BPCR Question, Boys...

[Guy La Pourque]

I have one of those Uberti repros and I am just cranked to shoot it...but ammo is a big problem. I got brass, black powder, primers and all that junk...but I need boolits. I have a Lee .457 mould on order and headed in but I don't want to wait! I want to shoot NOW! (I am reminded of my pasty-faced boyhood, waiting for Christmas...:))

So I CAN find lead pills, .459"...but they are 405 grainers meant for the 45-70 guys. Now, I know that with my muzzle loader - you can't blow that thing up unless you are 'Darwin Level' stupid. My .54 is just peachy shooting patched round balls (230 grains and change if I recall)...or anything up to those 450 grain conical thumpers.

Can BPCR guns get away with that? Could I load the heavier 405 gr. boolits in the 45-75? Most of the stuff I see on the net is the guys shooting cast lead pills that are 300~350 grains. If BPCR cartridges are the same as muzzle loaders in their tolerance for heavier boolits...is there a reasonable limit on it? I know the single shot BPCR guys are dumping slugs of 500 grains and better down range...could a repeater do it?

I am not actually going to do any of this without the blessing of the authorities on the subject...but it is an interesting line of thought for an *** in the BPCR thing...:)

[nhrifle]

One of the blessings of shooting black powder is the low pressures generated. If the projectile is properly sized to the bore and loaded over a full case of powder (compressed of course) happy shooting will happen. Heavy for caliber boolits aren't a problem and can give a better powder burn and better accuracy.

[herbert buckland]

The reason Winchester brought out the 45-75 cartridge was that the 1876 Winchester could not handle the 45-70 405gr military load for long without damage to the toggle,with better steel in the new Ubertis it could probley handle the 405gr bullets with BP but I would feel much better useing the lighter bullet that the 45-75 was desighned for

[w30wcf]

Guy,
A fellow I know shoots 400 gr cast bullets in his .45-75 Uberti with nary an issue. Just make sure that the bullet is seated to no longer than maximum oal for the cartridge if you want to feed them through your magazine.

Herbert,
The real reason that the 1876 was not chambered for the .45-70 is because the action is not long enough. Winchester did a destructive test on the 1876 to see what it would take and it wasn't until several bullets were pushed down the barrel on top of an overload of b.p. until the action would no function normally. The rifle was still in one piece, just did not function.

w30wcf