45-70 and the Ruger #1

[Turkeyfeather]

Hey shooters, I am new to shooting black powder and equivalents in cartridge rifles. I have a Ruger #1 in 45-70 that I would like to try. While I don't have a lot of Black powder, I have a couple of pounds of Pyrodex that I would like to load with. I have a 340 grain and 450 grain bullet mold. Some have said I should use the 450 grain bullet with a cookie. Any thoughts on compression or just fill and seat the bullet?

Have any of you used this combination and found reasonable success?

[Buckshot]

.............Deputy Al has said that the very best accuracy he's ever gotten with his Ruger #1 was with BP. Don't know about Pyrodex. Only problem with the Ruger is the short government ballseat .

Prolly one of the best modern type BPCR shooters would be the 458 Win Mag if they use the Winchester throat and leade. It's a bit long and the leade is gentle.

I'll PM Al and see if I can get him over here.

If I had lots of money something I'd like to do would be to get one of those shotguns that take a box magazine and barrel it to 577 Snider :-) Be the first on your block with a semi-automatic 577 Snider. After the 2nd shot you wouldn't be able to see anything :-)

..............Buckshot

[NickSS]

I have used Pyrodex in a 45-70 and shot the tightest group ever in my C. Sharps Model 1875 rifle. I used 65 gr bulk equivalent load of pyrodex and a Lyman 405 gr flat point plain base bullet with a .030 vegetable fiber wad winchester large rifle primer in Winchester brass. Results were 10 rounds in a 3/4" hole in the midle of the X ring. I never got better results with any load.

[9.3X62AL]

Buckshot is correct--Goex BP (55.0 grains) with the Lee 405 plain base did VERY well in my Ruger #1. I used Wonder Lube in the grooves and a Wonder Wad and thin card wad at the boolit's base. Since the Lee boolit doesn't have much lube capacity, I shot one fouler--then five for record--then wiped the bore. No buildup problems resulted. A boolit design with greater lube capacity and maybe a scraper groove up front might keep you shooting longer between wipe-outs.

The five-shot groups ran 1.25" very consistently at 100 yards.

Buckshot is a great one for dreaming up things like belt-fed 45-70's. He hasn't had the financial chastisement that some of us have endured from feeding semi-auto 308's (HK-91 and M1A in my case). They give ocean-going fishing boats a good race when it comes to emptying a wallet out.