what diameter bullets for .45-70

[craveman85]

i ordered a .458 500 grain bullet mold from midway usa. it was my first time casting and i think i did rather well. cast 168 bullets with 145 keepers. when i measured all my bullets with my calipers they all came out .459" is this going to be too big to load in my .45-70? should i get a sizer and a press and cut them all down to .458? or will the .459 be ok when lubed.?

[stubert]

leave them at .459, .460 might be better, what does your barrel slug?

[thx997303]

Slug your barrel.

All you are asking for is a WAG.

[Al_sway]

Without knowing what rifle you might be using, it is even more of a SWAG to offer an opinion.

[MtGun44]

Not SWAG, just WAG without slugging. Nothing scientific at all. Kinda like
asking us what size shoes you should buy. Avg is size 9. Might even
fit your feet. Might not, too.

Search on slugging barrel, do not use a wooden dowel, DO use soft lead.

Bill

[craveman85]

ill look into checking my bore size. i dont have any soft lead. just some rather hard alloy from wheelweights. its a nef buffalo classic if that helps any

[MtGun44]

Soft lead egg shaped sinkers are a good choice for this task. Lube the bore with an
oily patch and drive the lead into the muzzle with a brass or wooden tool. Then a brass
or steel rod will drive it the rest of the way thru. Steel should have a piece of
tape wrapped every foot or so. Brass is OK. Wood has broken on long angles
and wedged tighter than a tick --VERY tricky to remove and not ruin the barrel.

You should avoid the WWT alloy, will increase all the forces a lot, not likely to ruin
anythign but will increase pounding forces throughout the whole system.

You want .001 to .003 over the groove diam.

Bill

[RobS]

If all you have is WW then go ahead and cast a few air cooled (not water quenched) and as soon as you can handle one take it to a hard/clean surface and hit the nose of the bullet with a hammer until it becomes wider at the base band. Measure the base band and continue working the nose of the bullet until it measures out at .462ish and then directly slug your barrel with it. If you do all this as soon as you can (within 20-30 min.) the WW alloy will remain soft enough to properly slug a barrel. An egg fishing weight is also an easy means however these days the alloys that are being used are becoming harder and harder. To help with this simply drill out the existing hole to a larger diameter so the lead has a place to move to or displace as you slug the barrel.

[Al_sway]

In some lexicons, the S is for Silly, not Scientific.

[MtGun44]

OK, never heard the silly version. I always heard that the SWAG was a leg up on
a WAG. ;-)

You know how important it would be to add a dab of science in a wild ---- guess. :-)

Bill

[cajun shooter]

+1 on the egg shapped sinker. I use a light Lithium grease on the sinker. I had a BC and used .460 bullets in it.

[craveman85]

i heated one up and pushed it through when it was still kinda soft. gotta find my calipers now to tell how big it is.