Anyone try this...

[Midohhntr]

I have an old Lee mold, 456-220 made for the Ruger old army, which I sold decades ago. Wondering if anyone uses it for low power 45/70. Going to PC them to at least get the diameter up a bit .

[Green Frog]

Back in the days of the trapdoor for the National Guard it was popular to make light bullet target loads for use in the indoor ranges of their respective armories. With a little experimentation to find the most accurate charge of a powder like Unique, you should be able to find something useful. Lyman made a “collar button” design that ran, IIRC, about 185 grains... I would start with the loads they suggested for that bullet, maybe reduced by a few per cent.

Froggie

[foesgth]

I have one of the NOE collar button molds. They shoot like a champ with 8grns. of Unique. They are a bit lighter at 190 grns with a coat of PC. It is nice to work with the 45-70 with out getting beat to death.

[vagrantviking]

I just cast and powder coated some for that use last week. Have also played with .457" round balls a little too.
Good to have a variety of loads for the BFR.

[foesgth]

I just cast and powder coated some for that use last week. Have also played with .457" round balls a little too.
Good to have a variety of loads for the BFR.

Are you shooting full power loads in the BFR? If so you are a Viking!

[Midohhntr]

Well, I tried a few today shot from my Handi-rifle, 8 gr of Unique...accuracy not very good at 4 1/2" at 50 yds. Bullets have two coats of PC on them, the wine red from Smokes. Before I melt the rest down I'm going to up the Powder charge a bit and see what happens..

[Maven]

I wouldn't give up on that mould so quickly, but I think I'd increase the powder charge to 9 - 10gr. of Unique. If no joy, then I'd either beagle the mould or paper patch the CB to fit your bore. Hope this helps!

[country gent]

If you can dedicate the mould to this, it wouldnt take a lot to lap it out to drop .458-.459 bullets. But once you do this you cant go back.

[Larry Gibson]

I worked a bit with that bullet years ago for use in my TDs. I cast them soft, usually with a 30-1 alloy. Tried bot Bullseye and Unique and found Bullseye worked best. I figured out the smaller diameter of the base was probably the detriment to accuracy. I reamed the base band out so it cast at .461 with 30-1 alloy. Then using 7.5 gr of Unique I got 1050 fps with about 1 1/2 to 2" groups at 50 yards. That was good enough for plinking until I got the 460-210HB and the 460-250 Rapine moulds.

[Midohhntr]

Yes I may try all those tips, if I could ream out the base band accurately, probably be best, and lapping the mold, I'm done with bp revolvers anyway.

[Win94ae]

I have a 45lc mold I forgot about, that will work great for this purpose! Thanks for the idea!

[vagrantviking]

Are you shooting full power loads in the BFR? If so you are a Viking!

Just starting out with it and my range has been closed the last few months.
I've got molds from 130gr round balls up to 535gr and the cylinder will accept up to a 3inch overall length so sky's the limit!

Loaded up trapdoor type loads with 220, 350 and 460gr powder coated bullets so far.