, I gotta tell yuh, I'm not that adventurous. Barrel thickness is substantially greater forward of the chamber. Instead, I am having Grizzly Custom Guns in Columbia Falls, Montana, create a 45/2.28. This requires a custom reamer to elongate the 45-70's chamber to accept 2.28-inch cases (45-90 brass shortened) and 2.73-inch overall length. The goal is to obtain greater than 2100 fps with 405-grain ABW Kodiak bonded core bullets, the same velocities with 450-grain WLN GC bullets, from 22- or 24-inch barrel. While these numbers may be achievable with standard 45-70 brass, I prefer to load moderately. Grizzly will provide QuickLoad data to minimize load development.

I have difficulty seeing front sight blades. I haven't decided yet, but I lean toward replacing my Brockman's rear sight (a very useful and sturdy sight if you haven't seen one) with a Marble's tang sight. If this change does not prove useful, the tang sight becomes the back-up to an Ultradot L/T. This sight is very small and will not interfere with carrying the rifle as I would with any adjustable aperture rear sight. Remove it with a hex wrench and the back-up sight takes over. This is not a perfect solution, but I'm out of perfect solutions.

I'm still up in the air about a recoil pad. I'm not recoil sensitive, but I'm getting old. Pads I've used on friends' rifles bounced from my shoulder to slow subsequent shots. If I cannot identify a slow-to-relax pad, I'll do without.

[slimster]

Sounds like that will make a dandy dangerous game rifle! Good luck on your project, but please think twice and /or be careful about using a tang sight with a heavy recoiling combo like that...eyeballs are not easy to replace!!!

[1886]

I think Beartooth states that those bullets were designed for the Marlin 1895. If you shoot a .450 Marlin you may experience loading issues as the .450 uses the .444 mag. tube, at least the one I owned had a .444 mag. tube. Mic did a full blown rebuild on that rifle so we could use the cast perf. 460grwfn bullet. That bullet would not negotiate the mag. tube without some modification. The goal was to drive that bullet 1900fps out of the 18.5" barrel without beating up the rifle at acceptable pressure. It worked. Good Luck, 1886.

[Old Ironsights]

Sounds rather a lot like the Wild West Guns .457 Wild West Magnum... http://wildwestguns.com/ammunition.html

[crs]

Sounds like a fun project. The game that you shoot with those .45 cal sledgehammers will not know the difference between .45 and .50 cal !

[Naphtali]

Yep, like a 457 WWG on steroids, less costly to shoot and create, though.
***
Regarding Pile-Driver bullets, I'm making an assumption that this wide meplat projectile will be the most difficult to get to feed in the rifle. If feeding is assured with it from inception of the project, other bullets having less aggressive nose shapes will automatically feed without issue. Well, that's the theory.
***
It's not intended to be a "dangerous game" rifle, per se. The purpose is to significantly improve the likelihood that a killing shot at elk within 100 yards will ground the animal within 100 yards. I have physical problems that limit mobility. I've arranged my hunting area to limit available shooting distances to less than 150 yards, with nearly all avenues being less than 100 yards. The terrain is such that were the animal grounded quickly, there will not be significant mountainous travel to get the dressed carcass to our truck. And lastly, it may provide an additional layer of peace of mind since I hunt in grizzly country. I don't want anything close to a fair fight over whose elk I'm dressing.

[Grizz]

I'm making an assumption that this wide meplat projectile will be the most difficult to get to feed in the rifle. If feeding is assured with it from inception of the project, other bullets having less aggressive nose shapes will automatically feed without issue.

Not so. As I said on Marshall's forum the piledrivers feed perfectly in every gun I tried them in. The shape of the piledrivers is not aggressive, it is in fact very conservative because there is no ogive. It feeds better IMO than the cast performance 460s, which do have an ogive that affects feeding in my Marlins. Some bullets with pronounced ogives will not feed at all in Marlins even though they are shorter in OAL. You could try one of everything to see for yourself what works best in your guns.