Many years ago my dad had a bad experience with lead bullets in a .30 carbine, like 50 years ago. It leaded the barrel terribly. Since then I’ve heeded his advice and loaded nothing but jacketed, plated and now a few polymer coated bullets for about 40 years. All pistol and a very few hundred .270.
In violation of my self-imposed rule to buy fewer guns and shoot the ones I have more, I have a pre-2007 (JM) Marlin 45-70 on its way. Ohio changed the laws from shotgun only to also allowing straight walled rifle/pistol cartridges. The 45-70 made the cut and I jumped at the chance to hunt with a rifle again. And since I’ve always wanted but couldn’t justify a 45-70 in Ohio….
I’ve looked at the sabot 12 gauge ballistics; they are very similar to the 45-70. I’ve also shot a 45-70 long ago. Performance wise there will be very little change but I reload, so…. More stuff to buy.
It is unlikely that I will load the hottest round allowed. I switched from a pump to autoloader 12 gauge because of the recoil so I’m going to need some target loads.
I have two powders IMR 4198 and 4064. It is what I could find so they are my current favorites. I also have some Unique which has a few loads on the net if not in the manual.
I plan to start with two bullets.
Hornady 325 grn, when I can find them, http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/9-56129 and Montana (457122), 330 grn: http://montanabulletworks.com/BB_45_caliber.html
The Montana website is stuffed with pretty good information but I’m never going to swag my barrel. Here are my questions?
1. Has anyone swaged a 2007ish Marlin 45-70 and gotten a number far from / other than .458?
2. Has anyone ever worked up a low end target load/bullet and a separate hunting load/bullet with a near consistent point of impact, e.g. ligheter load for a lighter bullet? I’ll have a matrix for these four in a month or two at 50/100/150 and put it up. I’d like a place to start.
3. I will start with trimming the cases but how picky is a 45-70? I know Hornady brass runs short, does anyone skip trimming their 45-70 brass (try not to panic at the thought; I’m looking for minute of whitetail, as long as they feed)?
4. At mid-range loading, will any 45-70 bullet expand much? I have my doubts. I’ll be soaking some phonebooks and let you know in a few months on this as well.
Oh, and if the anti-crawler question to join the forum is going to be “Who is the President running the country?” “None” should be an acceptable answer.
Thanks, this is going to be fun.