470 Reduced Practice Loads

[Don Hinton]

I used this company for practice 470

Nyati Inc

World's Most Accurate Low Recoil Big Bore Practice Ammunition

nyatiinc.com

Don

 

[towserthemouser]

It’s not easy to do with 470NE.

Generally speaking, to get this to work you need reasonable accuracy (broadside of a barn). What people usually do is try to mimic the same velocity you had with the full load, but with a lighter bullet, thus your gun has relatively similar regulation properties.

470NE is a 500gr bullet, so you’d find a .471” to .474” bullet that was perhaps 380-400gr for your reduced load. You’d then select the fastest burning powder safe for that load and would try to regulate using as close to a starting load as possible.

Expensive, time consuming, specialty work for you to do this. You’ll need to be a proficient handloader as well.

For me, I’d just shoot off sticks to reduce my perceived recoil and I’d develop a load that has less recoil. An IMR3031 “full load” with 77gr of powder and 500gr bullet produces 58lbs of recoil, a full load with IMR4831 106gr of powder produces 89lbs of felt recoil. RL15 also is a low perceived recoil full load.

What you’ve asked is much easier to do with a magazine rifle because regulation isn’t a factor. It’s doubly hard with a 470NE because there are fewer light bullet options than say a 500NE that has a standard 570gr bullet but also an obtainable 440gr alternative.

@rookhawk I want to make sure I understand exactly what you're saying here. Are you saying that (in this example) 77gr of IMR3031 will push a 500gr .474 bullet at 2150fps, the same as 106gr of IMR4831, with associated reduction of recoil? Or are you saying that the 77gr IMR3031 load will be at a lower velocity, along with reduced recoil? In other words, is the 77gr IMR3031 just a low-recoil practice load, or is it a functional hunting load? Sorry if my question is a dumb one, I am here to learn from those who know more than I do and are willing to share their wisdom.

 

[rookhawk]

@rookhawk I want to make sure I understand exactly what you're saying here. Are you saying that (in this example) 77gr of IMR3031 will push a 500gr .474 bullet at 2150fps, the same as 106gr of IMR4831, with associated reduction of recoil? Or are you saying that the 77gr IMR3031 load will be at a lower velocity, along with reduced recoil? In other words, is the 77gr IMR3031 just a low-recoil practice load, or is it a functional hunting load? Sorry if my question is a dumb one, I am here to learn from those who know more than I do and are willing to share their wisdom.

Correct. Recoil is just math.

"All things being equal, the powder that achieves a given velocity with a given bullet using the fewest grains will have the least recoil."

Regarding the 2150fps comment, neither load is 2150, both are going to be around 2080-2115 depending on barrel length real-world.

 

[towserthemouser]

Correct. Recoil is just math.

"All things being equal, the powder that achieves a given velocity with a given bullet using the fewest grains will have the least recoil."

Regarding the 2150fps comment, neither load is 2150, both are going to be around 2080-2115 depending on barrel length real-world.

Thank you! I just used 2150fps since I've seen that figure published as a "typical" 470NE velocity. I do understand that published velocities from test barrels and real-world velocities from hunting rifles are not the same.

It sounds like IMR3031 is definitely the way to go then!

 

[Wahoo]

Thank you! I just used 2150fps since I've seen that figure published as a "typical" 470NE velocity. I do understand that published velocities from test barrels and real-world velocities from hunting rifles are not the same.

It sounds like IMR3031 is definitely the way to go then!

To further illustrate @rookhawk ’s point-
Out of 24” barrels with 77.5 gr of 3031 and a Kynoch wad and a 500 gr swift AFrame I get exactly 2100 fps.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I have never understood the logic of down-loading. The double you have is what it is, it is meant to send out a certain bullet at a certain velocity and that is the beast. If you can't handle it, buy something you can handle. Unless the objective is always to just punch paper for fun, and that is perfectly OK, then the purpose of practicing for game shooting competency is getting used to the whole package, including the recoil.
Of course, as Rook says, get a load set up to deliver the correct ballistics with as little pain as possible, but big bore pain comes with the turf really.