The Goose
NES Member
I just love this rifle. I bought mine, new, years ago for about $250 and I would not part with it for $1000. First of all I am a big fan of the .45-70 and own or have owned many configurations. Hands down I will take the H&R Buffalo Classic any day. I have a Pedersoli Sharps and a Marlin 1895C and no doubt both are much handsomer firearms, but that old H&R just keeps banging away even after several thousand rounds. The action is as rugged as any out there chambered in the .45-70. I can load them up light and comfortably shoot all afternoon or I can load them up as heavy as my shoulder can stand and approach the bottom level of the heavy African calibers. I have shot 405gr. soft points that pulvarize pumpkins, plinked with cheap cast lead and loaded up 500 gr. Barnes Solids to make Swiss cheese at truck shoots. This rifle can be loaded to the Ruger #1 level and costs about 1/3 as much. It could take any game on the North American continent and most game anywhere in the world. And it's made in Gardner, MA.
Yesterday I took it to the range to sight in a newly mounted scope and to play with some different loads. Once I got the scope somewhat dialed in I shot about 60 rds of 405gr cast lead pushed by 12.5 grs of Trailboss with mediocre results. This load had done well in another rifle I had owned and has light recoil, but it was only so so in the H&R. Then I switched to an old favorite, the same bullet with 32 grs of IMR 4198. My first shot at 100 yards was about 4" high from the previous mild Trailboss setting, but I wanted to shoot two more just to be sure. I shot a second round and was amazed that when I peered through the spotting scope I had not even hit the paper. Feeling slightly frustrated I fired a third shot and was really flabbergasted when once again it appeared that I had missed the paper. I walked down range scratching my head and when I got up close I saw that what looked like a single hole through the spotter was in fact not a round hole but slightly punched out to either side. All three shots had almost made one hole. I would love to say that I replicated those three shots as I continued to dial in the scope, but I did not. However. I was able to consistently get three shots touching. This was shooting from a bench off of my range bag. Not bad for a cartridge that is well over a hundred years old from a rifle that cost $250.
Yesterday I took it to the range to sight in a newly mounted scope and to play with some different loads. Once I got the scope somewhat dialed in I shot about 60 rds of 405gr cast lead pushed by 12.5 grs of Trailboss with mediocre results. This load had done well in another rifle I had owned and has light recoil, but it was only so so in the H&R. Then I switched to an old favorite, the same bullet with 32 grs of IMR 4198. My first shot at 100 yards was about 4" high from the previous mild Trailboss setting, but I wanted to shoot two more just to be sure. I shot a second round and was amazed that when I peered through the spotting scope I had not even hit the paper. Feeling slightly frustrated I fired a third shot and was really flabbergasted when once again it appeared that I had missed the paper. I walked down range scratching my head and when I got up close I saw that what looked like a single hole through the spotter was in fact not a round hole but slightly punched out to either side. All three shots had almost made one hole. I would love to say that I replicated those three shots as I continued to dial in the scope, but I did not. However. I was able to consistently get three shots touching. This was shooting from a bench off of my range bag. Not bad for a cartridge that is well over a hundred years old from a rifle that cost $250.
