I must be mad! mad I tell you!

[AbitNutz]

I'm converting my Lyman 1878 45-70 to...wait for it, wait for it...450 Nitro Express.

First, I love British big game rounds and I've always wanted a 450 NE. So while the 450-110 is cool, I didn't consider it. Both 45-70 and 450 NE are .458. While the rim thickness is listed as .070 vs .040, the Hornady brass I have both measure out at .061. I wrote Hornady about that...

I wrote Lyman and asked what load data to use for the 1878. They said to use the 45-70 data for the Winchester 1886 and the Marlin 1895 lever rifles. That puts the pressure at 43,000 cup. The 450 NE is rated at 39,000 cup. Chamber reamers are readily available and so is brass. It's not cheap but 45-110 sure isn't any less expensive.

One area of concern I'm having is that the stock may not be able to handle it. I'm looking at a good bedding job to perhaps help in this area.

The Lyman-Pedersoli has a forged receiver and a cut rifled barrel and is not only one of my best looking rifles, it's also very well made. I really didn't expect that out of an Italian clone.

I'm really interested to see where a 450 NE pegs my chronograph with a 30 inch barrel.

My gunsmith says it's a go so in few weeks I'll drop it off...

[Don McDowell]

Did Pedersoli actually shave the size of that rifle down as a true 77 sharps is , or did the simply put a back action lock on and call it good?
If they did actually trim the size of the wrist down, you may want to rethink the rechambering job. Those 77's are/were prone to cracking the stock thru the wrist, and that is a lot of the reason for the use of English walnut. The heavier recoil of that nitro cartridge may not be exceptionally good for the wrist of that buttstock.

[skeettx]

WAY GOOD
Y'all must have BIG DEER in Ohio!!
Mike

[Bent Ramrod]

That ought to keep the elephants out of your petunias!:shock:

A friend has the Lyman 1878 (in .45-70) and he's really happy with it. Says the weight balance is better for offhand shooting than the 74's in his collection.

It isn't as elegant as one of those Axtell English models, but it's nicely done and looks to be about the same size, and made up the same, as far as I can tell.

You might consider one of those metal reinforcement plates, tacked over the "hand" with a bunch of tiny nails, after seeing how the recoil is.

[rfd]

yikes, you must be mad!:popcorn:

[AbitNutz]

I am quite concerned about the stock holding up. It is truly a slimmed down piece like the Sharps 1877, known as the English or Creedmoor Sharps. I'm hoping that if I do a really good bedding job with Acraglas mixed with aluminum powder that it may alleviate the problem by evening out the stress area....at least that is what has been suggested to me by some folks that know. I know one thing I won't do is shoot it from one of those weighted rifle rests like ones that Caldwell makes. I bet that would guarantee it breaks the stock.

I have a Ruger No.1 in 450-400 Nitro express, that's how my love of British big bores started. It is a very light rifle for that caliber,something like 9lbs. It will rock your world! After a few rounds at the bench I start looking for the sissy pad my wife made me....a small triple stitched double bagged affair filled with rice. It works wonders and lets me bang away till I run out of ammo.

One thing really surprised me about my Ruger No.1 in 450-400 NE. It is really really accurate. I started out at 50 yards and was routinely cloverleafing the shots. At a 100 they opened up a bit but that wasn't the rifle, that was me. If I had a scope on it I bet it would perform the same. I have a Vortex 1.5x12 FFP that I would like to try on it...but I'm a little chicken. I'm concerned the recoil could kill it.

I also have a Winchester (Miroku) 1885 in 375 H&H that sports a 28" barrel. If I use 235gr bullets, that thing is one flat shooting rig. I was really surprised when I looked at the ballistic charts and saw that the bullet drop was less than a strong 308. That baby would really benefit from a good scope. It would look goofy as hell but it would really shoot it at silly ranges.