45-90

robhof

An elderly gent at out outdoor range built a 45-120 on a Ruger 45-70 frame, it was a gorgeous piece of work, wish I had my camera the day he had it out there. He stated that he paid $2.55 each for his brass. His had a burl stock and forearm that he made and he had the frame case hardened, it was a beaute.
 
You can shoot true black powder if you want too, but it can ruin a fine firearm if you don't immediately go throughly clean the firearm when you are through. Plus, when you are through shooting, you stink of the sulphur. I have shot my last load of black powder, and that was a good 20 years ago.
 
Yes will try it once I think. But will probably go modern. I am not as serious a shooter of BP as some.But I do enjoy watching what some traditionalists can do with the old BP loads and weapons. some really impress and some long range shooters just astond me with what they can do with the old BP loads.
 
.45-90

Let us not forget Billy Dixon and the Battle Of Adobe Walls. Using the "Big .50 " ( .50-90 ) Sharps he made a shot at about 1275 yards. Iron sights.

Jeff
 
You can shoot true black powder if you want too, but it can ruin a fine firearm if you don't immediately go throughly clean the firearm when you are through.
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I clean my BPCR on the range. Takes about ten minutes. I reclean at home just to be sure but the sulfur smell is gone and it doesn't take long. I think it is easier to get the soot out of my .40-65 than to get the copper out of my .308.

You do have to clean the brass, too. I decap on the range and drop the shells in a jug of soapy water. At home, rinse and transfer to the rotary tumbler charged with wet ceramic. Tumble 3 or 4 hours, drain, rinse, and dry in the sun or a low oven. It takes longer to clean the brass than the gun, but that is just part of what it takes to do good work with the old style guns.
 
Would like to see the targets from those who shoot 45-70 out of 45-90 chambered rifles."Good accuracy" what is good accuracy? at what yardage?
Shoot's good @ 10 feet? Besides the heavy leading on the leade,good luck getting that out.Go ahead and shoot 45-70's out of your 45-90 then try and chamber a 45-90.That bullet from the 45-70 will slump and scrape huge amounts of lead and deposit it right in front of your 45-70.
Either cartridge is capable of fine accuracy in their perspective chambers.You are not going to even get good 45-70 performance.Waste of ammo and a what is probably a decent barrel.Some folks are just happy to hit paper @25yds and call it good accuracy.
 
I would have to see it to beleive it also .
Shooting a 45/70 out of a 45/90 ...talk about freebore ...wow
Maybe it would shoot min of horse at 100 yards ..
 
Okay- I may not have things right so I'm asking those that know. :eek: The 45/70 and the 45/90- it seems a lot of buffalo hunters in the old west really liked the 45/90- I think Frank Mayer used it. In any event if you shoot a 45/70 in a 45/90 chamber the bullet has to jump a little to engage the rifling and I always thought in re-loading you seat a smoked bullet in ever longer settings until the rifling shows up and then back down about .003" and you are good to go.
so......
Why can't you use 45/70 brass and just seat the bullet farther out? Unless such a thing exposed a grease groove or the like it doesn't seem you would have a problem. Years ago Phil Sharp wrote a reloading book. I think Sharp was the guy that developed the .357 Magnum. In any event he claimed pressure was the result of space in the case, the deeper you seated the bullet- the more pressure. I think he had one load using lead bullets with an OAL that was for the 357 but he used 38 brass. The only question I have on this concept it whether the shorter case means hot gas around the throat of the chamber- causing excess wear. In any event- any comments welcomed.
 
I'm no expert but doesn't BP have to have some sort of compression on it? Wouldn't moving a bullet out far enough to make the length same as a 45-90 leave a big gap between the bullet and powder charge?
 
Yeah- I was thinking smokeless but the issue of black powder raises some questions. In a muzzle loading pistol you can put a filler like cream of wheat over the powder and under the ball- the idea is to have the ball close to the end of the cylinder so it doesn't travel that far before entering the barrel. On a black powder cartridge- could you use a filler over the powder and under the bullet to get rid of air space?
And- I use black powder in a muzzle loader but by and large you swab out the bore and the drum area and you are pretty much done. On a black powder cartridge rifle- does the residue get into a lot of nooks and crannies where clearing is a chore?
 
Thus is what is so good about these boards. you pick up and learn so many different aspects of the questions that are asked. Learned alot about this gun of mine.
 
You will get chamber ringing shooting a 45/70 in a chamber made for 45/90
I shoot the shorter 45 Schofield rounds out of my 45 LC pistols and it has ringed the chambers in them .

You can seat the bullet to a longer OAL useing B/P ..but you would still get the chamber ringing where the shorter 45/70 brass ends in the chamber ( but it would shoot more accurate with the longer OAL )

With Smokeless powder your loading data OAL MAX for the smokeless charges would be off the charts and be dangerous to shoot ....
Smokeless powders have a Min and Max OAL .

With B/P you just need to fill in all the airspace with fillers or powder ....and seat you bullets at what ever OAL you wish .
 
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