Best Way to Download .45-110

[Gray Fox]

I have one of the excellent Pedersoli Quigley Rifles in .45-110 with a lee Shaver sight. It is a 14.2 lb. gun but I'm over 65 and it tends to beat me up a bit with the Lyman 535 grain Postell boolits. I have 100 pieces of brass and am asking for examples of a safe way to reduce my BP loads, probably with a filler of some type. All suggestions will be appreciated. GF

[country gent]

One way is thru a wad stack or filler. the lighter charge and either a filler or wads to make up the difference. A filler like cream of wheat can be used. I like to put a wad between powder and filler to separate. this works but the wads and filler become a "projectile" in the added weight to the bullet, a 550 grn bullet may in essence feel like a 575 at the new velocity.

Another way is to fit a cardboard tube into the case just below the base of the bullet to the case head. This fills case space with out adding to the weight. a channelure rolled into the case at the top of the tube will hold it in place. This was done in the early 45-70 carbine loads lowering the powder charge from 70 grains to 55 grns

[Gray Fox]

I thought I had read pretty extensively about original and current BP loading methods, but this is the first I heard of the cardboard tube idea. I probably have just the right cardboard to make it work. I'm sure it would be a bit of a fiddly task but using a paper cutter and a dowel of the right diameter as a mandrel would make it into a consistent process. I had heard of the cream of wheat/grits filler idea and putting a wad between it and the powder makes sense, too. Thanks for your input. GF

[Geezer in NH]

Drop to a 405 grain bullet, use something to fill the case for a 70-75 grn BP load

[Castaway]

There were at least three methods of reducing the 45 GVT round to 55 grains of powder. One as mentioned was a cardboard tube, another was stacks of cardboard or cork and the third and final method was to load 55 grains and seat the bullet on top of the powder column with most of the bullet inside the case. I’m not advocating either of the three, just passing on information

[Don McDowell]

1 f powder
Those big case were meant for power
So if gather recoil is to much maybe best to rebarreled and chamber to something else or just go get something with a bit less appetite for powder

[Milky Duck]

personally I cannot see reason why wads,either multiple or one big fat one wouldnt work perfectly well...and drop your projectile weight down..way down,the difference between 500grn 400grn and 300grn is unreal....also consider using home rolled non compressed BP... unless you tamp it really well you struggle to fit more than 60grns into a 45/70 case so I consider it would definately reduce amount you could fit into your big longer case...also is is possible/feasable/advisable to use a shorter case???? same as using a 38special in .357mag..... the hornady ftx loads use case that is about 1/4'' shorter than others...so its not that left field.

[25ring]

Floral foam works pretty well.

[missionary5155]

Are you shooting this off a bench ? Try Cross sticks as they were originally shot from..
Load a 350 grain cast.. You just cut recoil by 30%.
As Don suggested 1 F.... Less violent explosion with a longer burn time.

I weigh 140 pounds. 5'-9". I shoot our 50 Alaskan with 525 grain cast at 1850fps (crono'd) off cross sticks on a regular basis. 450 grainers are our plinkers. But never off a bench.

[farmerjim]

I am not a black powder person, but wouldn't Milky Ducks Idea of making a short case out of a 45-70 and shooting a 300 grain boolet?
My 357max hits the same hole in the target at 50 yards with a 357 mag 38sp or 357max, Beyond that the 38 and 357 do drop some because of less velocity.

[Don McDowell]

Shorter case?
The 45-110 case by itself is longer than a 45-70 loaded with a 535 gr bullet.
Lighter bullet?
The lighter the bullet the shorter it is, IE having less length to put in the case to reach the powder, therefore needing more powder.
Missionary hit it on the head, the military buttstock on that rifle is intended to be shot either sitting straight up or off hand. Replacing the buttstock to a shotgun butt with a pistol grip may be the best fix, if selling the thing and buying something different isn't really an option.
Being over 65 and owning 2 45-110's I can safely say properly loaded and shot very easily.

[FrankJD]

Rebarrel/chamber or sell it ... or go with lots 'n' lots of wad stacking.

[indian joe]

I agree with Don and Missionary Mike
Its raining again so heres my story

At a BP shoot early to mid 1990's - a guy has a Shiloh 45/10 for sale (he's a dealer/gunsmith a straight up guy that I know) says its new and reduced price to sell $1650 - I walk past his camp several times each day drooling as I go - stopped and handling it for about the third time, I see a mate of mine (best rifleman in the camp) lounging about up the track a bit - as I head back to my place he falls in line - just straight up "Dont buy that thing!" ???? what ??? ah if you want to invest the money and sell it later go for it - its dirt cheap and they will only go up - but I know you - you want it to shoot with and you want to do well and that is too much gun for the matches we shoot!!! Good advice that I took for once in my life.
A couple years later I grabbed at a little Marcheno sharps - 45/70, round barrel, carbine/military stock, single trigger, a previous owner had added a pistol grip to the stock and fabricated a new hammer (smaller lighter hammer like a later model sharps has ??) this cost me $400 - has the nicest (to me) case colours I ever saw - logic was rebarrel it and re stock it, and I am still not too bad money wise. (neither of which happened of course).
I was on a long learning curve!! - it was accurate (if I scrubbed it each shot) but leaded like crazy - boolits didnt have enough lube capacity and there was a couple rust marks at the muzzle from long term storage near the coast - I freebored it about an inch and a quarter to get the worst of it out - still no go, I bit the bullet one day and cut four inches off it until I had perfect clean rifling, recrowned it and re cut the front sight dovetail - got a mold with some decent lube grooves and settled down to get serious
Shooting that gun prone at 600yards - just 8 pounds, little skinny stock, head up off the stock to see the sights, 535 grain boollit over FFFg --- it beat me up pretty bad.!
At home was ok, I shot it standing, off a sandbag on the roof of my old subaru wagon, sheepskin pad on my shooting vest - its good. But go to a competition shoot (only do this a couple times a year) a few days later I would be lookin for a chiropractor - this is not good!

Eventually got tired of all this - more weight was the first thing - not enough meat in the stock to drill it and fill it - hey I found a big lump of lead that son had cast in a lid off something he found in the workshop - 2 pound - about two inches wide and six long - I took to that on the anvil and fashioned an oversized buttplate, most of an inch above the wood at the top, then I fashioned a raised comb from a piece of pine, pinned it to the top of the stock with a couple pieces of bamboo skewer. Looking absolutely awful but I fitted it to ME. Last step I found a leftover chunk of carving leather big enough to cover the whole thing and laced it on all over. The carry balance is whacky but who cares.
So two pound weight added, comb height raised, impact area of buttplate surface increased - its gone from punishing to ok

That Quigley at 14 pounds shouldnt hurt so bad - I would seriously look at restocking it with a shotgun style stock, good quality kickpad, gentle pistol grip, then get an old waistcoat and sew a sheepskin pad on the impact area - you want about an inch of wool on it and sew it hide side out - never leave home without it.

[BLAHUT]

Floral foam works pretty well.

tried that and foam backer rod, bulged the cases. went back to stacked wads, cork, milk carton card wad, cut plastic coffee can top wad.

[Kosh75287]

Has anyone tried using lint from their clothes dryer in this role?
The procedure, as I understand it, is to try to form it into a sheet, put it over the case mouth snugly and press it into the case with a flat object of slightly smaller diameter (maybe a .429" cleaning jag on a short rod?). The beveled case mouths should act like the sharp edges of a cookie cutter. First "dot" should go atop the powder charge, but DO NOT tamp the following "dots". Just let them stack as they may. Repeat until the lint is slightly higher than where the base of your bullet will seat

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hello Gray Fox,

I've been loading my .45 Colts with a 3/8" piece of Biodegradable Packaging Peanut.
They are made with Corn Starch and will dissolve with moisture.
Also, I get them free in packages. Just run some water over if it dissolves, cut them to whatever length.

AntiqueSledMan.

[Gunlaker]

Grey Fox maybe a silly questerion, have you considered selling it and buying something like a .40-65? If you are shooting targets to 600 yards or less the .40-65 is pretty optimal and costs less in cases, powder, and lead, with far less recoil. I have a .45-2-7/8" and it doesn't feel much different than my .45-70's but it weighs 15 lbs.

Chris.

[Mikedominick]

I think Gunlaker has the best answer, as a young man I spent my time reading everything by Elmer Keith and shooting 45-120s, 50-140s, 375H&H, 458s, and a pile of big wildcats. As I've gotten older I've moved to the 45-70 and now a 40-65, more fun, less drama, easier to load for. If you like your rifle, just rebarrel to a caliber you like.