45-70 Boolits

[brad925]

I am new to casting but i was just wondering how fast have people shot a 45-70 plain base bullet and was it heat treated, water dropped, air cooled and what type of lube was used? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I am new to this and have been reading alot through the winter months but time is running out and i will be casting soon.

[largom]

I shoot gas checks up to full throttle in my 45-70's with no problems except for the kick. I have read that plain base boolits need to be held below 1400 fps but I have never tried them.

Larry

[Lead Fred]

Lyman 395gr RN PB ice water dropped @ 1670fps

Lube is 50% Randy's bees wax, 40% lard, 10% cornola oil

No leading, pressure signs, and inch groups at 100 are easy.

[HangFireW8]

I am new to casting but i was just wondering how fast have people shot a 45-70 plain base bullet and was it heat treated, water dropped, air cooled and what type of lube was used? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I am new to this and have been reading alot through the winter months but time is running out and i will be casting soon.

I am still new, have had good luck with plain based 45/70 bullets from two different Lyman molds, 457-124 and 457-191. Some loads are more accurate than others but none have leaded the bore.

I used SPG lube because I plan on doing some Black Powder loads. If I wasn't going BP soon I would have used the "NRA Formula" 50/50 beeswax/Alox lube.

The 45/70 isn't overly picky about bullet hardness. I water dropped mine because it is easier to do without bashing up the hot boolits together on a towel. As long as they are reasonably hard and fit the bore OK you should be all right.

Cast your first five out of the purest, softest lead you can find. They don't have to be perfect but they should be fully filled out. Lube three with your fingertips. First, see if the ogive of the bullet engages the rifling. Then drive it into the muzzle and back out again, do another at the breech, then the third all the way through.

Measure the outside diameter, inside the rifling grooves, and measure the boolit you haven't messed with, and post the results here.

-HF

[rhead]

I have had the Lee 405 gr hollow base to 1550. It was no better than the load just below 1500 so I backed off to give my shoulder a break. I could not figure a way to make it shoot flat.

[pdawg_shooter]

Straight ww at full speed, but I paper patch. Never any leading, great accuracy.

[BrianB]

I have shot the Lee 340's, straight WW's, water cooled, LLA over 1,600 fps (as I recall) with no noticeable leading.

If you're using the 45-70 primarily for hunting, I wouldn't worry about leading unless it was really bad. I would just concentrate on accuracy.

[Jim]

I have a Marlin 1895 Guide Gun and a Gibbs .45-70 bolt rifle. I've been shooting plain based boolits as fast as I can get 'em to go for years. At one time, I cronied 300 grainers at around 2000(that'll rattle yer teeth!) and I got 500 grainers up to 1700 in the Gibbs. After about half a box of that, my head started to hurt so bad, I had to quit.

[Doc Highwall]

The only trouble with hard boolits like that is they are too hard if you are going to use them for hunting, they are OK for just shooting and plinking. If you are planning on using them for hunting you are better off with pure lead to 30:1 alloy and at 1300-1400 fps will kill anything. If you want to go with a little higher velocity get a gas check boolit. When I cast my boolits I dump them on a towel in empty spots to let them cool and when I start to run out of room I pick up one end of the towel and let the boolits roll into a pile at the other end of the towel and continue casting.

[thx997303]

I think I would much rather have a non expanding boolit on game.

So I'll keep with WW air dropped. Plenty big hole.

[NickSS]

I have shot boolits made from range scrape at 1500 fps with no leading. My favorite hunting load for years was the Lyman 385 rnpb slug driven by 42 gr of 3031. I cast those bullets out of a mixture of range scrap and pure lead about 50-50. They were pretty soft but shot very accurately. I killed an elk with one at nearly 200 yards just holding over its back about a foot.