WOW! MM design page is educational!

[rvpilot76]

I took measurements from my Marlin 1895 Cowboy and I have played with the features of the software for probably say, oh, the last 3 hours. I haven't had this much fun in weeks! OK, enough of my rambling. From my measurements I noticed a .150 throat, .452 land, .458 groove and an overall length that will function through the magazine of 2.595 (.045 longer than listed). Should I stick with the 2.550 COAL and shorten the nose to .450? I would like the bullets to slightly make contact with the rifling upon chambering. If I make the front band .150" (the same as the throat), will the crimp groove let me seat deeper for clearance, or will I have to shave a few thousandths from the case? One last thing; the rounds will never see over 1800 FPS. Is one lube groove enough? I made it a 1:1 ratio with the band lengths, which gives me a .82 bearing length. Man, I'm excited. The thought of designing your own bullet mould has got me giddy. The reason I bought this rifle is that I believe it has got to be one of the best defense weapons agains big bears. 9+1 capacity in 45/70 with BIG BOOLITS in a fast cycling action! Does it get any better? Thanks in advance to all who respond.

Kevin :lovebooli

[Haywire Haywood]

Disclaimer: Novice at work here, passing on what he has read/been told without any real world experience to back it up.

I recently sent Veral Smith a drawing of the group buy C358-180-RF with the intent of having him make it and end up with a better quality mold than the Lee 6 banger. He made the suggestion that I skip the two small lube grooves in favor of one large one. I understand that he also promotes having a heavier first driving band to ensure that the throat funnels the boolit into the rifleing straight, as a weaker one might deform and let the boolit get started crooked.

does that sound like I'm on the mark? :shock:
Ian

[9.3X62AL]

Ian--

I think Veral and Elmer Keith would be in complete agreement on your question. It might pain Veral to hear that, but I think both men are absolutely correct in their opinions. I think Veral is one of the good guys, except that his favored boolits need not be so heavy to do the right things. Too much of a good thing is--too much.

BIG drive bands are a good thing. Period.

[The Nyack Kid]

I would say ,go with the .450 nose for the 2.550 coal . why ? so this boolit will feed ultra reliable though your rifle and in other guns . i predict you will want to get another gun, or three ,cause the 45-70 is soo fun to shoot and all your buddys will want to try out you boolits in their rifles..... :mrgreen: . what wheight are you leaning towards? what memplat size are you looking at ?

[rvpilot76]

I would say ,go with the .450 nose for the 2.550 coal . why ? so this boolit will feed ultra reliable though your rifle and in other guns . i predict you will want to get another gun, or three ,cause the 45-70 is soo fun to shoot and all your buddys will want to try out you boolits in their rifles..... :mrgreen: . what wheight are you leaning towards? what memplat size are you looking at ?
Looking at the 430 grainer with a 70% meplat. I am just thinking that with the .500 nose that I won't be intruding on powder space. I'll load up some more 2.595 dummies tonight and run them through the action.

Kevin

[The Nyack Kid]

ive got two molds that cast boolits that go over .7 into the case .it is easy to get over 1700 fps with the right powders . the space taken up by going with the shorter nose is not a problem with smokeless powder. if the gun will be used for hunting it is best to go with the ultra reliable feeding boolit vs a picky fitting match boolit IMO.