I've used both the 350gr round and flat nose Hornady for years. Works very well on deer, bears and moose. Breaks bone well, leaves awesome blood trails. I haven't recoverd a bullet yet, great all around bullet for the 45/70 for NA game. I use a max load of 57grains for 2000fps out of my GG, same components as you. With 54grains I'd guess your around 1700-1800fps? Still very deadly.

 

Seabass, how do you think that bullet would hold up on costal brown bear?

 

I load mine with H4198 (50gr), and it has not left any evidence of the bullet behind to judge. I bought a lifetime supply 4 or 5 years ago, so bullet tests or not, its what I've got forever. Think I gave 6 bucks a hundred for them.

 

Seabass, how do you think that bullet would hold up on costal brown bear?

I don't know if I'd trust it like a heavy hardcast and shoot a costal browny in the ass and expect it to come out its chest. But I doubt very much a guy has to worry about that type of shot. I'd suspect 99% of other shots it would work just fine, broadside shots, frontal shots, I don't think you'd have a problem. This said, I've never shot a costal brown bear, this is just an opinion from what I've seen it do to other animals previously mentioned. The bullet did a number on the Mooses leg bone (breaking it bad) and still exited on a broadside shot. Having broken a few black bears shoulders with the Hornady and having it exit I have no reason to beileve it wouldn't do the same on a costal brown bear, I'd be surprised if it stayed in on a broadside shot.


Good luck.

Cheers

Seabass

 

Seabass, how do you think that bullet would hold up on costal brown bear?

How would the coastal brown bear hold up on that bullet? ;D ;D

.

 

350gr Hornady RN is a great bullet at 2000 fps in Marlin GG with Reloader 7 @ 51.8 in WW case and Fed 210M primers.

suggest the. 340/350 grain Hardcast FNGC for those big bears in the 45/70 Marlin with 51.8 of RL 7 or 48.0 of IMR 4198.

 

I think the bullet wins that confrontation! ;D

 

I may have to load some up & give them a try in the old sand bank...

 

It's all I have ever pushed through mine, albeit behind RL7 (47.0gr @ ~1750fps), and as I noted on a couple other posts, I am 4 for 4 since 2006. The 350gr is excellent (Ontario deer and bear) and 1700-1800 is good enough.

Of note, I dropped the bear at 20 yards after hitting it in the shoulder. I dropped my 276lb buck last year at 43 yards through thick scrub after breaking its backbone (deflection? - I was aiming at the only thing I saw - its shoulder). The oddest was a 175 lb buck 2 years ago at 40 yards, broadside, it left a 3" exit hole in the shoulder and the buck ran directly at me after being hit. My next shot was 1 yard away. It went down. It would have dropped within 50 yards anyhow with that hole......, but I wasn't about to let it run down the line for the next guy :

 

Nice bear Seabass! How big did it come out at? It looks a wee bit bigger than mine, which was a 2 year old at about 175 live.

Also, DT, one great thing about the 350 Hornady, is they are really, really thin skinned bullets that mushroom fast. I've recovered strips of copper usually far away from the entry/exit site, but I have never found lead...... unlike my buddies who use 30-30's and *ahem* we often find lead in the rump, the hide, the stomach, etc. (not bashing the venerable 30-30, as a dead deer does differentiate - besides, the 30-30 is great..... for such a wee little gun) ~ just kidding! Couldn't resist (I own one too and like it very much)

 

Good to hear the Hornaday bullet is a good choice. I bought a hundred to try out,sounds like just the ticket.

 

Nice bear Seabass! How big did it come out at? It looks a wee bit bigger than mine, which was a 2 year old at about 175 live.

Also, DT, one great thing about the 350 Hornady, is they are really, really thin skinned bullets that mushroom fast. I've recovered strips of copper usually far away from the entry/exit site, but I have never found lead...... unlike my buddies who use 30-30's and *ahem* we often find lead in the rump, the hide, the stomach, etc. (not bashing the venerable 30-30, as a dead deer does differentiate - besides, the 30-30 is great..... for such a wee little gun) ~ just kidding! Couldn't resist (I own one too and like it very much)

He squared 6ft, and weighed about 300lbs (ish) Made a nice rug too.

Yes, I'd have to recomend the 350gr Hornady, an inexspesive, high quality bullet for thin skinned game to around 1000lbs.

Cheers

Seabass

 

the hornady manual lists the 350 grain rn for use in the 458wm. I would feel confident in using it on brown bear. I think it actually holds up better than the 405 remington.

 

Test it and you will find out it does not open much under 1600 fps because it is made for the .458 Win Mag.Anything under say 1500 fps and your using a solid type bullet without expansion as is the 350 Speer the better of the two bullets in my opinion.The Hornady 350 FP will open down to around 1200 fps.

Good luck on your choice.


Jayco

 

Test it and you will find out it does not open much under 1600 fps because it is made for the .458 Win Mag.Anything under say 1500 fps and your using a solid type bullet without expansion as is the 350 Speer the better of the two bullets in my opinion.The Hornady 350 FP will open down to around 1200 fps.

Good luck on your choice.


Jayco

So Jayco, how do the 350 Hornady FP & Speer 350 do when they hit really heavy stuff at 1800+ fps (worse case brown bear in the alders at 10yds kinda thing...)

 

I have used both the flat point and round nose Hornady Innerlock bullet in several 45-70s to take 4 bison and 1 hog.
Three of the 4 bison involved a neck shot at the base of the skull and round nose bullet was not recovered due to it exiting out the other side. The 4th one was a slightly quartering away shot into the chest lungs area. Bullet lacerated both lungs and top of heart and hit the far side upper leg bone and was recovered. Lost about 20% of its weight and mushroomed to over an inch in dia. The neck shot bisons were all instant kills dropping in their tracks. The lung-heart shot bison dropped within 10 seconds and only took about three steps. This load was the 350 gr. Hornady RN loaded to about 1700 fps in my 1874 Pedersoli sharps.
On the hog I used the flat point Hornady 350 gr. loaded to 1800 fps in my marlin 1895. The hog was about 60 yards away facing me and when it dropped it's head to root, I placed the bullet along side the spine in it's neck. The bullet lacerated the left lung and liver and was recovered just in front of the rear ham. About 24 inches of penatration. Instant drop on the hog. the bullet mushroomed to just over 3/4 inch and the expansion stopped at the crimping cannelure on the bullet. Retained weight was over 90% and no shedding of the jacket. Perfect round mushroom and perfect preformance.
For the price, and outstanding accuracy. I have three 45-70s that will shoot this bullet into one inch or less at 100 yards, it is very hard to go wrong with using the Hornady 350 gr. Innterlock bullet on any game found here in the U.S. or Canada. I also cast a 350 gr. Ranch dog bullet that has shown promise in accuracy that is comparable with the Hornady, but have not used it on game so far.

 

Vance

I am fighting the internet big time way back in the hills.I have pictures of the Speer 350 and Hornady RN shot into ballistic gel at velocities from 1200 fps to way up...My computer crashed last week and I have to work to get them back....

The bottom line is the 300 Speer Unicore and the 350 Speer are by far the best bang for the buck for large game...The 350 Speer is a great choice for big bad bears to 100 yards..Buffalo Bore uses it in there 350 JSP load.I think Hornady bullets sux but that is just my one sided opinion being a Nosler guy from head to toe. ;D

Jayco

 

350 grain bullets for 45-70; l to r: Speer, Hornady FN, Hornady RN. 1413 fps, 1403 fps, 1349 fps respectively. All fired into wet newsprint.

 

300 grain bullets for 45-70. Speer left, Nosler Right. Speer: 1476 fps, 295 gr. retained; Nosler: 1448 fps, 257 gr. retained. Fired into wet newsprint, 12" penetration for each.

 

Impressive pics and equally impressive results!

I may have to re-think my appreciation of the 350 gr Hornady.

I am also wondering how your newsprint test converts to different animal sizes, such as 150-300lb, 300-500lb and +500lb. 99% of what I shoot is in the 150-300lb range at close range and the 350 Hornady has performed fantastic in each case. Looking at your results, I wonder if my 150-300lb Hornady results would hold true for a 500lb bear, for example. Perhaps the 12" of newsprint results is a test closer to big bear territory and the Speer and Nosler performance would be desired.

I come from the school of thought that if I hit a deer with 2000 ft lb of energy, I want that bullet to exit with a sizeable hole and as close to 1 ft lb of energy left ~ thus imparting 1999 ft lb into the deer. To often when I used Noslers in my 30-06, I'd impart minimal energy, leave a .30 cal exit hole, the bullet wouldn't have time to mushroom, but the 3" tree behind the deer would fall down. I admit that is largely because I was using the wrong bullet for the situation (20 yards away, whereas Nosler performance really shines beyond that) and so my best option was to move to the 45-70. Big calibre, flat nose, close range, lots of punch. And for that, the Hornady's work.

Any thoughts?

 

Here's another example:

300 grain bullets. Swift A-Frame for 375 H&H, Speer l. and Nosler r. for 45-70. Swift: 2560 fps, 287 grains; Speer: 2450 fps, 203 grains; Nosler: 2432 fps, 237 grains. All fired into wet newsprint. Swift 18", Speer 14", Nosler 26 1/2"


Artificial media tests are somewhat limited in their value unless you also can relate to to how known projectiles have worked in the real thing. (Shooting plain old water can be real deceptive, though it's fun. )

 

And here's a 300 Speer Uni-Cor which punched through both shoulder blades of a mature moose before stopping against the hide.

The bullet weighed about 220 grains, recovered.

 

Golsovia

It's good to see you finally tested the Nosler although I must assume that was in your Ruger #1 because of the velocity although at or in the 2300 fps+ range,the very same results have been given...Alot of people choose to shoot it at Trapdoor levels which don't do it justice.As you know,the Nosler is famous for it's two stages of penetration and fragmention with the fragmentaion doing damage of it's own while the rear core penetrates onward at normally over the bore size.

Good test and at what velocity were you pushing your Unicore load on the Moose?.

Jayco

 

The moose took the brunt of a 2200 - or so- hit with that 300 Speer, Jayco.

These are results I originally posted here in October '06: http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php/topic,16669.0.html

(Those Partitions were spendy bullet then I thought. Then they went from over $1/pop to no more! :'( )

 

I use the 350gr Hornady's for my jacketed practice rounds but when I head out hunting I switch over to 350gr Swift A-Frames that are designed for the 45-70...

 

This may be off the Hornady topic and probably covered may times before, but how does the 300 grain Remington HP compair? Thanks.