Michigan straight wall cartridge

[Joel Russo]

I had a few customers come to me looking for a muzzleloader or slug gun to hunt the Midwest this year. I set up an A-Bolt slug gun for one, and a Remington UML for the other. The A-Bolt performed impressive with one hole groups at 100 yard, and took a 174" BC buck in Ohio last week.
I really wasn't loving either of these two options, so I started to build a straight wall repeating rifle on our Axiom action. Hornady offers loaded ammo that is about as good as you can get.
Sub moa at 300 yards is the goal. Pretty sure I can achieve that with ease...
Already have ten orders on the books, and the test rifle will be done in the next few weeks.
This will be an affordable custom center fire bolt rifle, built on our action, and legal, in all Midwest states that allow deer hunting with the straight wall case.
I will have the rifle at SHOT, and the NRA shows this year.
Stay tuned......

 

[Jeeper48]

I have read through this whole thread on only read one mention of the 444 Marlin, I am surprised. Iowa just recently passed this same law and grandfathered in the 45-70, 444 ect. I picked up a Marlin 444 built in 1978 with a 24 in barrel that will hold a .75 moa group out to 200 yards. (Have no reason to believe it wouldnt shoot just as good farther, but limited with a range) The Hornday Superformance ammo is pushing a 265 gr fp bullet 2400 fps, it out does the 450 bushmaster easily.

 

[djm670]

I have read through this whole thread on only read one mention of the 444 Marlin, I am surprised. Iowa just recently passed this same law and grandfathered in the 45-70, 444 ect. I picked up a Marlin 444 built in 1978 with a 24 in barrel that will hold a .75 moa group out to 200 yards. (Have no reason to believe it wouldnt shoot just as good farther, but limited with a range) The Hornday Superformance ammo is pushing a 265 gr fp bullet 2400 fps, it out does the 450 bushmaster easily.

Michigan does not have the grandfather rules for the .45-70 or .444. The 444 Case length‎ is ‎2.250 in (57.2 mm) so does not meet the Michigan rules of a max of 1.8 inches.

 

[Kaboom]

I live in Iowa and use the .450 Bushmaster. I handload Barnes 250grn XPB bullets. Plenty of knock down and big holes on both sides. I've never tracked a deer farther than 50 yrds after being shot .75-1.25 MOA out of the AR platform.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Been a while since I replied on this subject and in that interval I've went to a Smith & Wesson 460 XVR 5 shot wheelgun 250 grain 452 Hornady double jacketed XTP's with Varget in Starline brass. 2750 muzzle. Fastest handgun produced and well capable of stopping just about anything on 4 legs and inexpensive to reload for too plus just a tad under the 1.8" case length as specified by Michigan and Ohio.

 

[Kaboom]

I have one also, it's a little hard on the ears if you don't have hearing protection in. But it's a deer stopper for sure.

 

[Kaboom]

I have one also, it's a little hard on the ears if you don't have hearing protection in. But it's a deer stopper for sure.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have one also, it's a little hard on the ears if you don't have hearing protection in. But it's a deer stopper for sure.

That is an understatement, hard on the ears...lol How about an eardrum buster. I wear Walkers Game Ears when I shoot it. It's punishing. Recoil is very good, noise is over the top. Guy took an evening video of me shooting it. The muzzle flame comes out 3 feet and is 4 feet in diameter. What a hammer. My wife shoots it too...offhand.

I really like mine for deer hunting. Much easier to carry than a rifle (I carry mine is a cross draw chest holster and I have a vintage Japanese Burris pistol scope on it.).

 

[WildRose]

Been a while since I replied on this subject and in that interval I've went to a Smith & Wesson 460 XVR 5 shot wheelgun 250 grain 452 Hornady double jacketed XTP's with Varget in Starline brass. 2750 muzzle. Fastest handgun produced and well capable of stopping just about anything on 4 legs and inexpensive to reload for too plus just a tad under the 1.8" case length as specified by Michigan and Ohio.

Good info Flip. I've always thought the 460 would be ideal for someone to build a great lever gun around.

 

[SidecarFlip]

The 460 S&W magnum caliber is as close to a long gun loading as you can come in a revolver platform. The 500 and 454 are bigger but the velocity isn't there at distance. In fact, with the 200 Hornady ballistic tipped pills, you can push them to just over 3000 fps, which is rifle territory. I prefer the 452 XTP's in 250 grain and keep the velocity reasonable simply because the effective range is limited to around 150 yards, which works just fine in my situation. Don't need or want a lever gun chambered in 460. The XVR is just fine for me, why I have one.

What I really appreciate is the ease of loading. No fiddling with brass, no bushing dies, no CBTO, case prep, nothing. Just load prime with LR primers, sprinkle in the appropriate amount of Varget, seat the pill and crimp. I do use a Lee collet crimper versus the roll / taper crimp (back the seat die out to a no crimp situation) because bullet setback is a real and present situation from recoil.

Downside is, short case life because of the aggressive crimp, but then I experience the same short case life with 44 RM as well. My cure, if you will, is I anneal the case mouths with my Annealeze (carefully). The real and present danger is cracked case mouths because of the extreme working of the brass during the crimp.

Upside is case cost. Aren't that expensive to buy new and Starline makes an excellent case (I buy direct from them). 44 RM's as well. Excellent cases, centered flash holes and minimal flash hole burrs. I do deburr the flasholes just like I do on all cases except Lapua which are drilled, not punched.

It's a fun gun.