Shiloh Sharps .45-70

I'm ordering mine soon! I've been saving my pennies for a few years.

Anyway, I'm going with .45-70 for several reasons, the most important of which is because it is proofed for **gasp** smokeless powder as well as The Holy Black. I want the versatility of both.

My questions to the experienced BPCR shooters are:

- What alloy do you recommend for black powder boolits?

- What alloy do you recommend for smokeless boolits?

- What powder for smokeless?

- What are your favorite moulds for shooting 600 to 1000 yards?

I would look at bullets in the 500-550 grn weight range depending on barrels twist rate. 45-70 is a very useable cartridge. I would recommend you look at the 510 grn lyman govt round nose 457125 as this is a solid performer in a lot of rifles, casts easily and is available. Next is the 535 lyman postell, again a solid performer in a lot of rifles and casts easily. Last is the 550 grn shilouette version from Bernie Rowels at Old West moulds. This has been a very good performer for me. While these don't have to be the named makers the style in any makers should work the same. The 550 grn bullet really shines in my 45-90. Lyman, RCBS, SAECO, BACO, all have bullet moulds in these styles. For ease of casting and increased speed buy 2 moulds to cast with. This allows one to cool while filling and cutting sprues on other. I cast my BPCR bullets from 20-1 alloy currently with these bullets. I lube with SPG.

20-1 is good for most grease groove bullets.
The saeco 645 is a good bullet in the 45-70.

well, lotsa room for experimenting, but for starters and for either bp or that white stuff - 1:20 alloy, a good lube that'll work with bp or wp (gato feo is my fave), aa5744 is one of the best (if not best) smokeless powders for the big brass, a good mould for cheap is the lyman postell 457132 or double the cost for a BACO money bullet (my choice). good luck on the shiloh, mine's about 8 months away from getting built.

ps - for what it's worth, the .45-70 isn't the only cartridge that'll work just fine for both powder types.

MAC266, The 45-70 is the best choice for your first rifle. They are easy to get to shoot well with both black or smokeless powder. 20/1 is a good alloy, 16/1 is better. For molds, please do not waste you money on Lyman. They are not round and have size problems. Go right to BACO. For hunting the .458500 round Nose is a good choice. Plenty of lube! For a target bullet look at a 535 grain Money Bullet or a 540 grain Creedmoor. I use the Money bullet with the 1'st band reduced and the Creedmoor with the 2 top bands reduced. With AA 5744 I use 25.5 grains and with black powder I use 72 grains of OE 1.5 with the Money and 75 grains of OE 1.5 with the Creedmoor. These bullets shoot really well. I do not size these bullets, just pan lube with DGL as cast. You will really like your rifle and these bullets will shoot very well. Also you can do good work with the semi-buckhorn and a blade front sight and will teach yourself how to shoot them well. You can always add target sights later on when you want to stretch the range beyond. Good luck and good shooting!

Look at what the top shooters in bpcr and bptr are using. You can find an equipment list from the big matches on line. My shooting partner uses a shiloh and won the Texas state match last year. A good place to start is starline brass,swiss 3f powder and a creedmoor bullet that fits your gun from Brooks or Baco.

You also might want to wait until you get the gun to order a mold and brass after you cast the chamber and bore. I have a Pedersoli that has a really long chamber for 45-70. To get the most case possible, I ordered 45-90 and trimmed it down to fit my chamber, 45-70 brass was too short. Also ordered several custom cut BACO molds to fit my gun. One thing for sure, there is a world of valuable info in these guys heads (non mine) regarding BPCR.

For molds I'd pick one of the Buffalo Arms Money bullets in .459" diameter. I like the 459535M1 and the 459530M4. The latter bullet will allow for larger powder charges as it has reduced driving bands so you can seat the bullet out. Both will shoot well in 16:1 alloy with good powder like Swiss 1.5 or OE 1.5.

For lube, don't mess around with anything home made until you've got the thing shooting to your satisfaction. SPG or DGL are pretty cheap per shot :-)

I'd suggest Starline .45-70 brass.

My Shiloh rifles have all been very easy to get shooting well. I use the same formula to start with in all of them. A BACO Money bullet in 16:1, ideally slip fit with no neck tension. Seated out as far as it'll go and still be able to close the breech block without undue effort. Good powder like Swiss or OE 1.5, with just a little compression. A 0.060" LDPE wad, and a match primer.

The rifle will shoot quite well like that but you will likely want to make small tweaks to get the velocity SD down for shooting 500 yards and further. You'll also need to develop a good fouling management routine in order to get the rifle to shoot consistently well.

Chris.

I like the 550 grain postell in these with gatefeo lube.

I haven't read a post yet in this thread that I disagree with.

For the record, 405 gr (20-1) powder coated with AA5744 (26 gr) is my most accurate round out to 200 yards.
Then the big boys really start shining (500 gr greasers, 20-1) and I only shoot holy black with those.

Mind you I'm shooting out of a 137 year old trapdoor in great condition.

A shiloh is still on my bucket list! Soon I hope!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Mak

... A shiloh is still on my bucket list! Soon I hope!

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the current wait is at least 1-1/2 years. ack! :holysheep

No rifle satisfies like a Shiloh 1874 as good or better than originals.# 3 on order, 1877 this time

If you pay careful attention to the inventory page on the Shiloh site you might find something very close to what you are looking for. A nice .45-70 was listed until very recently. It was a 30" heavy barreled rifle. I think a #1.

There is currently a .40-65 listed which would make an excellent silhouette or midrange rifle.

Chris.

You could buy several boxes of known bullets and try them prior to ordering a mold. Sagebrush offers Paul Jones Creedmoor, Postell and Money Bullet styles. I have used the Creedmoor and Money Bullet, both shot very well out to 600 yards I tested them to. I would suggest ordering them unsized and unlubed. Pan lube as cast with DGL and they will work nicely. I have used BACO 1881 SAECO at .458 lubed with SPG and they also shot very well. I ordered the BACO version due to the larger lube grooves and am pleased with this bullet.

Order your rifle now. It took 2 years for mine and that's plenty of time to save. Shiloh Sharps takes a minimal down payment, the full payment when your rifle is done and ready to be shipped to you. My Shiloh .45-70 has tight chambers and won't feed the Lyman 457125. Have Steve Brooks make you one of his molds for the Shiloh.45-70. Get 525-550 gr. boolit for long range. If you use smokeless powder your Shiloh will be plenty strong enough to take it. You however will never be able to walk in the light of day with righteous men again.

Good advise from Silver Jack. Set your rifle up as close as you want it and place the order. If you want to make some changes you can do that when they notify you your rifle will be going into production soon. " The Letter". While better that 95% of my loading is with black powder, there is a place for AA5744. When you just want to get in some quick practice 25.0 to 25.5 with a 500 + grain bullet will put you with in a few points at 200. I load the BACO 500 grain RN or the BACO 535 grain Money Bullet in nickel Remington brass for my smoke less practice ammo and it shoots very well.