Rossi Rifleman

I've just finished cutting and freezing several whitetails and antelope from my annual Wyoming hunt.
So, while reflecting on bullet performance, I believe it's time to try some more projectiles.
Please feel free to post ideas and experiences you've had.
Rossi M92 SS .45 C, 16", topped this year with Burris FastFire3, 3 MOA red dot.
My game bullet so far has been the Hornady 250 gr XTP, standard design. It's been used to take some 16 or so whitetails, muleys, and prairie goats so far.
I'm looking at Hornady 240 gr XTP Mag, Barnes 200 gr, 225 gr, and 250 gr XPBs, all loaded up with plenty of Lil Gun.
What has got me puzzled is the close range accuracy of the 250 XTPs is fine. At 25 yards, 5 shots are in one hole. At 50 yds the groups are 1 1/2 inches. Out beyond that range, they open way up-5, 6, 7 inches at 100 yards.
I realize this could just be me and my old eyes. But why not rule out the bullets, right? (more range time)
If you'd like to chime in, do so. I'm particularly interested in your experiences of bullet performance on game animals, and comments about the 3 MOA red dot. I'd prefer a green dot.

Are cast bullets an option for you?



Beartooth 280-grain WFN... "A great bullet for all cylinder length .45 Colt including FA 97's and .454 Casull revolvers, feeds flawlessly through most Win 94's, Marlin 1894's & Model 1892 Clones. Great sub 300 grain bullet for hunting applications."

RD, thanks for the link. I may try cast. A gift from my brother, an inveterate caster, was nearly everything I'd need to start another hobby; pot, ladle, molds, sizer with dies, etc. Time is the only ingredient I'm missing.
Certainly, I could buy cast. I have a personal bias towards jacketed, which is odd, as my normal way of making something, repairing something, repurposing an item instead of buying it would seem to direct me towards casting. Maybe just reloading for all my calibers, on one hand as common as .45 Colt or as unusual as 9x80Rm, satisfies the creative impulse. Don't know?

Someone here had much better success with the XTP than with the XTP mag if memory serves.

9x80Drilling wrote:RD, thanks for the link. I may try cast. A gift from my brother, an inveterate caster, was nearly everything I'd need to start another hobby; pot, ladle, molds, sizer with dies, etc. Time is the only ingredient I'm missing.
Certainly, I could buy cast. I have a personal bias towards jacketed, which is odd, as my normal way of making something, repairing something, repurposing an item instead of buying it would seem to direct me towards casting. Maybe just reloading for all my calibers, on one hand as common as .45 Colt or as unusual as 9x80Rm, satisfies the creative impulse. Don't know?

I've never shot a jacketed 45 Colt bullet. Kind of strange never thought about it about it until now. What is weirder, in that I have shot thousands of rounds of 45 Colt, I've never shot a bullet other than my TLC454-290-RF. I just realized this. I've owned a Marlin 1894S and Taurus 450 revolver, and the R92 has survived those, but that is the only bullet I've used.

I size it .452" for the R92, mine has a SAAMI spec barrel (.442" bore & .450" groove). I load 25.5-grains of Lil'Gun behind it and send it down range at 1760 FPS. It shoots a 1.5 MOA group at 100-yards and maintains the MOA out to 200-yards (I haven't shot it any further). I have killed a very large hog with the combo out at 197-yards, that was the furthest. It has taken more deer and hogs than my other 92s combined.

I've tried the 300 grain XTP in my 20" '92. Out to 50 yards they did okay (app 1 1/4) but remember tang site and old eyes. Not so good at 100 but see above and I still only had the short post on my Marbles and these things have a decided rainbow like trajectory.

I play around but I still will carry my 452-300 Lee cast for this season.

Make smoke,

Thanks, both of you, RD and O3W. You are both shooting heavier bullets than I've been trying. My leaning towards the light ones has been the game I'm hunting is small-whitetails and antelope. However, my experience with the 9x80 drilling is the 225 gr Nosler Partition give so much better accuracy than any lighter Speer, Hornady, Winchester, Remington .35 caliber projectiles that I settled on the Nosler at 2200 fps for elk on down, including fawn culling. That's a lot of unneeded extra power for a deer or goat, but you gotta hit them in the right place first if you want the power to do its job, right?
It seems it's time to include some heavy cast bullets in the lineup.
RD, that's some impressive accolade for your choice of .45 Colt setup.

I haven't found a .45 R92 I'd buy yet but I use the 452-255-RF Lee in my Evil Roy. Y'all are making me wanna try a 290-300 grain cast bullet.

...and after a quick internet search I find the NOE version WAY over my head in price and the Lee is only available in GC. I don't wanna buy yet another size of gas check nor more dies for the LAM. It's simply not needed for Evil Roy IMO. Even an eventual R92 purchase would not need a GC bullet for my needs either. Guess all that means I don't have a need for a 300 grain Colt bullet mold.

What would it cost to have three cavities on the 6-hole Lee 452-300-RF reamed to plain base?

Sorry for the drift.

GasGuzzler wrote:What would it cost to have three cavities on the 6-hole Lee 452-300-RF reamed to plain base?

Do you have access to a drill press?