Win 231 in 45-70?

[wiljen]

I found an article that discusses using win231 in the 45-70 for Cowboy loads. Has anybody here tried it?

[MtGun44]

Not tried it, but W231 is a VERY fast powder and in the cavernous
.45-70 case, the pinch that you'd use would be pretty easy to
get "lost" and get inconsistent ignition. I hae not tried it and
would not do it personally. :???:

I'd worry about sticking a bullet in the barrel if you lowered the
muzzle and then shot with the powder max distance from the
primer.

I would stongly suggest that 10 gr Unique would be a wonderful
accurate and very low recoil load and much safer. I have had
excellent accuracy with 405 cast and 10 unique in several different
.45-70 (trapdoor to marlin).

IMHO "10 gr Unique" is the "universal load" in any caliber that it is
safe in (pressure wise). The number of rifles and pistols that have
given good to excellent results with 10gr Unique in my personal
experience astounds me.

Bill

[PPpastordon]

MtGun44;
"IMHO "10 gr Unique" is the "universal load" in any caliber that it is
safe in (pressure wise). The number of rifles and pistols that have
given good to excellent results with 10gr Unique in my personal
experience astounds me."

Somewhere in the depths of my collections of books, booklets, pamphlets and other writings there is a work called The Unique Cookbook. It is a collection of loads for different calibers which use Unique. I was amazed at the different calibers in which Unique is used, and, as I found out through personal experience, it is used with great success! It is a wonderful powder when using cast boolits.
If your name comes from shooting a .44 Mt. Gun, I am sure that is another place you use 10 gr. Unique. It is great in my 4 1/2" barreled Redhawk with the 429421 - and in other .44 Mag's. (Yes, the Redhawk got shortened.) Unique is the first powder I started buying in bigger than #1 containers - and at that time it was being used only in revolvers!

[wiljen]

I've used a good bit of unique at between 10-20 gr in the 45/70. 10gr is a little anemic behind a 300gr but good behind a 500. 19.5 works well behind 300gr bullets (as taken from the 1967 Lyman manual). I hadn't seen any other information regarding using 231 and presumed that were it a widely accepted practice, I'd have heard more about it. The article is well written and compares the other standard reduced load powders (red dot, 700-x etc). I am posting the link to is solely so others can read it and see if they think the author did his homework or is advocating something foolish. This is in no way an endorsement.

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/pistolpowi.htm

[Lloyd Smale]

another fan of unique in light rifle loads. Ive used powders as fast as bullseye in gallery loads in the 4570 and it works but nothing works as well as unique or herco for them

[Bass Ackward]

I was curious, so I loaded 9 grains in an unsized case so that I could pull the bullet without much disturbing then gently pour the contents out to be weighed. Between what was still stuck somewhere in the case and to the base of the bullet, the charge was 7.6 grains for about 750 fps. While the case stuff should be free to ignite, the bullet stuff would be iffy if contaminated. Especially if stored for a week in warm weather. All of which adds up to a significant percentage of your charge.

So how they get .... superior SD, loading and shooting right away without handling their ammo and using new cases and cleaning or using mica on the bases of their bullets or using some filler is beyond me.

But this is somehow probably negatively biased on my part. If you want to go back in time and get the cowboy experience, then you should have to shoot from that same period. Then powder selection isn't a problem.

[MtGun44]

PPpastordon,

I do indeed get excellent results with my 10 unique and 429421, and
in many other calibers.

Any info on your Unique loads book would be interesting.

This is the result of shooting sitting one night with a scope on one of
my mountain guns at 25 yds. I ultimately put a longer barrel (crazy
but the South Africans forbid 'self defense handguns') on it and
took the warthog and a brother with it at 65 and 25 yds, single shots -
altho with 20 2400 same bullet (Kieth load). As accurate, just faster.

Bill