Reloading 45-70

Bulk Hornady 45-70 brass is full-length, normal 45-70 dimensions. You would still need to trim it down for use with the lever-evolution (ie FTX) bullets of 250gr and 325gr varieties.
Sold my 45-70 lever (traded actually) but I'm thinking about getting a handi-rifle in 45-70... (prefer iron sights on that).
 
Would you really have to trim the longer cases for that particular bullet? Perhaps if the bullet has a cannelure that you want to seat to. I use a 360 gr bullet for both the shorter and longer cases.
 
Jimro this one is a Remlin with Ballard rifling in 22 inch barrel. Our older ported Marlin made guide gun has the micro groove. The Remington made seems to beat the Guide gun in the accuracy department. Was hesitant to buy it last year and just gave it a try. Also has a Henry in the 45-70. Lever is a lot slicker on the Henry but can't tell any difference in accuracy.
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Ok, so if you have three 45-70 rifles, and you want to reload cast bullets for all of them, you'll need to slug the bore on all three. With any luck the bore dimensions will be such that a single bullet source can be used.

Oversized by two thousandths seems to be the right dimension for avoiding leading in the bore.

Jimro
 
If Nosler will put their 300 grain back in production I'll try to buy 500 or so to have on hand. Swift is also not on a run on theirs. The Guide gun shoots the Remington 405s better. Don't know why. Just more accurate with them. Husband really likes the cor bons in the 45-70 and his 450. We don't see them on the shelves anymore.
 
45-70 reloads

I think that it would still be worth while if you only need dies.There are guys on this forum that cast for the 45-70 and you could likely make a deal for some bullets.I know I have in the past for a certain bullet that I wanted to try before I buy the mold.The 45-70 also just happens to be one of my favorites to cast and load for so yeah i'm a bit partial.
 
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http://www.westernbullet.com/ly4gr6.html

45/70 150 gr bullet will do 440 fps while it sounds like a BB gun if the peak pressure is high and the muzzle pressure is below one atmosphere above ambient.
 
Those look good. Never seen anything like them. I you tubed a few videos on loading cast bullets. What's the deal with the fabric under the bullet. Is it for gas or what. They never said in the videos. Casting may be cheapest route to go. Looked at prices of molds and melting pots. Not bad after you get everything. My tire store has drums of lead from wheel weights if they would work.
 
What's the deal with the fabric under the bullet?
Is it for gas or what? They never said in the videos.
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Wendy... send us the YouTube link you speak of.
I know of no reason for a cloth insert (unless they are using a piece of toilet tissue for powder positioning in the large case)

as to light/slow movers (and powder positioning), See this CastBoolits Posting ... particularly posts 1-3.
 
I m not sure on iPad how to copy it but it's some guy named Fortune cookie 45. He has a 3 part video and its in video 2 of 3. I'm guessing from what I watched it's a light load and he's using a small dowel to put a piece of a cleaning patch in the brass on top of the powder. Learn something every day.
 
It's not a cloth patch, Wendy. It's a (near) weightless piece of dacron filler from a fabric store.

Many people do this, but I suggest you not use nearly as much as he did, and instead "stretch out" a much (much) smaller piece until it's nearly vacuous. Then with a pair of tweezers insert the bottom of the dacron to the powder and then gradually move the tweezers up the filler column to push it into the case uniformly (not 'packing' it as shown). Leave the top of the filler high enough to where the bullet does the final push-down and so have a continuous filler: bullet-base to-powder. NO gap.

I also recommend that you find a kapok-filled pillow at a used clothing store (or wherever) and use that instead of dacron. It is a natural fiber that is completely consumed instead of being shoved out of the barrel largely intact upon firing.

Last, I recommend you use a standard roll-crimp die rather than the "factory crimp" Lee as shown in the video. The Lee effectively swage-sizes the case -- and the bullet -- in its operation.

Cast bullets, especially, don't like that at all.
 
If you want a lighter load in .45-70 save yourself a lot of complication by using Trail Boss. I use it almost exclusively in my Guide Gun. It makes shooting it a lot of fun.
 
I'm not sure who manufactures "Fairy Dust" gunpowder, but their distribution system stinks. I've never seen any on the shelves.

On the other hand, I HAVE recently seen IMR-4227, IMR-4198, IMR-3031, IMR-4895, Alliant Unique, Alliant 2400, and Reloder 7 on shelves, any of which will run well in .45-70. The best velocities may not be obtainable with the faster-burning powders, but propelling a 400 gr. projectile over 1000 f/s is within the capabilities of everything I've listed.

I'm not clear on the type of .45-70 Ms. WendyJ owns, but the slower-burning powders are generally best used in rifles stronger than the trap-door Springfield, and when desired velocities exceed @ 1600 f/s.
 
FlashHole, I found it on the shelf at BassPro in Grapevine, TX on Tuesday of this week, probably around noon. I saw at least 2 1-lb bottles, probably more (I was rooting around behind the front-most bottles, looking for Herco). I don't have anything that uses Reloder 7 so, at the time, I didn't really focus on it.
 
Ballard vs micro groove

My Marlin 1895 rifle was one of the first they produced with Ballard rifling. It came with a "hang tag" that said something like "Now with Ballard rifling."

It will stabilize every all lead (non-jacketed) bullet I have ever tried. I suspect that Marlin developed the gun using only jacketed bullets which worked just fine in a micro groove barrel. After complaints started coming in from people using non-jacketed bullets, they switched to Ballard (deeper cut) rifling to alleviate the problem.

There are several theories as to why 45-70 lead bullets in the micro groove barrels delivered poor accuracy. My favorite is the one that states that the mass of the large bullet prevented the shallow micro groove rifling from gripping the bullet firmly enough to start it spinning as it moved down the barrel. Marlin seemed to have no problem with their 30-30 micro groove barrels, so the mass (inertia) theory of the large/heavy .45 caliber bullets seems to make sense.
 
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Microgrooved barrels and cast bullet conspiracies have more to do with folks not sizing their bullets to the bore OR folks trying to push cast bullets faster than they can hold up.

CE Harris did a rifling analysis section in the old NRA cast bullet publication, and some of his findings actually support the idea that more rifling is actually less good for cast bullet shooting, but he pretty much concluded that you could make any barrel shoot cast bullets if you used properly sized bullets of the right hardness and toughness within the acceptable velocity range for cast bullets.

Jimro
 
I bought some 300 grain Hornady hp at Acadamy this morning. I have a small issue which you can probably help with I hope. Using Lee dies I resized the case. Re primed. Opens the neck just enough to accept the bullet. Seated it to Hornady manual specs. With seating die I had turned back one full turn. As I twisted forward to get a crimp it set the bullet down deeper. I pulled the bullet and went through process again. This time before crimping I backed the seater plug out about 2 turns and turned the die down about a full turn. Got a decent crimp. Should I continue crimping this way or buy a Lee crimp die as another step. Or is there a way to seat and crimp at same time. My 357 dies have a crimp die which is an extra step but I'm in no hurry. I had some IMR 3031 and used 52.2 grains which is minimum load. It fed shot and ejected perfectly. Not sure I understand the bullet seating and crimping function with a single die. Other than the 357 I don't crimp anything because they are all bolt actions. Any advise would be appreciated. Powder suggestions for accuracy would be helpful also. I have several kinds but the Hornady manual only listed one that I had.
 
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