[bigoledude]

One of the main reasons I bought this Buffalo Classic was because of the way it looks. The beautiful looks of this gun struck me the first time I saw one and, I never could shake the desire for one. I bought mine a couple of months ago. We are blessed with an abundance of hogs and, we shoot them often. I just knew the 45-70 would be a "stopper", for sure.

The problem is, my inability to hold steady with it. So, I'm reluctantly putting a scope on it and, gonna start alot of practicing shooting off sticks. So far, practice has been expensive. And, I find myself still at square-one. I am looking forward to having the scope on and, achieving some acceptable level of accuracy with my "Buffalo Classic".

The scope is a Burris Fullfield II 3 X 9 X 40. The folks at Burris suggested I buy Signature Zee rings and inserts. H & R recommended their own mount. I ordered the rings-n-inserts from Midway and waiting for the mount from H & R. I wish I would have known that Leupold's QR rings-n-mounts wouldda worked. Those suckers are strong!

Is this Burris mount/ring/insert combination gonna be able to take-a-lickin? I don't plan on shooting any of the hotter loads. The worst factory loads will probably be "Lever Revolution" ( I think that's the name) in 350 grain bullets.

Any suggestions on improving my accuracy would help. Thanks for allowing me to visit with y'all here.

 

[300winman]

I don't own a buffalo classic, but with a 32" barrel, it seems this gun should be shot from a rest to get the stability to shoot accurately. I have a 22" 450 marllin ultra barrel that is about as heavy as I would want to shoot offhand. If you are not getting the accuracy even from a rest, there are some helpful tips in the FAQ. If you can not hold steady, the scope will not help much. Me personally, if I owned one I would stick to the open sights and utilize that huge sight radius.

In all honesty, I would probably use this as a day at the range gun. For a good hunting setup, I would send the action in and have a 22" 45/70 accessory barrel fitted. And then mount that burris on the new barrel. That would be hellagood hunting setup.

As far as the scope, Burris makes a great scope, and should easily hold up to recoil of the 45/70.

 

[quickdtoo]

Welcome aboard! I have a scoped BC, the 10x40 Bushnell Elite 3200 is even mounted in the same Burris Signature Zee rings, holds up to very stout loads with no problems whatever, you'll be very happy with those rings and the scope too, I have 3 of the Full Field II scopes, all with the Ballistic Plex reticle, great scopes too.

As for accuracy, the BC is one of the most accurate H&Rs that I own, the 100yd group below was shot from a rest, velocity is a little over 2000fps, so recoil is very noticable and the reason I have a leather recoil pad on the rifle, but as you can see, it's very accurate too.

Tim

 

[Mac11700]

The problem is, my inability to hold steady with it. So, I'm reluctantly putting a scope on it and, gonna start alot of practicing shooting off sticks. So far, practice has been expensive. And, I find myself still at square-one. I am looking forward to having the scope on and, achieving some acceptable level of accuracy with my "Buffalo Classic".

Being able to hold on the target with or with out a scope requires practice...and once you have become proficient in steadying your sites...accuracy will improve greatly...The L.E. ammunition is plenty accurate so I doubt this is the cause of all your accuracy problems...but...some of them..It still is a heavy recoiling load...especially if you have last years ammo from the...since those are a 325 grain bullet at 2050fps...One way you can become more proficient is to put a nice Galco leather recoil pad on it like Quick has on his..I know...I sold him one that I had used my Marlin 1895 Cowboy...It has a built in Sorbathane pad built into it and does help a-lot over the brass butt plates...I even added a little bit of soft foam inside it to help fill in the curved section...It made it much more pleasant to shoot..Another way is to take up reloading and make up some very easy shooting Cowboy loads to practice with...This way you can increase the loads as you go..building confidence in your ability...they will be much easier to shoot...Hand loading isn't cheap any more not with all the price hikes...but factory ammo is going thru the roof...and will be going up another 30-35 % by the end of the year...So it is a real good time to get into reloading..

Mac

 

[bigoledude]

I've been able to shoot the rifle pretty well off of a rest. That's the root of the problem I think. I've always shot from a rest and, always sighted through a scope. It's offhand shooting and shooting off a mono-pod stick, where I was so disappointed. Hopefully, a bi-pod and even a tall tri-pod will provide enough support for an old fat dude to be able to shoot with confidence.

#1 Do you know what size Galco pad I need? I already have that shoulder-pad thing from Limbsaver. Just haven't used it yet. It seems the more erect I am when shooting, the less punishing the recoil is. You know, if I'm all hunched-over and leaning into the rifle, I take all of the "kick". Whereas, if I set my rest up-high, the recoil is more tolerable. I would like to be able to practice long enough at the range to start seeing results. Between the cost of the ammo and, the pounding these old shoulders were taking, practices were short!

I have been slowly replacing some of my reloading stuff since Katrina washed all of my fine old reloading equipment into oblivion! As soon as my home is rebuilt, I will have a small space to reload in, again. I just bought a "Lee Hand Press" to help offset the costs of ammunition. I should be able to put together some decent ammo with it.

#2 Is there a really good cast bullet in the 325 to 350 grain neighborhood for this cartridge?

If the recoil is manageable I would like to use a bullet somewhere in the 400 grain range.
#3 Who's bullet shoots best for y'all?

 

[quickdtoo]

The small Galco fits, and if ya wanta save about $25, the leather Kick Killer should work too.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...ode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=galco+recoil&noImage=0

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=recoil+pad&noImage=0

I've shot several cast bullets in mine, from the 405gr Cast Performance, up to the 525gr Pile Driver from Beartooth, just be sure to slug your bore so you know what size to order, usually .459" or .460" work best, but each bore is different, you want cast bullets that are .001"-.002" larger than the groove depth, use a #8 soft lead egg sinker for slugging the 45-70.

Tim

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/index.htm