45/70 loads

[Lloyd Smale]

Anyone have any suggestions for loads for a contender using a 500 and 540 grain cast bullet? Id prefer using a powder that meters well. Id welcome load recomendations using both rifle and pistol powders. Thanks

[madcaster]

Lloyd,
I do not have any suggestions other than good padding or recoil pads,that is a pretty light gun to be shooting them heavier bullets in.
Do you need any bullets cast up while you are on the mend?

[Lloyd Smale]

Jeff thanks for the offer but ive probably got enough bullets to last me 4 years if i didnt cast another one. Recoil is entertainment pal.

[Johnch]

I am shooting these loads in Marlin pressure rated guns or stronger

For 500 Gr cast in my 45/70's I run 43 gr of AA 2495 , I get 1450 fps out of the 24" barrel and a litttle less in the 14 and 20" barrels
The 14" contender barrel is interesting to shoot with this load at dusk
It is enough to kill on both ends :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
AA lists 39.6 gr , 1348 fps - 44.0 gr , 1532 fps

In the Marlin , I had to shoot these single shot .
Because the nose was to long to work in the magazine

I don't have 540 gr mould

But AA lists 41.4 gr , 1237 fps - 46.0 gr , 1406 fps for the 530 gr bullet



I normaly load 10.0 gr of Unique with a 500gr cast , with a little Dacron
I get about 800 fps
This is about min .
This load will cleanly take hard set rams , using a 14" Contender barrel
Also it leaves a BIG gray spot for the spotter to see , but it takes forever to get there


Also with a 500 gr bullet
I have loaded 24 gr of 2400 , but I don't have a velosity listed in my load notes
But I do have very accurate , stout listed , this was in the H&R handie rifle

Johnch

[Lloyd Smale]

thanks that gives me some starting points anyway.

[lovedogs]

I thought I'd sent a reply to this already... maybe it didn't go. Anyway, I shoot a 500 gr. 1881 style out of my BC using 23 1/2 gr. of AA5744. With my 32 in. bbl. it comes out at about 1180 FPS and recoil is about as light as it could be with this big of a bullet. That's about as light as you can go with this powder. Ignore the dirty burn and it won't bother you. This load shoots MOA all the way to almost 900 yds., the limit of my shooting range.

[wiljen]

I'm shooting 10.5gr of unique with a 500gr cast for about 1080fps
or 26gr of 2400 for about 1400fps. The 2400 meters easily and the max load is 28gr per the RCBS cast manual.

[Jim]

Lloyd, I know you said you are looking for powders that meter well, but I thought I'd suggest trying IMR7383. I use 50 grains under a 500 gr. round nose bore rider from a Rapine mold. Not sure about velocity as I have not chronied this load, but pressure does not show up anywhere. Seein' as it's a straight wall caliber, you can light load this powder with dacron or cotton, but you need to compress the filler to get it to work well.

[Gussy]

Have some fun, put 60 gr 2F black powder in a few and mix them in with your other loads. I can see the looks at the range (:>).
Gus

[montana_charlie]

I'm just looking at the loads people have suggested, wondering how they compare with something like the .45 Casull, then trying to imagine throwing a 500 grain bullet out of a pistol with enough velocity to make it go someplace.

Shooter needs to more of a man than I...
CM