What Weight of Bullet

[brad925]

I have a Cimmaron 1885 hi-wall 45-70 with a 1-20 twist. I am wondering what weight of bullet to use with that twist out to 500 yards.

[littlejack]

I don't know about the 500 yard part, but I started out with the Lyman 457125 boolit of 20 to 1 lead/tin. It shoots great in my Uberti/Cimmaron 45-70 Hi wall.
I got a few pointers from some of the old experienced BPCR shooters. The help here is great.
Regards
Jack

[Scharfschuetze]

That 1 in 20 twist should stabilize most any reasonable weight of 45 calibre boolit. The Trapdoor Springfield rifles of the US Army had/have a 1-22 twist and they shoot 500 grain boolits quite well way out past a thousand yards. I've shot them accurately out at 900 to a 1,000 yards and have actually out shot friends using modern calibres on reactive targets at those ranges. I like the the Lyman 457193 of 405 grains, the Lee 1873 hollow base boolit of 405 grains and the Lee 1881 boolit of 500 grains for long range shooting. I keep my velocities to 1300 fps at the muzzle in deference to the design and the old case hardened steel in the Trapdoors.

By the way, using a strong Cimarron 1885 like yours, I worked up a buffalo load for a friend using his rifle several years ago. It used a 500 grain jacketed soft point (Hornady as I recall) over 3031 powder for about 1550 fps. He nailed a large bull at a measured 350 yards with one shot and poleaxed the beast. Given that and the above, you're fine with heavy boolits in your Cimarron High Wall for long range shooting.

Once you get your trajectory and sight settings worked out, pay attention to the wind. It'll really blow that big boolit around when you get way out there.