CVA OE 45-70 "Special" followed me home yesterday

[Three Bears]

After reading about Handi's and making some post and read a lot about CVA's OE. I called Mark at CVA and discussed the OE 45-70 "special" - on this model you can not change barrels - easily. CVA makes this "Special" for the "Primitive" weapons season in Louisiana and Mississippi. I already have other centerfire and ML rifles so had no interest in changing barrels. Bought it at Security Sporting Goods in Alexandria, La(drove 65 miles to get there - live in rural LA) $255.00 - $20 more then the Handi.... Best I could do for around here. Have a Lee 340gr mold and will work on a load - anyone loaded this one and if so how did it shoot? Or do you have a good load for the OE? I am enjoying this site and your help...

[northmn]

The only problem I ahe had with Lee 45-70 molds are that they tend to cast a little small at about 457 compared to the 459 I like. You can beagle the mold with aluminum tape used for heat pipes if needed. The 340 mold also does not have very big grease grooves but is Ok for smokeless. I use both the liquid alox and lube the grooves. Looking at he OE I would guess it is a fairly light rifle. My rolling block hits about 11 pounds and can still get my attention. The old 45-70 H&R Buffalo had a 30 inch barrel and weighed about 9.5 pounds and hurt a little with the curved steel butplate. I had a Marlin CB 45-70 that kicked pretty hard. The 340 should be fairly moderate for use. I like 4227, 4759 or 5744 for most smokeless loads in the 45-70, 4198 is also good. For smokeless I also like R-P cases as they have less capacity than WW. You really will not fill the case. I would suggest looking at one of the Lyman loading manuals for data and keep the loads somehwere in the trapdoor to Marlin 95 range. A 45-70 can be loaded to levels that will get your attention in a light rifle. With BP I would use a different mold.

Northmn