Shooting Remington Lee 1882 45-70

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Got out the other day to the local range with my Remington Lee Navy Model 45-70. Investigating the throat area showed it somewhat larger than the groove of .460. A .462 boolit will chamber smoothly so I loaded up a batch of 350 grainers I shoot in a 45-60 1876 origonal which also is blessed with a fat throat.
The day at the range was somewhat cool but easily managable. Fired a couple spotter rounds at 20 yards and discovered I needed to set the rear sight at 400 yards to be on target. Probably a 400+ grainer will be more in line with the sights.
The kind people at Western Powder recommended 27 to 31 grains of 5744 for this boolit and rifle combination. 27 grains was the most accurate with 7 boolits forming a 2" cluster. Will try 25 and 26 grains next time out.
This particular rifle arrived in my possecion with a firing pin group that had a terrible bind. Disassembly revealed the firing pin was bent enough so it rubbed in the bolt channel enough to near stop forward motion just as it was nearing ignition. A few judicious incursions with a 2 pound ball peen hammer on the anvil straightened it out nicely. Now function,feed and firing is flawless. It is an interesting bolt assembly. Easily disassembled and not too hard to re-assemble.
This would have been a fine substitute to have in a scrap instead of a Trapdoor.
Mike in ILL

[Multigunner]

I wonder if the Lee in .45/70 would have been reliable with the softer alloy cases that jammed up so many Trapdoor chambers?
Not sure if the soft cases were .45-70 or .50-70.

[Bob S]

This is my M1885 Navy. Have not had an opportunity to shoot it yet, but looking forward to it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/Remington%20Lee/RemLee1885left.jpg

I find it interesting that the Army was still running around with a single shot rifle, while the Navy had a full fledged "assault rifle" with detachable box magazines. :)

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[bob208]

a tale of woe about a remington lee. many years ago a dealer had one .this was when the .45-70 craze was getting started and the sharps repros were just comming out. i looked at this lee many times cleaned it test fired it. the problem was he wanted $100 more then what they would go for. now what made it worht that much more? it had u.s.s. philadelphia stamped in the stock. i wish now i would have bought it.

the navy was ahead of the army in rifles about 10 years later when they were using the 6mm lee navy. while the army was using the krag.

[madsenshooter]

Should make some interesting shooting at a Vintage Rifle match! Could the bend in the firing pin have come from people dry firing it over the years?

[missionary5155]

Good evening
No idea about the firing pin ? It is at least 1/8 " thick and fortunatly not hardened. It would take alot of dry firing to bend it as bad as it was. There also was no damage about the firing pin hole or the firing pin protruder. But happily an easy repair.

BobS You will not regret the time. Loaded up another batch of mild 45-70 for a future afternoon. Going to run 25, and 26 grains of 5744 this time with the same .462 350 grainer.

Bob208 That would have been a real keeper. Have a double 12 guage with a plastic stock that was on a carrier marked US Property. When the ship was decomissioned the armorer was given it by the Admiral for faithfully keeping the double always ready for some clays of the fantail. I use it on crows off and on.
Mike in ILL

[justashooter]

grrrrrrrrrr!

wishing i could find me one of them there rafels!

[303Guy]

I have a spare Lee Enfield which is descended from the Lee Navy. I get an itch to chamber it to 45-70 when I read these posts. But maybe a 41-303 and use the 303 case since it wouldn't be the real thing anyway.

[missionary5155]

Howdy 303Guy
A 41-303 sounds like a winner to me. Been shooting my Marlin 336 "Hybred" 41 Supermag with 250-265 grainers and it would be a dandy to get to thump something with. Sadly here in ILLinois we cannot yet pop whitetail deer with cartrige rifles.
Was looking the other day at a Krag "chopped" rifle and thinking about either a .375 or .410. Be roughly the same as your 41-303 idea. Your action would be a bit stouter though.
Mike in ILL