New Gun new hobby HELP!!!!

[Any 22]

As my name implys Ive strayed PRETTTTTTYYY far away from my original love
But here I am new Gun & hobby SO ????
Ihave a 30 " 1874 45/70 marked I.A.B. Gardone V.T. Made in Italy
has no tang sights just buckhorns & blade front, Ive always since Quigley anyway wanted to try this sport. My first trip out was with some loads I built for my 45/70 contender with 405 jacketed bullets they shot great in the pistol & 18 " low at 100 in the rifle. If anyone cares to take on a newbie Id like to know about the quality of my rifle Load development bullet weight Cast bullet needed Ect Ect. ANY info appreciated.
Im certainly not new to shooting but these guns I know nothing about I just traded into it & want to try it out, think im gonna like it

[Gtek]

Welcome to the big holes. Slug bore to confirm diameter. Trapdoor replica? = DO NOT STRAY PAST TRAPDOOR LISTED LOADINGS. Way to many to type out, hit search button here. This round has been loaded every way to Sunday, your quest is to find the one yours likes. Gtek

[MGySgt]

Welcome aboard to this madness -

I also have a IAB 45/70 - mine is a repro of the 1866 Sharps Business Rifle.

Well it started as a 45/70 - I had it rechambered to 45/90 because at that time IAB had a reputation for a very long lead.

When I sluged the bore it came up at .460+ and I size to 461.5 (custom die from Buckshot).

Mine has had Lee Shaver Mid range Soule sights and a Lyman Globe front sights added and the trigger hardened.

With a 430 gr GC FP and 4031 wirh dacron filler it will shoot sub MOA all day.

It has taken 2 Elk in Colorado.

It is a hoot to shoot - but I would not start over with another IAB. I would (and did) buy a Pedersoli (Quigly) in 45/90 that is accurate with the same boolit as the IAB takes. the extras I had to do to the IAB more than made up for the different in price. Learned a lot in the process, but at times it was agravating.

Actually any boolit that is good in the 45/70 is also good in the 45/90. I have moulds for 350 grain up to 470 grain boolits.

YMMV with your IAB.

[725]

Welcome aboard. You'll like it here. Better sit down and hold onto your hat. Lots of opinions will be coming your way. First off, give the rifle a good cleaning. Copper in the barrel tends not to be good for shooting cast. Opinions vary but, I like to clean out old copper completely. I use janitorial strength ammonia and patch it clean. Slug the bore and see what you're working with. Seems your cast boolits should be .001 or .002 over bore. No hard and fast rule, it comes down to what your rifle likes. Light to medium loads work very, very well in the .45-70. It's not a .458 WM, although with modern actions and steels, you can make it one. It shoots a wide variety of boolits well. I like the 400 to 500 grain cast boolits even though mine shoot 300 to 350 grain jacketed bullets very well also. I tend to go to the lower end of the loads in reload manuals and get good accuracy there. I hunt with the midrange to upper trapdoor loads and get very good performance. Lots of variables to try out -- powders, lubes, boolits, grease cookies, all towards a better shot. A good read is the Paul Mathews book, "Forty Years with the .45-70". Lots of info. Good luck.

[pietro]

I'm always glad to hear a new voice - WELCOME !

1) Get a bigger or 2nd gun safe.

2) Have your credit limit extended .



.

[Hiwall55]

As was said before read all you can and take it slow, people have been shooting these all their life and still learn some thing new all the time,Good Luck , ask Plenty of Questions

[bigted]

need to pin down exactly which rifle you have. trapdoor or sharps. the sugestion of slugging your barrel is going to be a must for finding the correct diameter of boolit that your new buddy likes. also are you going to delve into blackpowder or will this be a smokless only rifle?

many more questions but this will give folks here a start for the info you requested.

also take heed of the advice on yer pocketbook. this is another addictive habit that has no 12 step programs as of yet...not sure anybody would go anyway. WELCOME to the forum. this place is packed full of info for just about anything you would ask. wear your feelings deep away from where they will get rubbed and that will keep resentfull remarks from stinging so much. there are a few that will try to 'perturb' ya but they ussually have the best advise so weed thru carefully and glean all that is laid on your table.

[Any 22]

My rifle is a sharps replica w/ full heavy octagon bbl. As of this writing Smokeless powder will be used. My rear sight is a flip up buckhorn that turns into a ladder when flipped up So can someone point me in a direction on tuning the rear sight , as stated it shoots quite low at 50 & 100 using the 405 jacketed bullet, I hate guns that dont shoot where you pointem

[bigted]

sounds like the front site is high. if it is a blade sight and has the height then a hand file will be your friend. if it has a 3/8ths dovetail then an assortment of different height bead type sights will do the trick as well.

if on the other hand the rear sight is dovetailed in then another type sight that is higher is going to be required and if this is the rout then go to c-sharps or mva or shiloh and perise thru their rear tang sights...these will give proper sighting anyway in my opinion but others to well with barrel sights so it is up to what yer peepers will do.

if your flip-up ladder works rite you may just as well use it to get the height needed to bring up the poi at 50 and 100 yards. im still in favor of the wrist mounted vernier sharps style sights mentioned above...just buy the best that your wallet will withstand as this will either make smiles or frowns every time you shoot with it from now on.

[sharps4590]

Either sell the rifle and flee or prepare yourself for a wonderful, educational, exciting, sometimes frustrating and always fun endeavor.

There are quite a few new powders on the scene since I played with smokeless powders and jacketed bullets so any info I offer will be dated, but I bet it still works quite well. For powders I always had the most success with IMR-4198, IMR-3031 and Reloader-7 with a preference for Re-7. One thing you might try to change bullet impact is lighter and heavier bullets. I kinda doubt you will get 18 inches of movement but it's worth a try, especially if you can bum a half dozen from a friend.

Others have pretty well covered the sights.

Eventually you will probably get the itch to try black powder and cast bullets. The advice to remove all copper fouling from the bore will be well heeded. Should you succumb to the tempation of Holy Black and equally Holy Lead bear in mind you have been forewarned and no one will accept blame or responsibility for your sinking into the depths of this nefarious activity. Of course all here will glady assist you in your demise. I bid you welcome, sir!

[Artful]

Is it hitting low when flipped down as a buckhorn or low when the ladder is up and set to which range?

[Any 22]

With the Buck horn, ran outa bullets before I realized itll flip up, this aint like one of my heavy bbld. 223s with a 6-24 scope, Besides I was haven fun gettn the snot beat outa me at the bench with the thing, been a long time since a gun bruised me What about Cast Boolits n smokeless powder???

[Artful]

With the Buck horn, ran outa bullets before I realized itll flip up, this aint like one of my heavy bbld. 223s with a 6-24 scope, Besides I was haven fun gettn the snot beat outa me at the bench with the thing, been a long time since a gun bruised me What about Cast Boolits n smokeless powder???

Yep sounds like time to adjust the front sight height. I'd first settle on the boolit and load (giving best group) then match the sight to it.

I suggest 500 grain Boolits if you want thump at both ends - otherwise try 300-400 grn boolits to tone it down. I got a really nice NOE mold for 45-70 but I like my old Lee single cavity 500 grain 45 cal as well.

45-70 and use imr 3031 and it will "snot beat outa you" off the bench - in my ruger #3 I approached 458 win mag velocity and finally changed to 375 big bore #3. You might look for "PAST" recoil shield - it goes between you and the butt and takes some of the sting out of heavy loads.

I don't know how strong your action is, but you usually find 3 level's of loading pressures in manual's - low is trapdoor black powder region, Med is Lever gun area, High pressure reserved for Strong single shot actions like Ruger #1 and #3 and Siamese Mauser bolt actions.

Oh and for cute plinkers I have paper patched .452 pistol bullets and loaded over Unique for squirrel / grouse loads.

[725]

Yep, shorter front sight, by whichever means, will raise your POI.

40 grs 3031, no filler, 415 or so boolit is my hunting load. Not too dramatic on my end but a sure 'nough killer on game. Accurate

30 grs 4198 w/ dacron filler, 415 boolit is a good hunter, as well, and just a might easier on the shoulder. Accurate

9 grs Unique and a LLA covered .457 round ball for small game and plinking. Just push the ball in and let almost half of the round ball hang out. These are too much fun. If you use pliers, don't touch the primer.

[bigted]

Yep, shorter front sight, by whichever means, will raise your POI.

40 grs 3031, no filler, 415 or so boolit is my hunting load. Not too dramatic on my end but a sure 'nough killer on game. Accurate

30 grs 4198 w/ dacron filler, 415 boolit is a good hunter, as well, and just a might easier on the shoulder. Accurate

9 grs Unique and a LLA covered .457 round ball for small game and plinking. Just push the ball in and let almost half of the round ball hang out. These are too much fun. If you use pliers, don't touch the primer.

use plyers???????huh???????dont understand...please do give a remark on how plyers are used in loading real gun rounds please? not being a snot ...i just really dont understand your warning i guess....

[Artful]

I believe he's talking about using water pump pliers to seat the round ball into the case.

Check out Cat's sneeze - quiet plinking loads for reloading larger cases.
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/arcane1.html
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/arcane2.html
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/arcane3.html
45-70 cat's sneeze thread
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=9370
http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php?topic=237414.0
some other calibers
http://www.silencertalk.com/forum/vi...p?f=68&t=55351