Browning load data

[jednorris]

I have just purchased a .45/70 Browning Hi-wall B.P.C.R. and want some suggestions on loads. I would like to shoot smokeless powder with a 405 gr. lead bullet. I tend to favor I.M.R. powders and do not want to get into small charges requiring over powder wads or paper. Most of the local shoots are 300 yds. or less at half size N.R.A. steel animals. What type of powder and loads do these Brownings like?

[pworley1]

http://castpics.net/dpl/index.php/reloaders-reference/cast-bullet-data-lookup

[Tatume]

http://www.hodgdon.com/

My Browning and Winchester 45-70 rifles were not at all picky about ammunition components.

[Blackwater]

My experience with the .45/70, and I've had 3 personally, one like yours, is that Tatume is right, and I haven't found it to be very finicky with loads. That's not to say that one couldn't find something that didn't work at least fairly well, but I tend to stick with pretty conventional loads. With your bullet, the first powder I'd try, if you can FIND it (a problem these days!) is H-4198. Many use 3031, but my own somewhat limited experience has shown H-4198 to be the better of the two. Then I tried H-322, and it also was a stellar performer, and both being Hodgdon's Extreme line, are significantly less temp sensitive than most other powders - a consideration if you load in hot weather and shoot in very cold temps, at least sometimes.

Personally, I've never fired a smokeless load in my BPCR, and have found Goex 2F to be very accurate, and very satisfying in use. Just don't approach loading black like you do smokeless. Almost nothing you know about smokeless transfers over into loading black, if you want to try it, and BTW, black is VERY easy to clean up after with regard to your gun. Murphy's oil soap (the dilute type that comes in the spray bottles) on a couple of patches totally dissolves the fouling, and a couple of dry patches returns your bore to shiny metal. Then a little good gun oil keeps the rust demons at bay. It's the ctg. cases that require more attention. BP fouling attacks brass, and can cause significant corrosion, so just take a jug of water, with a little Murphy's in it to the range, and as you shoot, drop the cases in the jug. Then, when you get home, scrub them with a test tube brush (cheap) and hot soapy water, rinse and deprime, then clean and rinse the primer pockets, and your brass will last practically forever - never a bad thing for us reloaders.

Also, it would be a good thing to get a bullet in the 500-550 gr. wt. range for longer distances. They drift less in the wind, and that tends to get to be a rather significant advantage at longer ranges.

In an 1895 Marlin, you'll likely get to a point of recoil that you don't really want before you get to max. pressures for the gun. Unless you hunt cape buff or elephant, rhino or the like, plain lead should work, and those amazing hard cast & hot loaded rounds that can go clean through a cape buff won't be needed if you're hunting in North America. Polar and Kodiak brown bears might want them, though, but I haven't shot any so wouldn't know.