45-90 For Cape Buffalo

[David jr]

45/90 is a great round and will do what you are looking to do .
Buffalo bore might not be a good choice right now unless you are going to buy all he has on hand
you may not be able to buy Buffalo bore ammo in the future it is up for sale
I am supposing you do not reload and can only shoot factory ammo .
If you really want to use 45/90 on DG you need to reload with a good 500 + gr lead bullet or a mono solid .
Barnes TSX will not work on DG in the 45/90 the bullets are designed for 45/70 velocities
and will open up to quickly and give very poor penetration .
A friend found out the hard way on a wild bill just a few weeks ago bull was around 2000 pounds it took 12 rounds to stop the bull
the bull almost got him finally stopped the bull at 15 feet with a head shot he was shooting with Barnes tsx in a marlin 45/70

 

[mgstucson]

Why not an 1895 in 405 Winchester? Not trying to change your mind, just curious if there's a reason for not using that famous setup.

Great Question. 405 Win is a grand old cartridge, and case capacity is very close to 400 Whelen, but 405 cases are rated to 46,000psi, while the 400 Whelen cases are rated to 60,000psi. 405 seems to top out around 1900fps with 400gr bullet, and the 400 Whelen tops out at about 2200fps with a 400gr bullet. I figure that 300fps could be critical in some instances, like the difference between the 458WM and the 458Lott. 405 is throated for short RN or FP bullets, while the 400 Whelen is throated for stardard Spire Point bullets. Devils and angels are in the details.

I thought seriously about having a Browning 1895 converted to 400 Whelen, but I have since decided that I personally shoot a pump-action faster than a lever-action, so I am now pursuing a Remington 7600 conversion to the 400 Whelen. Plus my pump-action shotgun shooting is excellent practice for threat-focused shooting if needs be. My perfect African battery would be a 375 Whelen, 400 Whelen and a 458 Win Mag all built for Remington 7600 matched actions where if any action malfunctioned in the field, I could switch barrels at camp to one of the other actions, and be back in business with preferred caliber within 24hrs. The 2 Whelens would be great for PG and still legal for DG, and the 458 would be great for DG, and still work for PG. I like having all guns in the same action type for a DG hunt, so that in a moment of extreme stress, where my mind and body will react automatically, my mind and body will react to work the action that is in my hand at the time.

 

[JFE]

I had a 45/90 built on a Browning Model 71 and did use it on the buffalo we have up in Northern Australia. I wanted to use my own cast bullets to spice the hunt up a bit.

I used the RCBS 45-500 FN GC mould. I cast the bullets from a Lyman No.2 alloy and when cast, lubed and checked, they weighed about 520gr. I had them going around 1800 fps. The bullet has the crimp groove in the right location for use in a 45/90 and 45/70 but in a 45/70 case there is not much space left for powder. Recoil from a 7.5lb rifle does get your attention, but in the heat of the action you won’t notice the recoil.

The nice thing about these leverguns is that when emptied you can insert a fresh cartridge into chamber making the rifle instantly operational as soon as you have a cartridge chambered and then continue to feed the magazine. Most other rifle actions don’t have this advantage and are inoperable while new shells are being fed into the mag.

Buffalo hide is thick, very thick and very tough and their bone structure is massive. At times buffalo can absorb a lot of lead and energy. After emptying the mag (5 shots in my case) I put another two insurance shots into the animal from close range. The bullets, despite being quite tough, expanded like soft points.

If you want to use cast pills my advice would be to use one first up, but have the rest of the mag filled with proper solids, like a Woodleigh Hydrostatic. When the shooting starts you may not be able to pick and choose your follow up shots and may have to take difficult shots at sub-optimal angles. You need a solid that can do the job from any angle when it matters. For 45 leverguns Woodleigh make 325 and 400gr pills.

The new Winchesters are nice rifles but I’m not a fan of the tang safety, rebounding hammer and curved steel buttplates. These are all features you can address.

 

[PerH]

If I’m not mistaken Buffalo Bore load one like that with CEB .

 

[PerH]

https://www.**NOT**PERMITTED**.com/lever-action-in-africa.html

 

[PerH]

It was Ganyana article « levers in Africa « article

 

[JFE]

The main reason for sharing this is not to debate loads, but rather to communicate the Browning 1886 action, hot loaded, has proven reliable for a dangerous game backup rifle in one of the harshest environments on the planet, against one of the fastest, largest, and most dangerous animals on the planet, by a no non-sense 40 year, full-time, active professional hunter.

The Browning 1886 can load and cycle 45/70 rounds loaded to 45/90 length. However the throat on a 45/70 rifle is very short to non-existent and becomes a choke point You can either have it throated or by being selective with the bullets you use, you can still enjoy 45/90 power in a factory throated B-1886. To me this provides the best of all options

You then have regular length 45/70 cases and the shorter Hornady cases giving you additional options. Depending on the bullet, crimp location and bullet diameter ahead of the crimp groove you can achieve 45/90 power and still have the flexibility of using 45/70 cases. For a cast bullet in this application I like to use a long discontinued Lyman mould 462560 for a heavy cast pill (about 550gr) that fits the factory 45/70 throat. There are several jacketed bullet options that have bore riding designs, including solids by Northfork.

The only downside with the B-1886 is the carbine buttstock. I replaced mine with a ‘shotgun’ buttstock from a Winchester 1886 extra light. You can buy new buttstocks from specialist firms in the USA.

As noted the Browning doesn’t have the tang safety or re-bounding hammer of the later production Winchesters. I much prefer this less complicated set up.

 

[JFE]

https://www.**NOT**PERMITTED**.com/lever-action-in-africa.html

I recall correctly he used a model 71 in 348 Winchester to follow up on wounded leopard.

 

[fourfive8]

A large volume of info has already been posted on performance on game correlated to terminal wet pack testing of various bullets at various velocities. @michael458 has posted extensively on the subject. It would pay to test and compare to known 45 cal results or at least review the available data.