New to the stable

This one is new to me, a Woodman Arms Patriot. .45 caliber. One sweet rifle. Designed for the BH209 powder and T7 granular products, it’s also rated for, and set up for, smokeless powder. 24″ McGowen barrel, 1:18: twist rate. Fully Nitrided. Seen here with a 4X12X40 scope. Trigger is a nice, crisp 3 pounds with zero creep.

Currently it is being fed a 56 grain load of IMR 4198 powder with a blue sabot and 200 grain .40 cal XTP bullet and grabbing right around 2200 fps. If loaded close to max at 62 grains of said powder the velocity would be just over 2400 fps, but where I hunt I won’t need those kinds of numbers.

I’ll get accustomed to the gun using the 200 grain XTPs but will likely be shooting a 225 grain .40 cal Star Tipped bullet made by Fury pushed with around a 60 grain charge of mentioned powder.

It’ll handle three other smokeless powders as well so I’ll be playing with those as the year runs on, but I am excited to say the least about getting this animal.

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Dang, that gun is sexy.
DT

Nice looking smokepole. Had to look up the details on it. They do not come cheap at a near 900.00 price point. Then again not many quality firearms are cheap these days

Nice!!!!

I’ve been thinking about a new muzzleloader. I’m not sure if I should thank you or not. That rifle looks awesome. Dang you guys cost me a lot of money.

Its light, just at 7 pounds with the scope. The receiver parts are solid steel, all cnc machined. the breech plug and internal components are made of 17-4 steel so corrosion is never going to be an issue. Notice it’s hammer-less with a completely sealed action so it doesn’t have to be physically cocked. It has an 870 style safety and cannot be opened when cocked without the use of an external trip button. The safety is just second nature to most all shooters.

The guns are designed for BH209 or T7 granular use, but as mentioned are also smokeless capable using a few different powders. This is what drew me to the gun. I’ve been on a diet of BH209 with my other muzzies but with BH209 becoming such an issue to find or the cost being rude, the smokeless aspect is truly refreshing. $47 for a full pound of IMR4198 and using about 50% less per shot than BH209 makes the economics welcome, but then not having to clean it after shooting is quite another thing. Replacement barrels are available in both .45 and .50 calibers in a couple twist rate options too, so instead of buying a whole new gun one can simply swap barrels and go off in another direction…. smokeless.

Shooting smokeless requires one to weigh the charges on an accurate scale but that isn’t a hardship.

This Patriot makes the second .45 cal in my line-up of in-lines and will most likely replace the V2 Accura I currently hunt with during the regular season simply because of it’s weight, or lack of. I’ll be spending time on the bench with this puppy and not be coming home with a bruised shoulder.

Randy, take note of this statement from the description:

“Notice it’s hammer-less with a completely sealed action so it doesn’t have to be physically cocked”

suzuki wrote:

Randy, take note of this statement from the description:

“Notice it’s hammer-less with a completely sealed action so it doesn’t have to be physically cocked”

Thanks for the swift kick in the

Meaning?

Randy Wieland wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Randy, take note of this statement from the description:

“Notice it’s hammer-less with a completely sealed action so it doesn’t have to be physically cocked”

Thanks for the swift kick in the

I still believe in you buddy!
DT

Jimmy Jones wrote:

Meaning?

Randy had an incident with a muzzy hammer recently.
DT

deertracker wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jimmy Jones wrote:</div>
Meaning?

Randy had an incident with a muzzy hammer recently.
DT

Incident is putting it mildly. I walked out to a spot in a valley I suspected a few very mature deer had been sneaking by me. Plopped down in a tree top remnant and enjoyed the show. About 45 minutes passed and a monster buck I had been wanting to meet up with walked from my alfalfa field into my woods and literally right up to me. At just a couple yards away, I slipped the safety off and touched the trigger. No bang. Some idiot forgot to pull the hammer back. Still moping about it. Trail cam pics do absolutely no justice for his body size and the spread of his rack. Probably the second or third largest whitetail I ever encountered. Wild guess is it is a 7-8 year old buck. Freak compared to the majority I see each year.

I suppose that could gripe a guy.

This is a very interesting rifle. I had the Savage 10ML-II and it was an amazing rifle. The accuracy and horsepower of the rifle was stellar. My longest shot on a deer was a lasered 165yds and a 250gr SST about turned that deer inside out. My largest buck ever (pictured) was at 30yds and the SST left a golf ball sized exit after passing dead center broadside through the lungs.

Your rifle, like the Savage, is actually a very safe rifle with smokeless if nothing beyond a MMP or Harvester sabot is used. The skirt of the sabot will fail long before you reach pressures that will cause the rifle to have a catastrophic failure. The sabot is the safety valve. Folks used to experiment with sub-bases and other goofy voodoo that would increase the power of the 10ML-II and that’s when the problems started.

What we found with the 10ML-II was that they grouped quite well as we increased our weighed charges. They didn’t have a real sweet spot. Basically, you could keep increasing charges by 1/2 grain until the sabot failed…then, back off a grain and start sighting in. Heat was a BAD issue. Once you started firing in ambient temps over 60F you would have to wait long periods between shots as the sabot would fail once that barrel got warm.

Will follow your exploits with this rifle. Right now I can barely walk and hunting is out. If the doctors can figure out how to make me mobile again, I may drop the coin on one of these Woodman rifles.

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A note on propellants….

The “horsepower” powder of choice for a strong 45/70 is Reloader 7 (RL7). Basically, what you have is a 45/70 without the brass case. This would definitely be a powder worth trying in that rifle. It will hurt on both ends however, so be advised.

I have the IMR 4198 powder as well as Accurate 5744. I’m set to shoot 55 grains of the IMR and 40 grains of the Accurate. Both, with the 200 grain , .40 XTP should put me in the 2450-2500 fps range. Fast enough.

I don’t shoot long range at the club, 100 yards. In the field I seldom have to poke over 35 yards.

The elusive and spendy BH209 powder has about worn itself out with me. I love the stuff but not knowing what the market is doing and afraid it could leave me in a lurch for a hunting powder just isn’t cutting it. The smokeless has too many plusses to it, mainly not having to worry about cleaning the gun right away after a range session or after firing it during a hunting season.

When we see temps in the upper 30’s again I plan to hit the range with it.

Cannot speak to this rifle, but the Savage 10ML-II smokeless would begin to see accuracy go away at +/- 100 rds because the vent liner hole would open up. Every time that I used a sleeve of primers, I would clean out the bore and replace the vent liner. Accuracy and the zero would be spot on. Something to keep an eye on.

Because of our laws at the time, I initially used a Williams peep and a fine beaded front dot. This gave the rifle a very long sight radius. Off the bags, I had 5 shot groups that measured as low as .68″ when I would zero on an NRA SR-ic target repair center (6 o’clock hold). Once our state DNR pulled its head out, I switched to Talley rings/bases and used a Leupold Vari X-3 that was 1.75-6X magnification. Sadly, the parallax was corrected at 200yds (actual) and groups were not so good at 100yds. Sometimes, the accuracy at 200-250 yds was downright scary.

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