Anyone been shooting?

[pinto beans]

Greetings All,

Figure to stir the pot a bit and ask if anyone been shooting their 76 while the site been getting fall cleaning?

Wish I had a report to give but alas and alack between family and my little retirement job in the gun shop i haven't had
time to burn any powder.

November is a coming and that means whitetail season here in Tennessee so hope to get the 45-75 out for a few sight check
shots soon! 

What about others out there?

P.B.

[greyhawk]

Greetings All,

Figure to stir the pot a bit and ask if anyone been shooting their 76 while the site been getting fall cleaning?

Wish I had a report to give but alas and alack between family and my little retirement job in the gun shop i haven't had
time to burn any powder.

November is a coming and that means whitetail season here in Tennessee so hope to get the 45-75 out for a few sight check
shots soon! 

What about others out there?

Yeah Mr PB -- been foolin round with mine - (Uberti 45/75) - testin loads to the point I thunk I confused meself  - and along the way shootin off stuff that I loaded ages ago ..... wads versus no wads ? I gotta use a wad in mine - early on I loaded stuff without wad. groups are about half size with a wad in.
Mr Dusty Texian got me excited months ago about the possibilities of these guns for longer range with single loaded heavy boolit - (Winchester sold these loads a 450 gr paper patch over 90 grains of powder)  the possibility is there but its an ongoing project at this stage, have gone up as heavy as the Lyman 535 gr Postell and the rifle seems to handle it ok - that and the 500grain LEE pointy boolit (that n dont like the wind but on a nice day will shoot well).
Mine is still vertical stringing the first couple of shots cold - has got better but still doing it - if I leave it in the sun to warm up to body heat is enough to stop that. Have killed a lot of paper in the last six months with it!    

P.B.

[dusty texian]

Hey Amigo's , like Y'all I have been laying off the shooting , Hot weather has slowed down my shooting . Now its getting a smidge cooler it has been raining like all get out . Besides a few rounds out of my Express rifle the big .50 , have not been shooting much . Hope that is about to change soon, also want to get back to some long shooting with the EHB 45/75 as soon as I can Greyhawk look forward to comparing notes . Remember Mr. Pinto Beans retirement means you get to go play a bit . Hope this finds Y'all well. Adios ,,,DT

[greyhawk]

Hey Amigo's , like Y'all I have been laying off the shooting , Hot weather has slowed down my shooting . Now its getting a smidge cooler it has been raining like all get out . Besides a few rounds out of my Express rifle the big .50 , have not been shooting much . Hope that is about to change soon, also want to get back to some long shooting with the EHB 45/75 as soon as I can Greyhawk look forward to comparing notes . Remember Mr. Pinto Beans retirement means you get to go play a bit . Hope this finds Y'all well. Adios ,,,DT

Hey Dusty -
nice to hear from you again - yeah I been off doing other stuff too (work) a bit of disconnected shooting along the way
Just fired some heavy boolits at the 100yard with nice results - but me phone is flat so cant post pics till I get it charged - will do that tonight - check back tomorrow I think you might like what you see 
Greyhawk

[greyhawk]

Hey Dusty -
nice to hear from you again - yeah I been off doing other stuff too (work) a bit of disconnected shooting along the way
Just fired some heavy boolits at the 100yard with nice results - but me phone is flat so cant post pics till I get it charged - will do that tonight - check back tomorrow I think you might like what you see  
Greyhawk

For Dusty ------Ok lets see here
First the loads
1) a CBE (Cast Bullet Engineering = Aussie company, brass mold) I use at 535 grains in my Sharps its a close copy of the Lyman postell from what I can figure - I like the boolit but at 535 grains thought its a tad heavy in the 76 so I lathe turned the base band and one lube groove off it - makes about 475 grains (he will duplicate that shortened mold for me if I want one at no extra charge) Boolits were shot as cast -- loaded over 70 grains of my FFg with a 55thou HDPE wad overpowder and a single newsprint wad at the boolit base. Cases are full chamber length and the boolit has one lube groove exposed.
2) LEE 459-500-3R  loaded same as the above - only difference was more compression on the LEE
Both rounds chamber ok in my rifle as is

Shooting at 100yards - Fired three warm up shots - then .....
1) five with the CBE - this target has six holes, one warm up shot in the lower group does not count - so there are two there then check the scope then the three shot group above it is consecutive shots. That 3 group goes an inch and one eighth

2) five with the LEE (second target) again six shots here - the one in the edge of the white is a previous shot not patched - fired two check the scope, fired three - got two nice pair - but oooops - I have a lock screw on the windage on my homemade tang sight, its come loose under recoil and looks like dialed myself crossways a couple inches for the last three shots.

So one nice group of three and three nice pairs - dang it every time I take my hands off the rifle to check scope, shuffle my feet, move the forward rest a little, my point of impact changes some - - I really struggle at this level to get clear sight picture too.  
Sooooo this is still a work in progress but the fruit is there for the pickin I reckon        

[King Medallion]

That's minute of deer in any wood's. Nice shooting.

[dusty texian]

For Dusty ------Ok lets see here
First the loads
1) a CBE (Cast Bullet Engineering = Aussie company, brass mold) I use at 535 grains in my Sharps its a close copy of the Lyman postell from what I can figure - I like the boolit but at 535 grains thought its a tad heavy in the 76 so I lathe turned the base band and one lube groove off it - makes about 475 grains (he will duplicate that shortened mold for me if I want one at no extra charge) Boolits were shot as cast -- loaded over 70 grains of my FFg with a 55thou HDPE wad overpowder and a single newsprint wad at the boolit base. Cases are full chamber length and the boolit has one lube groove exposed.
2) LEE 459-500-3R  loaded same as the above - only difference was more compression on the LEE
Both rounds chamber ok in my rifle as is

Shooting at 100yards - Fired three warm up shots - then .....
1) five with the CBE - this target has six holes, one warm up shot in the lower group does not count - so there are two there then check the scope then the three shot group above it is consecutive shots. That 3 group goes an inch and one eighth

2) five with the LEE (second target) again six shots here - the one in the edge of the white is a previous shot not patched - fired two check the scope, fired three - got two nice pair - but oooops - I have a lock screw on the windage on my homemade tang sight, its come loose under recoil and looks like dialed myself crossways a couple inches for the last three shots.

So one nice group of three and three nice pairs - dang it every time I take my hands off the rifle to check scope, shuffle my feet, move the forward rest a little, my point of impact changes some - - I really struggle at this level to get clear sight picture too.  
Sooooo this is still a work in progress but the fruit is there for the pickin I reckon        

I like the looks of that bullet and the rifle seems to like it too. Greyhawk you get good  accuracy from your Uberti 1876 rifle using Bp. Your work using the Bp. and heavy / long bullets are very interesting . I hope to get some range time in during the next few months as the weather cools here in Texas .The 45/75 is the best choice for long range Bp. shooting with the 1876 Winchester / Uberti .  Like KM , said Good Shooting .,,,,,DT

[greyhawk]

                                                                                                                                                                                                            I like the looks of that bullet and the rifle seems to like it too. Greyhawk you get good  accuracy from your Uberti 1876 rifle using Bp. Your work using the Bp. and heavy / long bullets are very interesting . I hope to get some range time in during the next few months as the weather cools here in Texas .The 45/75 is the best choice for long range Bp. shooting with the 1876 Winchester / Uberti .  Like KM , said Good Shooting .,,,,,DT

Thanks for the encouragement DT (and KM too) ----dunno where this will lead but am enjoying the ride - it  kind of takes the lever gun out of its norma place - but the 76 was sposedly the only lever rifle to figure in the buffalo slaughter - and a 500 grain slug over 70 grains of powder puts it squarely in that patch (am intending to chrono that load soon) ...I need to get away from my 100yard range now but its too convenient,  just 20 paces walk past my garage door.
cheers Greyhawk.   

[greyhawk]

   Here's one for you boys
Forgive me if this seems a little boastful but I been trying to do this for ages
Nice groups are nice but in the money zone is really nice!
100 yards this morning, a bit of light breeze right to left across my range - nice clear day - eyes workin not so bad, this 76 has tormented me at times - I laid it in the sun on the back of the lounge right close to the window this morning for half an hour, nicely warm but not hot to handle - a fouler in the berm then hunkered down and shot 5 - no scope to distract me - pulled one a little bit high and right but pretty good result.  
The load -
70 grains of my own FFg powder, drop tube - light compression
60 thou x 461 HDPE overpowder wad (I cut those from the sides of 15 litre water container.)
CBE (Cast Bullet Engineering) 460-535PB boolit, pan lubed and unsized --I lathe turned the base band and one lube groove OFF of it and weighs now a whisker over 470 grains (will order a new mold cut the same today)
Boolit is seated with one lube groove and a third of the second band exposed and of course these longuns are a single load deal

NOT crimped but I made two swage dies
1) with about a two degree taper I use to turn the bell mouth back in after loading on this case and the 45-70 and
2) a straight die that gives me .4835 to .4840 overall neck diameter - I run that one to the base of the neck as the last operation in loading
My brass is formed from 348W shells and its thick in the neck - a pretty slick (only just) fit in my rifle - I dont resize my cases - if those necks get out to .485 they are right stiff or will not chamber!  

[Sarge]

OUTSTANDING! Satisfying when a plan comes together.

[greyhawk]

OUTSTANDING! Satisfying when a plan comes together.

thanks Sarge it was a little better than it looked even - I just realised I messed up the picture - was not paying attention when I pinned the target - I shot it upside down down and actually  posted the picture with the target right way up but that put the group upside down - the shot I pulled out of the group was a little high and right (been doin that one for near thirty years - stray shot at one or two o clock to the main cluster)  have corrected the glitch in my post.

[dusty texian]

Some fine shooting and loading Greyhawk , you sure are making it hard on a fellow that cant get to the range . But seeing your progress sure is good.  Keep it up Amigo .,,,DT

[greyhawk]

Some fine shooting and loading Greyhawk , you sure are making it hard on a fellow that cant get to the range . But seeing your progress sure is good.  Keep it up Amigo .,,,DT

Dusty
The wheel is about to turn! I hit the road for work soon (start of October) and probably wont shoot the 76 again till after christmas. So I am counting on some nice targets and some hunting pics from you fellers to keep me sane as I travel.
If you had showed me that last target I posted, a year ago and said you can do that old feller , I woulda just laughed - so have to say a big thanks for the encouragement along the way.
Greyhawk.

[Sarge]

greyhawk,
Indeed does look even better than it did! Keep turning the pic, maybe it'll keep getting better.  

greyhawk and dusty texian,

Have you ever thought about trying a paper patch bullet with a lube cookie? Since your loading one at a time anyway,  I think it would be a neat deal. You wouldn't have to worry about the exposed grease grooves and could put more grease if needed. This is what I plan on doing when I get my '76, basically doing the same kind of PP loads for it as my sharps for long range, with some minor tweaks, I expect.
DT that EHB of yours might just be quite the daisy with these loads.

Sarge

[dusty texian]

Dusty
The wheel is about to turn! I hit the road for work soon (start of October) and probably wont shoot the 76 again till after christmas. So I am counting on some nice targets and some hunting pics from you fellers to keep me sane as I travel.
If you had showed me that last target I posted, a year ago and said you can do that old feller , I woulda just laughed - so have to say a big thanks for the encouragement along the way.
Greyhawk.                                   

Again Great Shooting , proves that the Uberti can be very accurate with Bp. loads .      Good luck on your work travels .                 My shooting and hunting season is just around the corner . Will post results as they happen . Hope to take a few animals with the 76 rifles this yr. and as the weather cools will start back shooting the EHB  45/75. I intend to test some bullets that are in the 420 gr. range . And Sarge yes I have tried PP bullets in my 45/60 target rifle  and they gave good results but did not test many , something I would like to get back to  . I may try the PP bullet load in the EHB 45/75 this fall. If I do I will ask my friend Ranch13  Don to give me some pointers . I would like to try and produce a cartridge that is close to the Winchester 45/90 Long Range Load for the 45/75 76 rifle . ,,,,,DT

[Sarge]

DT,

Don knows of what he speaks, for certain. I've got a couple PP molds that work good shooting dirty in my sharps 45 2.1, that I think will work good in the 45-75. Be glad to send you some to try, if you want, let me know.

[dusty texian]

DT,

Don knows of what he speaks, for certain. I've got a couple PP molds that work good shooting dirty in my sharps 45 2.1, that I think will work good in the 45-75. Be glad to send you some to try, if you want, let me know.

Sarge  thanks for the generous offer , I have so many loads waiting for test now and not sure when I will get to them .  When I get closer and  start testing the PP bullets I may take you up on the offer . Have you tried any PP loads in a 76 ? ,,,DT

[Sarge]

dt,

No, I have not procured my '76 yet but PP is all I shoot in my Shiloh's, so I definitely wont to try them.

BTW, I talked to your barrel maker for the EHB, he said he could make me a EHB like yours for a Uberti, or anything else I wanted.
Correct me if I'm wrong yours is 1-22 twist and I believe the Uberti's are 1-36?

[greyhawk]

dt,

No, I have not procured my '76 yet but PP is all I shoot in my Shiloh's, so I definitely wont to try them.

BTW, I talked to your barrel maker for the EHB, he said he could make me a EHB like yours for a Uberti, or anything else I wanted.
Correct me if I'm wrong yours is 1-22 twist and I believe the Uberti's are 1-36?

Sarge
The Uberti website says the 45/75 is 1:20 twist  the other calibres are slow twist for Express length boolits - If you buy a new Uberti i think I would hang back on the new barrel a least till you wring the best out of the one it comes with - probably gonna surprise you. Mine had had me slack jawed several times !   

[Sarge]

greyhawk,

Now that makes since on the twist, I was thinking about 50-95 and typing about 45-75, don't know if it's the age or the miles that causes that.

I will definitely wring it out, just love the way heavy and bull barreled rifles look.

Do the Uberti chambers have freebore?