xlr hornady rant

[a357lever]

i spent some good dogh for a 45-70 XLR. it is a series of guns that took advantage of the hornady lever evo ammo.
when I got this rig hornady said 325gr psp at 2050 fps and over 3000ftp energy, and a low price point! what a 200 yard load right? then, i here that they can't get this load at hornady because they can't get the powder and now its 1870fps instead of 2050.
i think they are full of bull and no gun magazines said boo. i know of several manufactures that get way more power and range so what is wrong at hornady????? and they won't sell the bullets!, could it be it made the 450 round kind of redundent? i bought this rifle partly because of this new pointed long shooting bullet and load. I sent email to hornady but no reply. i may just be picky but i feel a little cheated.

[Modoc ED]

Buy the Hornady "Light Magnum" rounds.

Don't know why you can't get the bullets. They have been on sale this year. Maybe they're just out of stock.

Screw an e-mail. Call em.

[deerwhacker444]

Welcome

I don't own a 45/70, but wish I did. You can buy the bullets seperate now.

http://www.grafs.com/product/231270
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?p ... ber=894708

[crs]

Those Hornady .45-70 325 Leverevolution loads chronoed at just under 2000 fps from my 26 inch .45-90 barrel.
The Winchester Supreme 300 grains came in just over 1800.
The remington 300 JHP did chrono at exactly the advertised speed of 1800+.

Go figure.

PS While rummaging around looking for a .45 cal belt cartridge carrier, I located a box of Green Box 405 grain JSP .45-70 - big thumpers. Now, I have even more cartridges that I cannot carry on my belt - time to order one of those Hunter leather belt thingys.

[a357lever]

i stand corrected on the bullets. but they claimed 2050fps from 24" xlr and i wish they did sell light mag for 45-70 but maybe i am nuts, but i wish hornady would set the record strait because i saw this press release in G&A mag but never saw it again. it stated that as i said, they were having trouble getting powder for this load so its 1870fps now, that means 2550fpe instead of 3030fpe energy. a big diff. if i am wrong i would like to know but i shoot these and they seem pretty light. just sayin........

[scr83jp]

Hornaday had powder source problems several years ago lowering the ammo to 1875fps from 2050fps but it was only for a couple of months then they went bact to 2050fps leverevolution ammo.I have on box of the 1875fps hornaday ammo.I've used 2400 to load 300gr oregon trail lead bullets for practise ammo and the data in http://www.gmdr.com for oregon trail cowboy loads .I started loading 45-70 in the 1970's using IMR 4198 & SR4759.

[a357lever]

thanks i will start to purchase the hornady 325 again it does shoot flat....

[AJMD429]

I like my (.444 Marlin) XLR primarily because it is stainless, has a floated magazine tube, and is VERY accurate (I did have to fiddle with a forend wood splintering issue though ). Even if the ballistics of the XLR rounds weren't as advertised (and for the .444 they appear to be - 2050 fps and 3052 fpe - I chrono'd three at 2042, 2047, & 2048), I'd like the GUN.

My gripe is that the brass is shorter, and since I didn't really care about 300 yard trajectory as much as 200 yard accuracy, I figured I'd be reloading ordinary bullets, so I will save the box of 'short' Hornady brass for if I load shot capsules or something weird.

As printed on my box of .444 Marlins, they claim +3" at 100 yards gives -1.4" at 200 and -18" at 300, and I didn't get to test that far due to only having 100 yards at the range, but if the muzzle velocity is that close, it should be close trajectory-wise. I don't know what the .45-70 claim for trajectory was, but I'll bet that even at the slower velocity than you'd hoped, the final drop at 300 yards won't be much different than the .444, due to the heavier bullet probably retaining more velocity at 300 yards than the .444's, which has slowed to 1380 fps at that point. The .444's 300-yard energy is supposedly 1120 fpe with their little 265 grainer, so most likely your .45-70 will have at least that much energy remaining at 300 yards, as well...

On a positive note, even the 'lesser-than-originally-claimed' .45-70 load they're selling is a thumper, and I'll bet you can nail any critter you need to with it.

[a357lever]

they claim +3" at 100y -4.1@200y and -28" @300 as you can see heavy big boys drop quick so thats why i only shoot to 200 + -
so you can see why i like the extra velocity i only put @1-4x scope on this bad boy. a friend timed a buffalo bore 430gr at 2010 5 shots dev only 14fps from my 24" Thats 3850fpe @ +3 100y -8.5 @200 still 2050fpe left.. bang

[Rusty]

If you want power try some Garrett Hammerheads.