.45 70 and Blackpowder

[Chiefs50]

Anyone shoot blackpowder rounds in their .45 70? I've been toying with the idea of loading black powder for my Contender Super 14. I know it will be a pain to clean the muzzle brake but I'd still like to give it a try.

[Rafe Covington]

I have never shot a 45-70 tender barrel, I did try blackpowder in an 18 in encore 45-70 barrel. It worked alright and was as accurate as my 5744 loads, couldn't tell you the velocity. Just a little messy cleaning up is all.

Rafe Covington:redneck:

[dragonrider]

I tried it in my TCR-87, 45-70 years ago, it did not exite me as I thought it would and did not enjoy the cleaning either.

[oldhickory]

Cleaning the gun is easy, the casings are the real mess.

[littlejack]

Actually, you can clean everything, "cases included" with good old soap and water.
It's that easy. Just oil the bore when you get finished, same as you would with smokeless.
Lots, and lots of folks shoot black powder in their 45-70's, me included, as well as many other
bp cartridges. Not a problem.
Jack

[Lead Fred]

I bring a container of soapy water to the range, and dump the cases right into it. They are clean by the time I get home.

I do not think you can use my load in your piece.

[Chiefs50]

I tried it in my TCR-87, 45-70 years ago, it did not exite me as I thought it would and did not enjoy the cleaning either.

I'm used to shooting blackpowder in my muzzle loaders (including Elephant) so I'm used to the clean up routine.

[wiljen]

Are you sure the 45-70 is compatible with Black Powder? :kidding:

[Chiefs50]

Are you sure the 45-70 is compatible with Black Powder? :kidding:

Good one. I liked that.

[KCSO]

I shoot black in mt Encore with no problems. 65 grains of lightly compresses Swiss and a 405 HB Lee. They run about 1250 from the 24" tube on my gun but expect to lose some from the short 14" barrel. To clean just use a little soapy water or B/P cleaner and oil the barrel. Accuracy in my gun is on the order of 2" at 100 yards with peep sights.

[bigted]

Anyone shoot blackpowder rounds in their .45 70? I've been toying with the idea of loading black powder for my Contender Super 14. I know it will be a pain to clean the muzzle brake but I'd still like to give it a try.



should be a snap pilgrim. there is another site just about three threads down from this one and im betting that about a third of the posts there are about the 45-70 and black powder...however ill save you some pain n suffering on it....dont ask or talk about the fake black powders there. if ya want info or want to talk about the fake powder...do so here or maybe on the singleshot thread.

i have never shot bp thru a muzzlebrake but have used smokless thru em and im betting that the smokless is gonna be harder to clean outta the little holes then the black will be.

as for loads...just be sure you dont leave any airspace between the powder charge and the boolit base. read that as having NO airspace between the COMPRESSED POWDERCHARGE AND THE BOTTOM OF YOUR BOOLIT vewy portant issue as you will ring or walnut your barrel becouse of the different burn characteristics of bp over smokless

have fun and good shooting and mostly WELCOME TO THE SITE there is much good info here and all that is needed is to read read read then ask questions and read and try to not be too thinskinned before you figure out the characters:takinWiz::holysheep[smilie=l:[smilie=p::redneck::cbpour:

[Chiefs50]

Thanks all; and thanks for directing me to the BPCR forum. Plenty of info and experience to digest there.

Mike

[Ohio Rusty]

Blackpowder was what the .45/70 started with. 45 caliber boolit and 70 grains of BP. Custer and all the army shooting the .45/70 were using blackpowder. I would imagine it has less recoil than smokeless. You can probably use the BP substitutes that burn cleaner in that .45/70 contender.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[Chiefs50]

Well, what I have on hand is Elephant FFG so that is what I will probably use. It's really dirty but it's real black.

[bigted]

chiefs50,,,dirty?? make sure your using a bp lube for all lubing needs whether it be patching or boolit lubing. if you use a patrolium base lube the mess is gonna be horrendous....ask me how i know this.

[Chiefs50]

I do use a BP lube (Olive oil/beeswax/Murphy's Oil Soap mixture or Stumpy's Moose Juice). To date my experience has been limited to muzzleloaders (rocklocks and percussion) Elephant is just an extremely dirty powder - leaves a lot of fouling; at least it is in my muzzleloaders. I plan on getting some Goex, Grafs, KIK, or something as soon as I can.

[waksupi]

I do use a BP lube (Olive oil/beeswax/Murphy's Oil Soap mixture or Stumpy's Moose Juice). To date my experience has been limited to muzzleloaders (rocklocks and percussion) Elephant is just an extremely dirty powder - leaves a lot of fouling; at least it is in my muzzleloaders. I plan on getting some Goex, Grafs, KIK, or something as soon as I can.

Chief, I'm kind of surprised to hear that. I always got much more, and harder fouling with GOEX, than with Elephant. Probably climate differences between us, but Elephant always shot much moister than the GOEX. I suspect your lube may have made a big difference in the fouling. When you start putting beeswax down the bore of a muzzle loader, you will have problems.

[NickSS]

As for cleaning it always amazes me when people talk about the mess of black powder. I have shot many thousands of rounds with black powder both in muzzle loaders and cartridge breach loaders and cleanup is usually faster and easier than cleaning a modern gun shot with jacketed bullets. My average time to clean my 45-70 Sharps is less than five minutes whereas cleaning my 308 match rifle took me at least 20 minutes and a bunch more patches than my 45-70. As for the brass, I dump them as I shoot them in a bottle with water and a squirt of dish washing soap in it. When I get home I dump the jar in a spaghetti strainer and rince it under the hot water faucet to get the soap off then it goes into my tumbler which is charged with ceramic cleaning media. A little case cleaner and I turn it on. A couple hours later It comes out looking like new brass.