45-70 lead

[686]

who hunts with cast 45-70 bullets? what is your lead mixture.? i am thinking of a soft lead 340 gr bullet with a gc. for me 50-50 ww-soft lead with some 60-40 soder added. or would 25 ww- 75 soft work better? this would be for a 45-70 23 in tc rifle. thanks

[BABore]

Anticipated muzzle and impact velocitie criteria would be helpful. The T/C Encore is almost 50 kpsi capable. Need intent and critter info.

[jhalcott]

IF (big IF) you aren't shooting at very high velocity, you do not really NEED a bulet harder than about 1 in 10 tin to lead. A bhn of 10 is good enough for about 90 % of your shooting. I've used straight ACWW for bear and deer in Maine. The BHN of those bullets was around 12/13 and penetrated very well.

[686]

my tc is a reg. tc not the encore. i have not checked the fps yet. may be 1200-1800 fps with the 340 gr rn fp gc bullet. my magma mold just came. i will be trying it out tonight.

[BABore]

Half WW's and half Pb at slower speeds (9-10 bhn). Water drop them as velocity increases (19-22 bhn). Tin is not really necessary for casting this alloy at 750-775 F.

[John Boy]

686 ... cast your bullets 1:30. This seems to be the ratio the Shiloh rifle gents are using for bison - deer and African game animals

[Lloyd Smale]

unless your shooting black powder or really light loads id step up to #2 or 5050 ww/lyno. I use my 4570s for bigger game and want bone busting bullets.

[quack1]

I have been hunting with 20-1 in my 45-70. I use a 340gr or 420gr boolet at about 1400fps and have killed a few deer with each and have no complaints. I do believe straight ww would work as well. The deer were all shot through the lungs and the exit holes have been slightly bigger than entrance holes, but not by much. The 20-1 might give more expansion if hitting something more solid than ribs, but I like to try to keep from getting splintered bone in the meat. A 45 cal flat nose makes a pretty big hole that leaks a lot of blood, whether it expands or not.