Round ball in 45-70

[Michael J. Spangler]

Tagged for notes

[Zim]

I use floral foam - the green water absorbing stuff - cut thin & cookie cuttered into the case. Use the eraser end of a #2 pencil to seat it down the case to contain the powder. The stuff shrinks when heated, so it disappears.

Eliminates the position sensitive flash whoofs.

[PB234]

Zim, how thin do you cut the foam and how tight against the powder do you push it? thanks

[Sekiar]

Grampa243 you are right on the light crimp. Loaded 10 more with a good crimp and shot in my Encore short barrel(18) carbine and WOW what a difference that made. Need to crony the loads as the little carbine kicked back a little. Will load more and try in one of the long barrel rifles...and then in my BFR revolver. Thanks!

[Zim]

As thin as possible on the floral foam. The stuff makes a mess so do it outside. Sharp knife is less messy than a saw. Don't worry if it cracks, you just need it in one piece.

Push with the pencil until it crunches slightly. Should stay in place at that point. I push it til I feel the crunch & know its on the powder. Works well.

This works great in straight walled cases.

[grampa243]

i don't believe the floral foam will work in the 45-70 as it is a tapered case not a straight wall.

[Zim]

The floral foam works great for me. I use it alot with powders that don't fill the case that much. Try it.

[bigted]

well I have found a load for the cans of 'trail boss' powder I have...20.5 grains of the stuff with 2 felt wads 1/8th inch thick loaded under these sized .490 inch balls to .460 inch. they pop when the trigger is pulled and they also pile up thru the same hole at the 35 yard short range in my front yard. what fun...lubed with Lee allox lube ... [ I lube em in a baggie with several drops of lee's allox and roll em around till all are lubed and remove and allow to set overnight to set up for a easy lube job ] ... they don't lead my hiwall and really perform well accuracy wise....just reporting in on a very fun and satisfying load.

[Lucky Joe]

Thanks Ted, I haven't had the chance to do anything with my Trail Boss and my .45-70's. Soon as it stops raining and I get a few projects taken care of it's a go.

[grampa243]

updated post 45.

roundball coated in alox didn't lead much.

i tried waxing the sized ones before loading most of the wax came off when seating in the case. and the waxed ones leaded the barrel more than anything i have shot in my 45-70 before even commercial cast bullets.

[doctorggg]

Tried this round today. The uppermost shot was a called flyer. The one just out of the group at 6 o'clock was the fastest shot out of 10. Load was 15 grains Unique with no filler or wad. 2 coats 45-45-10.
Average 10 shots 1612 fps for a 192 grain boolit. .495 sized to .460. Hi shot 1668, lo 1558. Sd-32.6, es-110. I did get some moderate leading but it was removed easily. This load is really fun to shoot. Group (9 shots) minus bullet diameter = 1.4" at 25 yards.

[grampa243]

bump to the top

[Zubley]

I use 6grs Trail Boss ,410 wad,three .357 balls and milk carton wad to hold it in than crimp.

[f350 caster]

Do you fellas use a filler between the powder and ball? Seems a whole lot of space for only a little bit of powder otherwise. Thanks for the help.

[Michael J. Spangler]

i was wondering if a whole bunch of cream of wheat would make for a good filler and offer better results than a tuft of dacron?
sees like you could seat the ball with a little compression (which would help with seating depth consistency)
seems to me like that would give better ignition that the dacron.

[doctorggg]

If you read my above thread on 5/18/2013 you notice the extreme spread is very high at 110 fps. I plan on using a filler next time I shoot this. My thoughts might be a fiber wad over the powder followed by cow or grits.

[nanuk]

Lee round ball mold casts at 147 gr. with WWts. used WW cases and Lrprimers.
Ruger #3 22 in brl. 3x9 scope. Ball seated flush with case neck.

10.0 Gr. Unique ..1235..1249..1274 fps.....3 shots/ 100 yds...2.0 inch

2 x Round ball Load at 294 grains
14.8 gr. Unique...1472..1489..1498 fps....3 shots/ 100yds /6 holes in 5 inch square.

One rnd ball seated " over" 1.5 gr. Bullseye...466...461..440 fps ...3 shots/25 yds/1.40 inch.

2 ball load at 1480fps would make a DANDY BAMBI load for tree stand hunting

[Kermit1945]

Lee 90384, IIRC. It's the 220 gr conical intended for the Ruger Old Army. Supposed to be .456, buy mine dropped .457. Can't remember the load any more, buy it was dang accurate in the #3 I used to have.