Basic 45-70 cast load

[Wolfdog91]

So dad just got a CVA scout in 45-70. Would like to start casting for it but unlike me my old man is more of a simple type of guy lol. Just looking for something that's not super heavy on recoil and will put a deer down @100yd . Honestly minute of coke can @100yd would be fine for him lol
So mold and powder suggestions? Don't mind buying someing a little nicer like MP , Lee has kinda a bad taste in my mouth right now as far as molds.

[BLAHUT]

How heavy ? I shoot in my 45/70s, 45/60, a 500 gr 3r with 42 grs of blackhorn209, mu 45/60 I would need to look up that load other than it is with pure lead, a 515 FN with 27 grs of 5744. In my .50 CVA there are 3 that do good for me, A 500 gr,FN, a 360 gr,Minney ball hollow base, a 340 gr real bullet, 42 grs of blackhorne209, all with a mag primer in pure lead. I only use Lee molds, work good for me. All are very accurate for me. The 3R is accurate out to and beyond 1000 yds for me. The 515 FN with 5744 will put 5 touching at 100 yds for me out of my guide gun.

[huntinlever]

I'm kind of in the same boat, dropping down on my 45-70 GG load. Some good threads and help here, I think. Most are mine, because as I say I've been querying the same thing, where people chimed in with good advice:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?449496-45-70-hunting-load-Accurate-46-405V
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?450314-Baseline-Check-405-or-425-WFNGC-Mild-with-5744
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?446462-45-70-suggestions
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?449948-45-70-425-at-1700-fps-gas-checked-Lyman-No-2-Lead-1-1

I seem to recall there's also a thread somewhere on "favorite 45-70 molds" or something to that effect. Good luck!

[1Hawkeye]

I have great accuracy with the arsenal 460 330 it's a copy of the lyman 457122 Gould hollow point but without the hollow point. 43.0 grs of imr 3031 matches the original Winchester load for the Gould bullet 1335 to 1340 fps and recoil is not to bad.

[Kraschenbirn]

13.5 gr. Unique under a Lyman 457124 (or any other 400-405 gr. boolit) duplicates the 45-55-405 'carbine' load out of my H&R Trapdoor Carbine. Low recoil and 'minute of Gatorade bottle' @ 100 yds with military sights.

Bill

[Mk42gunner]

To me the quintessential deer boolit for the .45-70 is the Gould bullet, aka Lyman's 457122, a ~330 grain HP.

Cast of a softish alloy along the lines of 20:1, it should work admirably and not recoil very much.

Robert

[murf205]

307592This is a very accurate boolit in my Marlin CB from Accurate molds (46-405A), but it will let you know it at the shoulder, especially on us older shooters. I don't know how old your father is but I'll bet that he would appreciate the 330 gr range of boolits. If I had it to do over, and I might, I'd buy a mold like Robert suggested with a gas check. At the range you are talking about, there is not a critter that it wont handle.

[Wag]

I'm pretty simple too ( or just simple-minded, I'm not too sure ) so subscribed.

Nice suggestions above.

--Wag--

[waco]

This is my go to 45-70 bullet. I use IMR 3031
https://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=46-405V

[RickinTN]

307592This is a very accurate boolit in my Marlin CB from Accurate molds (46-405A), but it will let you know it at the shoulder, especially on us older shooters. I don't know how old your father is but I'll bet that he would appreciate the 330 gr range of boolits. If I had it to do over, and I might, I'd buy a mold like Robert suggested with a gas check. At the range you are talking about, there is not a critter that it wont handle.
This bullet, or any similar including the 330 grain bullet with 11 to 13 grains of Unique will be comfortable and accomplish what you want. No need to overthink it.
Rick

[Bigslug]

If I were in your shoes right now, I'd carefully measure my bore, choose and have Tom at Accurate custom up a brass 3-cavity 46-405BP with the band diameters set to suit. This is a tumble-lube design that, if you do your homework right, you can shoot straight out of the mold with a "roll on" coating of 45/45/10 or BLL. It has a .33" meplat that will cause more than adequate trauma, but he could bump it up to .340" or larger if you want the true WFN experience. Neither will have problems grouping at 100 yards but if you plan to play beyond 175 to 200, you'll do better stepping the nose down to .32 or smaller.

Find a bulky powder that will drive it to about 1400 fps and you'll have a comfortable load capable of felling most anything that's ever walked.

[GregLaROCHE]

Lighter boolits defiantly take some of the punch out of 45/70s. Slugging the bore should be your fist step before choosing boolit diameter. Maybe you can start with an inexpensive Lee mold, if you can find one for sale and then go from there refining the boolit type to be custom made.

[Wayne Smith]

I'll double down on the suggestion for the Lyman 457122 Gould. It has been the quintessential Eastern 45-70 boolit since its inception. More history here than any of its follow-on copies. And Lyman still makes it. Being an HP, it is a single cavity mold, though.

[Larry Gibson]

Been shooting cast bullets in the 45-70 cartridge since '69. I've found 400 to 500+ gr bullets are not really needed for deer hunting at nominal 45-70 ranges. I've come to favor 300 to 330 gr bullets cast of 20-1 or 16-1 alloy driven at 1400 fps +/-. The moulds I prefer are the 2 RCBS moulds; 45-300-FN and 45-325-FM.

I particularly like the 450-300-FN as it is a GC'ed mould and is very accurate with the softer alloys at 1400 fps. I prefer to use Unique powder w/o filler. 13 - 14.5 gr will put the 300 gr bullet in the 1300 - 1400 fps range and should prove accurate and comfortable to shoot.

[Wolfdog91]

Thanks everyone, currently hunting some Unique

[brstevns]

Like you said. I use the Lee 405gr and the Lyman 457193 mould over a charge of 14gr Unique. Low recoil and good to 150 yards

[lightman]

I shoot the traditional 405 grain cast bullet in mine over 3031 or 4895. Recoil with the starting load is not bad but the stronger loads can get pretty stiff.

[pmer]

Can the CVA Scout take Marlin 1895 loads?

[15meter]

I'll double down on the suggestion for the Lyman 457122 Gould. It has been the quintessential Eastern 45-70 boolit since its inception. More history here than any of its follow-on copies. And Lyman still makes it. Being an HP, it is a single cavity mold, though.

Haven't found a rifle yet that doesn't like the 457122. 45-70, 458 Win Mag, 450 Nitro Express and the 450 Black Powder Express have all shot very well with it.

Big draw back is the single cavity because of the Lyman hollow point design. Upside is, how many hollow points are you going to shoot in a hunting season? I actually had an a non-hollow point gas checked mold clone of the 457122. For dinger ringing it works great and the gas check lets me step it up a little if I want a little more ring out of the dinger.

[NEKVT]

M1884 Trapdoor - Lee 459-405-HB unsized, hand lubed with the simple version of Darr lube (50/50 Vaseline and parrafin), 24.0gr 4227, .75gr puff of dacron, 1120fps from 20" barrel. I made one batch of this lube years ago. Asked my wife to pick up a jar of Vaseline and she grabbed the baby powder scented variety. I used it anyway and my load notes for it are "BB Lube" for baby butt lube.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I like the Lyman 457483 (it's a round nose, about 390gr)

NOE has 460-393-RN (clone of Lyman 457483)
I have used IMR 3031 ...have also used IMR 4198.