45/70 microgroove w/ cast boolits

[XWrench3]

is this a good combination? or are you better off with a ballard groove rifle? for whatever reason, my 30-30 microgroove needs a boolit that is .002 to .003" over the bore size. if this holds true with the 45-70 barrel as well, it might be tough finding molds that are that much oversize.

[curator]

Micro-groove works fine for the .45-70 with .461-,462 diameter boolits. Nothing special about this MOST .45-70s shoot best with this size anyhow. Gas check is a plus but hard (BHN20+) will work just as well if under 1600fps.

[w30wcf]

I guess it depends on the rifle. My friend has a microgrooved 45-70 that shoots really well with .459" bullets made from 12 BHN alloy.

My 1970's vintage Marlin ballard rifled can do no better than his rifle.......

w30wcf

[Westwindmike]

My Marlin MG 45-70 shoots great with .459-.460 straight WW boolits.

[jlchucker]

I must have gotten lucky when I started casting for my new Marlin in 1982 or thereabouts. I read a Lyman manual, bought a mold and a .458 sizer, and had good luck right away. Now, after reading about the microgroove thing on this and other websights, maybe I need a .459 sizer to see if my 2 inch groups will shrink to one at 100 yd. Nowadays, though, I slug every gun that I buy and use the appropriate sizer. Marlin MG's seem to shoot very well if you slug your bore, size boolits appropriately and keep good notes on what works in what rifle.