Ogur
03-03-2015, 03:57 PM
Hi! I'm Ogur. I just signed up here. I'm from the Netherlands and am a member of my local shooting association. I've been a member there for little over a year now so now I've got my first year weapon license going through the red tape. Gun laws are a bit of a pain over here.
My question is not regarding my first rifle. That will be a .22LR olympic match rifle as that is all I am allowed to get on my first year license. As of my second year I will be allowed to add another weapon to my license. That weapon an be basically any caliber, just not semi- automatic. So I've started orientating on what's out there and what I like.
I want to try my hand at casting my own bullets and hand loading my own rounds. Add to that my interest in lever- action rifles and quite quickly I arrived at .45-70 govt chambered lever- actions. I proceeded to ask around at the society to see if there was any expertise there. The guys who have been hand loading there for over 10 years told me the .45-70 is a fine caliber to start on. But they suggested that I got an antique trapdoor rifle in that caliber first. An antique because in our gun laws antiques are considered "free weapons". They do not take up a slot on your license and there are no restrictions on caliber and such. Apparently they are also a lot easier to clean, which is quite handy considering the black powder charges. They don't get my fascination for lever- actions that much and aren't into the non- antiques, so all the information I got from them was on the antiques.
They said that I would be best off loading roof lead or plumbers lead for an antique rifle as that wouldn't damage the bore and would still get me perfectly fine accuracy for competitions. This thing is, I am sitting on quite a pile of linotype lead, courtesy of my now retired father. He owned a printing shop and still had a lot of the stuff lying around.
I can understand the logic of using a very soft alloy in the antique rifles. However, I do plan on getting a modern .45-70 lever action in due time. I'm leaning towards a marlin 1895. This way I already have moulds and experience in casting and loading .45-70 ammo. However, does the same apply to modern lever- actions, regarding the softness of the alloy? Can I mix a good alloy with linotype and plain lead or should I stick to pure lead?
I would like to load for the modern rifle in modern powder and use the ammo to hunt. (That's a whole different story as I have plans to move to Sweden in the future and hunting licenses are a lot easier to obtain there then in Holland. Also, considering the size of game in Sweden the rifle should be able to take anything from roedeer to moose and bear)
I know, long story, only a few questions. Any advice would be greatly appreciated though.
My question is not regarding my first rifle. That will be a .22LR olympic match rifle as that is all I am allowed to get on my first year license. As of my second year I will be allowed to add another weapon to my license. That weapon an be basically any caliber, just not semi- automatic. So I've started orientating on what's out there and what I like.
I want to try my hand at casting my own bullets and hand loading my own rounds. Add to that my interest in lever- action rifles and quite quickly I arrived at .45-70 govt chambered lever- actions. I proceeded to ask around at the society to see if there was any expertise there. The guys who have been hand loading there for over 10 years told me the .45-70 is a fine caliber to start on. But they suggested that I got an antique trapdoor rifle in that caliber first. An antique because in our gun laws antiques are considered "free weapons". They do not take up a slot on your license and there are no restrictions on caliber and such. Apparently they are also a lot easier to clean, which is quite handy considering the black powder charges. They don't get my fascination for lever- actions that much and aren't into the non- antiques, so all the information I got from them was on the antiques.
They said that I would be best off loading roof lead or plumbers lead for an antique rifle as that wouldn't damage the bore and would still get me perfectly fine accuracy for competitions. This thing is, I am sitting on quite a pile of linotype lead, courtesy of my now retired father. He owned a printing shop and still had a lot of the stuff lying around.
I can understand the logic of using a very soft alloy in the antique rifles. However, I do plan on getting a modern .45-70 lever action in due time. I'm leaning towards a marlin 1895. This way I already have moulds and experience in casting and loading .45-70 ammo. However, does the same apply to modern lever- actions, regarding the softness of the alloy? Can I mix a good alloy with linotype and plain lead or should I stick to pure lead?
I would like to load for the modern rifle in modern powder and use the ammo to hunt. (That's a whole different story as I have plans to move to Sweden in the future and hunting licenses are a lot easier to obtain there then in Holland. Also, considering the size of game in Sweden the rifle should be able to take anything from roedeer to moose and bear)
I know, long story, only a few questions. Any advice would be greatly appreciated though.