45-70 crescent steel buttplate

Like many other things involving guns, I suspect the crescent buttplate was more a matter of tradition than the product of any research to show its benefits. So we might be looking for reasons for it when there really are none.

Jim
 
Cresant butt plate

I have a few old Winchesters, Marlins, Savages with cresant butts. If you have
looked at many of these older guns you would have noticed that the wood is
even with the metal. Well years back I got a Marlin 1895, 45/70. This is one of
the first batch, late 60s. Marlin put generous stocks & forearms on these rifles.
I didn't like it so I worked them down like an original. Forearm was easy. The
stock lost about 1/3 of its butt area when I was done. Gun looks very good,
but that narrowed stock is a killer with hot loads.
 
You want a killer stock try the Winchester 1895 in one of the heavy calibers like .405.

With a crescent buttplate and narrow stock it feels as if someone is trying to saw your arm off with a butter knife.

And they're doing a good job of it.
 
The crescent butt plate is basically a bad idea that was barely suitable for the times. It won't kill you shooting black powder level loads (eg. 405gr at 1330 ft/s) but it will try to slice your arm off if you shoot a modern full power +P/magnum load (405gr at 2000 ft/s for example), especially from a bench.

There's a reason my 1886 .45-90 is having a shotgun stock with a Limbsaver nitro pad put on. It's because I'm a big ol' wuss :D
 
Update

Well I bought the rifle, it is very nice to shoulder and whatnot. I have ordered up the components and a mould, but they won't be here until later in the week. I guess I'll learn first hand about the effects of the crescent. I hope it isn't too bad. I am anticipating recoil approximating 12 gage slugs, though without the benefit of a rubber pad.

I figured I'd start with Goex 2f and a simple card wad, and wiping between shots. I bought the standard "military" 500 grain mould from Lyman to start with.

I also purchased a pound of AA5744, but am reluctant to shoot smokeless in a rifle of this age, so that experiment may have to wait for awhile.

I'll let you fellas know more when I know more.
 
I have an 1886 Browning carbine that I shoot and I stay with 350 grain lead cast bullets with a gas check. I reload using 28 gr. of IMR 4198. I don't find the recoil that bad. I don't care to shoot 500 gr. bullets from a lever gun. I do shoot 500 gr. bullets and black powder from my Sharps but it weights 12 lbs. and has a shotgun butt with steel butt plate. It will still ware you out shooting from a bench after shooting 50 to 100 rounds. You will almost always have a little bit of a bruised shoulder if you shot 45-70 very much. I also have a Sharps saddle rifle in 40-70 government and though it has a shotgun butt I bought a slip on decelerator pad to use when shooting it from the bench. It just slips onto the butt stock and I remove it after bench shooting. I hunt with the gun and don't want the decelerator pad on it when hunting.

I realize this post is slightly off topic, but others have answered the crescent butt plate question. As I said above I don't care to shoot 500 gr bullets from a light lever gun and it wouldn't make any difference if it had a crescent or shotgun butt.
 
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