Silhouette load 5744 350 gr berry's plated bullet?

[Rotnguns]

Just getting into lever-action silhouette and been using a 30-30 with good results, but I also have an older Marlin 1895 in 45-70 and eight pounds of Accurate 5744 I want to start using. Considering a 350 grain Berry's Plated with crimp groove, about 20 grains of 5744, light crimp. Quickload estimate using a 350 gr round nose from their data file predicts about 1100 fps at the muzzle for a 26 inch barrel. Very low pressure, around 10 000 psi, concerns me, even though 5744 is supposed to be quite good for light loads in large cases. I don't want to go much higher for fear of mashing the targets. Does anyone have experience with such loads?

[DonM]

You may have to use a bit more powder to keep the velocity up enough to keep the bullet stable and maintain accuracy out to the rams
With the arching trajectory of the 45-70 you may find sight settings more of a problem than the 30-30

[Rotnguns]

You may have to use a bit more powder to keep the velocity up enough to keep the bullet stable and maintain accuracy out to the rams
With the arching trajectory of the 45-70 you may find sight settings more of a problem than the 30-30

Thanks for the comment! I've run ballistic simulations with a conservative BC of .185 and I have more than enough range with my Williams micro rear sight. Good comment re: stability; will check on one of the apps.

[DonM]

In my experience good accuracy with a 350 gr bullet in a Marlin with the 350 gr bullets came at 1500 fps and up

[edgehit]

Go for it. Search for JBM Ballistics where you’ll find spin stability calculator and a (not so) simple trajectory model. Your proposed load should work. Your sights will need to provide about 25 moa elevation range from C to rams. The only negative consequence is excessive carbon on cases, your hands, and the bore.

[Rotnguns]

Go for it. Search for JBM Ballistics where you’ll find spin stability calculator and a (not so) simple trajectory model. Your proposed load should work. Your sights will need to provide about 25 moa elevation range from C to rams. The only negative consequence is excessive carbon on cases, your hands, and the bore.

Thanks! I did some more research and decided on kicking up the load to 24 grains of 5744 with the same 350 grain .458 diameter Berry's plated bullet, which I measured at 0.867 inches long, and assigned a conservative BC of 0.185, reduced from the Hornady RN bullet of the same weight. From Quickload, this gives a muzzle velocity of about 1320 fps from a 26 inch barrel. Using JBM, which is based upon the Miller stability formula corrected for velocity, the stability factor is well above 5. Not too surprising, with this short, fat, and heavy bullet and the 1895's twist rate of 1:20. I used ShootersCalculator for a trajectory model (with drag function of G7 instead of G1), and the drop from 50 yards to 200 is less than 32 inches, which surprised me. One item of concern is the low pressure from Quickload - about 12 000 psi max. Can't put too heavy of a crimp on those plated bullets; cannelures are quite shallow, and Berrys advises against a heavy crimp for their plated bullets. Looks like I'll probably have to live with carbon stains, as you mentioned. Cases are on order so I will post results when I can load them up.