Whats a good plinking 45/70 that won't be a lead and powder hog?

[Stopsign32v]

Wanting to enjoy shooting my 45/70 without gulping each time at the amount it takes to feed it. So what are some loads in both mold and powder that you guys like to use that lets you know you're still shooting something more than a 45 Colt but doesn't take up so much to feed it?

[mattellis2]

It seems like you’re asking for two mutually exclusive things. Shooting an ounce of lead at a time is going to consume some resources.

[Bird]

RCBS 325 grain plain base bullet and a few grains of unique. Cheap shooting and mild recoil. Try a round ball with unique.

[Stopsign32v]

RCBS 325 grain plain base bullet and a few grains of unique. Cheap shooting and mild recoil. Try a round ball with unique.


Round ball?

Edit: For the mold do you mean this one? https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010282959

[MT Chambers]

Start with a "collar button" mold such as the one from Lyman, usually around 180 grains or so, then maybe 10 grs. of Trail Boss.

[Larry Gibson]

270 gr bullet (Rapine 460250) over 8 gr bullseye (no wad or filler) for 1075 fps....... Excellent accuracy to 500 yards.

[siamese4570]

Try a .457 round ball and a little unique. Just seat the ball half way in the case mouth and crimp. Can't remember how unique.
Siamese4570

[frkelly74]

Shoot it into a receptacle to retrieve your lead from, or at a berm where you can at least recover someone else's lead from.

[Harter66]

Last year I lucked into an old Rapine 458401 . It casts a Colts style RNFP at 459-255 . Of course you can also size your 454/452 ??? To 451-2 and patch up to 458-9 and shoot them or spring for that collar button mould . Hollow base SAA type bullets will get you there . The Lee 458-340 works for me too .

In a modern gun anything from a hopped up 45 ACP 165 gr lead sipper to a a 45kpsi 500 gr tungsten fortified solid ....... Ok maybe not right on the heels of the 458 WM but not far off .......

Personally I don't mind a 535 sub but like you I wanted something "less assertive" on my end . That was why I snagged the Rapine mould . 10-15 gr Unique gets you a 454ish load . Stoke it up with H322,335,4198 , or IMR 4895 and you get a 460 S&W class pushing a 27-2900 fps 250-265 gr if your bullet is up to it . The 20+ inch twist should make it easier to go fast if that's what you want .

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I use a Cast Boolit Engineering 250gn that casts 0.459" (far left of the pic), with 12gns Trail Boss. I call this my 'mouse fart' load

https://i.imgur.com/YaFZpHB.jpg

Just a ball of fun from my 1886 Lever.

[Hamish]

http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=18

[44Blam]

Shoot a 400 grain boolit under a stout Varget load (50+ grain)... It's a 45-70; it goes BOOM and blows the tar out of the thing on the other side...

[Bird]

Round ball?

Edit: For the mold do you mean this one? https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010282959

That's the one. No gas check required.

[Don1357]

Remember the ammo shortage scare? A lot of the reloading stuff and powder is still out there unused on somebody's basement. Keep an eye out on Craigslist. Gun related stuff is forbidden but gets posted from time to time. For powder I look for either sealed containers or containers directly from the first owner: God knows what's on a state sale open container. You can also score primers that way.

Basically if you find a can of powder at half price you accomplish the same goal.

[longbow]

Some people want to use the same gun for multiple purposes... like big game hunting and general paper punching/plinking but .45-70 is a bit much for many even with factory BP equivalent loads. That's why Ideal use to offer a variety of boolit moulds and weights from real heavyweights right down to round balls and collar buttons. Nothing wrong with wanting to tame the big game gun for easy/cheaper general shooting or plinking.

For example the Ideal handbook from 1929 lists for .45-70:

- round ball
- collar button (same weight as round ball)
- 210 gr.
- 290 gr.
- 300 gr.
- 330 gr.
- 350 gr.
- 405 gr.
- 500 gr.

Quite the selection!

On that note, I wanted the same idea for my 1894 Marlin in .44 mag. Yes, it is no .45-70 but full loads with 240 gr. boolits do recoil in that light little gun and kids and small people don't like it. Also, I am cheap so if I don't have to be flinging large lumps of lead driven by large volumes of powder when plinking I am all for it. I like the collar button boolits but there were not any available for .44 so I got Tom at Accurate Molds to scale down a .45 cal. design he had in 165 gr. to .433" to suit the Marlin. It is a great little lightweight boolit and beautiful mould. It works for me!

Longbow

[blackthorn]

Interesting thread. I bought a Modern Bond, two cavity mould, complete with handles, at our local gun show a year or so ago. It came as part of a bunch of moulds (package deal) and it had two bullets in it. Just for fun I measured the bullets and they measure 460. My friend has a 45-70 Guide gun but he has developed a shoulder problem and I wondered if that little bullet could be used to develop a light load for him. Looks like it will be worth a try. This is a great site!

[Reverend Al]

I'm in on this one ... 212 grains ... specifically designed for .45-70 gallery loads ...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?382889-MP-45-70-Plinker-212gr-Solid

[bigboredad]

I would email Tom at accuratemolds.com and he can make what you want in the weight and diameter you choose and a 2 cavity mold wouldn't be much more than a ribs mold

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[Texas by God]

The Lee 459340FP has been stellar for me and so affordable. Red Dot or Unique for fuel to run them around 1100 fps.

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[gpidaho]

I enjoy my 45-70s. I have a Henry lever action and a Handi rifle. As you say, you don't always need the dragon slaying rounds. I have three moulds from NOE that I'd recommend. The 460-186-CB-AP4 for plinking, The 460-315-RF for mid-range loads and the 460-405-RF for the heavier loads. I also have the common Lee's The 405-HB and a 510gr. RN 45-70's are fun rifles, even for just plinking with the round ball or collar button bullets. Gp

[Stopsign32v]

The Lee 459340FP has been stellar for me and so affordable. Red Dot or Unique for fuel to run them around 1100 fps.

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I can't find this mold

[Norske]

If you're a boolit caster/ sizer, use a soft lead buckshot sized to fit your bore, ad tumble lube it. It will be a straight sided "round" ball. Then look to Lyman manuals for a mouse load of powder. the powder should be a shotgun powder so it burns cleanly at low pressures.

[Stopsign32v]

I don't want it quite to the point of you're not even shooting a 45/70.

I was thinking of something like 300gr 45/70 bullet over a mild load of powder.

[glaciers]

I don't want it quite to the point of you're not even shooting a 45/70.

I was thinking of something like 300gr 45/70 bullet over a mild load of powder.

Try a Lyman 457191, 292 grain. Drops from my mold at 298 -299 gr. right at .459 dia. A good powder is always IMR 4198, starting load is 34.5 gr. of IMR 4198 for 1687 fps in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, 4th Edition. Acording to the book you can push it to 2050 fps in a marlin or other strong lever gun. You can also use powders like Unique in the 10 gr to 14 gr range for lighter loads. Do some more research for those loads, don't trust just one recommendation.
I have not tried this bullet in my Marlin, but, I have used it before in a Winchester 86 and old High Wall, worked great.
For the Marlin, which is new to me, older JM gun, I still need to cast the chamber and throat. I suspect I will be powder coating to bring this boolit up to the needed dia. which I think will be around .460 - .461 dia.

[KenH]

I can't find this mold

I think this is the one referred to: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TQ3PO2/ I used this bullet with 8 to 10 grains of Unique for a really light plinking load.