new gun

[ebert]

i have a new shiloh 45/70 lre, 550 grain brooks creedmore boolits,starline brass, swiss 1.5,.030 walters wads, what would be a good starting load. thankyou

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Try about 66 grs of Swiss, with just enough compression that the bullet is touching the lands Use the Walters wad to compress the powder.

KW
The Lunger

[Southern Son]

ebert,
do you have a powder compression die? Is your Boolit tapered? I got Steve Brooks to cut me a Creedmore boolit with tapered driving bands (it is my favourite mold by a long shot). With the front 3 bands tapered I can seat most of the boolit in the barrel, letting me have more space in the case for powder, wads or grease cookies.

If you don't have a powder compression die and your boolit is not tapered, then about 65 grains of powder will be your limit (probably less in the Starline brass).

What type lube are you going to use ? make sure it is black powder lube (my first loads were loaded with smokeless lube and it was a disaster).

[RMulhern]

The last two digits of the 45/70 are there for a reason!!

[leadman]

70 grains might be tough to get in modern case without the "balloonhead" unless the bullet is seated well out.

[GuzziRider]

I use a tapered bullet, 545 grain Gunn 349c. The mould came from NEI several years ago. Lets me get 71 grains of Swiss 1.5 in the case with .030" compression. This lets me use my 45-70 for long range instead of the 45-110. Lot easier on the old shoulder. I bought the NEI mould for that 45-110 back when but it didnt shoot well in it. Later when I got the 45-70 roller it found a good home.

[Don McDowell]

70 grains might be tough to get in modern case without the "balloonhead" unless the bullet is seated well out.

Nope its not tuff at all, if you use a good slow pour you can get closer to 75 grs in and use a compression die to get enough room to seat 530 gr bulles.

[runnin lead]

Determine what your bullet seating depth is by seating bullet till it just chambers
You may also want to test seated in .003 deeper

Determine how far down from the casemouth the base of bullet is and fill with powder to
that point using a droptube ,you may want to jus start at 60 gr and droptube a grain or 2 at a time till you are at the level that the base of the bullet is at when seated.

Place a wad in the case mouth & seat to the OAL that you determined, pull that bullet out &
set byour compression die to just touch the wad with press at top of stroke.
( to pull bullet you can remove die run ram up & grab bullet with pliars )
You now have your seating & compression dies set & you have compression equal to the
the thickness of your wad ( .030 or .060 ) & no concerns about your powder that has been
droptubed & lightly compressed setteling & leaving an air space
THIS IS YOUR STARTING LOAD work up in 1 grain increments checking to make shure that the
round will chamber after each increase, using a compression die it is possible to end up bulging your brass to where it will not chamber , not using a compression die you with more
than very light compression deforms your bullet to where it is tough to chamber or will not
chamber
Try from your starting load working up in one grain increments ,you wil PROBABLY find a great load within 5 gr of your starting load , load some extras for fouling shots & don't foget
to blow tube or wipe between shots & to blow or wipe the same between shots
CONSISTANCY = ACCURACY
Get your testloads put together & enjoy that new rifle , let us know how it goes,
also put together some extra rounds to get some sight settings BEFORE testing,
if you can ,test @ 200 yds or better,back up your target with newsprint or make targets on
newsprint

[ebert]

so disappointed. ready to shoot. road into range is under water. all i can do is look and fondle.

[Wayne Smith]

Ebert, have you read about loading BP cartridges? No air space between the boolit and the powder or wad that you use. That's why a compression die is used, so even if the load settles a little more there will be no air space. The case to the base of the bullet must be full plus a touch.

[ebert]

she shot beautiful. didn't get a good load,my compression die threads were different from my die body. i had a light compression load i used and it shot well. i will be getting a new compression die and trying different loads this weekend.

[Tom-ADC]

BTT for tomorrow

[SharpsShooter]

70 grains might be tough to get in modern case without the "balloonhead" unless the bullet is seated well out.

Not a problem at all. if you have a generous throat or mould cut for the purpose 80gr is possible and still have room for .100" of the bullet.

SS

[powderburnerr]

Ebert did you try your compression plug in your expander die , usually they are 9/16 fine thread. .. if it is different you can use the expander die to do the job, if it is too large just turn it down with a file and a drill,