Howdy from Sunny Texas

[eddeb3]

Greetings from an ole retired guy just getting into boolit casting. Earlier this year I fell in love with a Buffalo Classic in 45-70. It was extreme addiction at first shot!

Recently I've cast up a few dozen boolits using Lee's 405 grain hollow base mold.
The alloy that I weighed out should be right at 10:1 pure lead/tin.

These castings dropped out at .460. I've lubed them with Alox and I'm down to making a decision regarding the powder and the charge weight.:confused:

I have Reloader 7, H4198 AND H4895 available to me.

Question: How fast do I dare push these boolits with this alloy?

Background: This BC loaded with 40 gr. Reloader 7 + 405 Remington can do a one hole group at 100 yards. Really slow is fine with me since the longest possible deer/hog shot available to me is ~100 yards.

Anyway, sorry for the long ramble. Any help ya'll can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and good shooting,

Eddeb3

[RayinNH]

Ed, how much pain do you want to endure? The old trapdoor loads at 1200/1300 fps will shoot clean through a buffalo. Dead is dead. The hog will never know the difference. For target shooting to make it a bit more pleasant take off the butt plate and fill the stock hole with shot or cast a solid lead bar to fill the hole. Welcome to the site as well...Ray

[eddeb3]

Howdy Ray. Thank you for your friendly welcome.

LOL, I've run the gambit more or less with my BC. Initially, I thought I had an inexpensive elephant rifle and worked up loads of up to 58 grains of H4198 under a 300 grain Hornady HP. After the bruises healed, I moved down to "trapdoor levels" have been happy every since.

Lately I've been bitten by the cast boolit bug. There's just something about fluxing lead and pouring that lovely silver stuff that satisfyies me in a way that nothing else does.

If you think that a 10:1 alloy can go up to 1300-1400 fps without leading up my barrel, I'm off to the races. That being the case, 35-40 grains of Reloader 7 should do the trick?

One thing is for sure, if I ever think I need a 458 magnum, I won't be trying to get there with a 45-70! :)

Also, I am pretty close to a full blown newby when it comes to cast boolits and reloading. Any and all suggestions are very welcome. I know that I don't know! :)

[Pepe Ray]

Wellcome to the fire.
Knew a Marine from Texas named Zoober. We tipped a few back in'59.
If you have any leading don't neglect trying a good card wad seated against the base of your boolet. A squeeze fit in the case.
Pepe Ray

[RayinNH]

Ed, your 10:1 will be fine you could even go 20:1. Boolit fit will be your best hedge against leading. I size mine .457 for my BC, you could go .458 as well, although slugging would give you the true size needed...Ray

[eddeb3]

Thank you Ray. Thats exactly the info I was looking for. I'll try some of this batch of 10:1 and then I'll melt the rest down and add more lead to get up to 20:1. Some years ago I cast tin fishing lures so I still have a bit of tin around my shop. No point in wasting the tin if it's not needed.

I'll probably wind up getting a sizer at some point. I "slugged" the BC and it ranged from .458 - .459 as well as I could tell. Maybe these .460 boolits will work? We shall see! :)

Thanks again for your input, Ray and Pepe Ray

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Hullo and welcome, your as cast boolits at .460 should shoot fine as cast if your slug ran .458-59 it is as good as you could ask for , lube em up and go burn some powder and the silver stream.

[pdawg_shooter]

I have went up to 50.0gr of R7 with a 430gr paper patch bullet in my 1895G. You dont have to ask the guy on the next bench if it went off when you pull the trigger!

[eddeb3]

I have went up to 50.0gr of R7 with a 430gr paper patch bullet in my 1895G. You dont have to ask the guy on the next bench if it went off when you pull the trigger!


=====
...50.0 gr. of Reloader 7! I'll bet the bench next to you had to be steam cleaned:roll:

Paper patched! Now you've done it. I can see that my addiction is going to take a new turn. There is no hope for me now. :mrgreen:

[eddeb3]

Although I've cast lead and tin fishing lures & sinkers for years, this was my first...er....shot at casting bullets.

Mold: Lee #459-405-HB
Alloy: 10:1 lead/tin - both metals from pure stock and weighed out
Flux: paraffin wax
Lubrication: Lee's Liquid Alox - tumbled twice
Powder Charge: 40.0 grains of Reloader7
Rifle: H&R Buffalo Classic 45-70
Scope: 4x Weaver
Ambient Temp: 100+ F
Wind: 0
Range: 100 yards

Observations:
- Easy on the shoulder
- No sign of "leading"
- Bullet was recovered after it penetrated a 1" oak board that the target plate was stapled to + ~16 inches of hard dirt in the backstop.
=========
I know all this is "old hat" for all you veterans but this was magic to me! [smilie=w:[smilie=w:
Hopefully a newbe like me can gain some confidence from reading of my first cast boolit experience.

My thanks to Ray from NH, Pepe Ray and Slow Elk for your encouragement. Also, thanks for your warm welcome.

My next step is to add a little feral hog to the front of one of these little 405 grain pills!

[RayinNH]

Ed, glad to hear your first experience was a positive one. It's much easier to hook people when this happens. That shooting will certainly net a hog should one cross your path. That temperature is a bit warm for my liking though. I look forward to more reports from you in the future...Ray

[DLCTEX]

Ed, my favorite powder for the 45-70 and the 420 RD boolit is IMR SR 4759. The boolit drops at .460 and is a Tumble lube design. I lube it with Johnsons paste wax, then Alox.

[snuffy]

Ed, let me also welcome you to the forum. I also have the H&R BC, AND the lee 405 HB mold.

Here's a load I tried after casting some with 20-1 lead. Starting at 43.0 of H-322, moving up to 46.0 grains. Chronographed at 15 feet.
43.0 Av. 1753
44.0 av 1798
45.0 av 1841
46.0 av 1882

Those loads were pure torture to shoot. I was using a past magnum pad between me and that diabolical hooked STEEL buttplate! The rifle handled them well, and no leading! They were sized at .458, lubed with LLA. No notes in my chrono record book about accuracy, that was before I mounted a scope on it, using the stock sights @ 50 yards.

Another load I tried was this. From 26.5 to 28.0 grains of surplus 4759,(this was from Jeff Bartlet @ GIbrass.com).
26.5 av 1510
27.0 av 1533
27.5 av 1562
28.0 av 1582
Again no notes about accuracy, but the recoil was much more manageable.

A note about this and other H&R rifles. Be sure to keep the locking lug clean!:cry: The last range trip with the BC resulted in it popping open with mild loads. I soon realized the locking lug wasn't engaging fully. It was simply dirty! A good cleaning and lubing has HOPEFULLY cured that, I haven't shot it since I last cleaned it. I was paying too much attention to the bore!

Any hog or other critter that gets in the way of that 405 boolit is in deep trouble!:holysheep:mrgreen: Cast of 20-1 it should be soft enough to expand some also. Not that expansion is needed when poking a 458 hole in the boiler room!

[Dframe]

I have been using an old lee 405 grain boolit (sized 458) and IMR 4198 or IMR 3031 loaded to "Trapdoor Max" for a long time. Shoots great and doesn't HURT to shoot. Lately I've been using trail boss for lighter fun loads.

[WHITETAIL]

:drinks:eddeb3, Welcome to the forum!

[WHITETAIL]

I have been useing IMR-4198 at the bottom of the Marlin- Winchester loads.
[smilie=w:

[Wayne Smith]

Eddeb3, welcome! You are officially addicted! Now let's see a pic of a 10 shot group of that load. 10 shots gives you a fair idea of what the rifle/boolit will do.

[eddeb3]

Good morning folks. Thanks again for the warm welcome and for your advice and encouragement.

There is no doubt about it. I am addicted to flinging cast lead through the air!

[cajun shooter]

eddeb3, Welcome to the forum and I also have a BC that is a great rifle. These guns are not pretty but will shoot with the best of them. If you have some extra time you might want to also look on the Greybeard forum as they have an entire section devoted to the H&R rifles. Some of our members here are also over there at times. Our forum here is the best for any casting talk though. Later David PS If you ever want to really have fun then shoot your BC loaded with the correct powder and send some BP rounds downrange.