50-70 questions

[MRGoodwin]

I have recently acquired a Swedish Rolling Block which has been rechambered to 50-70 Govt. I have 25 brass cases from starline and a Lee mold 515-450. My barrell is clean and free of leading. I have slugged my bore twice with a result of .512. The cast boolits from the Lee mold drop at .515 to .516. I am wondering if these are to big as is or need to be sized? I loaded up a dummy round and tried chambering it iny Rifle and had no issues. It chambered easily at the max overall length.

[John Boy]

Reload them as cast - shoot them and have fun

[StrawHat]

What John Boy said. You would only need to resize if the loaded cartridge would not chamber in the rifle.

Kevin

[MRGoodwin]

I did not have access to a round ball when I slugged the bore. I used one of my cast 515-450 boolits lubed up with SPG and a few good shots of Remoil down the barrel. I pounded it nose first down the muzzle and used a brass rod to finish the job. It started very hard and some tiny shavings of lead came of as I started it down the muzzle. Is that Normal? Also, I water quench my boolits when casting. Just wondering if I air cool my boolits if it will change their final diameter? Thanks in advance.

[griffiga]

MRGoodwin,
I have the very same Lee mold and I have been shooting it for years unsized. I have an 1868 Springfield, a Whitney and a Garrett Arms Sharps carbine all of which I shoot the bullets unsized and they all shoot fine.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

When you state Swedish rolling block rechambered to 50/70; are you referring to a conversion from 12.7x44mm?

If this is so, then the bore dimensions are .486/508", the deepest rifling that I've encountered on an original military rifle.

[MRGoodwin]

According to the slug I drove down the barrel, my dimensions are .478/.512

[enfield]

MRGOODWIN, N.S is full of Swedish Rolling Blocks, I use the Lee 450 as cast with wheel weight over 59 grains of 2F ( 4.0 Lee scoop ) it is probably a little larger than it needs to be but it can be very accurate. I also have a Accurate Molds .509 445gr mould that I have to test some more. a decent tang sight will make a big difference if your trying to shoot any distance.

[MRGoodwin]

Is it possible to fire a .516 boolit thru a .512 bore??

[enfield]

Actually I have been running mine through the Lee .510 sizer lately, although I was shooting them as cast prior to that. My mould drops them closer to .515 . They do tend to come out looking like a Hexagon, I have a fired one here that measures .509 .

[MRGoodwin]

[MRGoodwin]

I bought it from TradeEx. It was the only one they had in stock with a "very good" bore. The ret of the rifle was beyond rough so I did a bit of restoration. I can't wait to shoot it!

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Rifling so deep the bore is almost hexagonal!

[MRGoodwin]

Yep! Mine looks the same way

[griffiga]

I've been shooting the .50-70 ever since I bought one back in the 1970's. It was a Garrett Arms and since then I have acquired a couple more - 1868 Springfield and a Whitney Phoenix with Freund markings. I have the same Lee mold and have shot thousands of rounds through them over the years with no problems. In fact, I wrote an article for a local magazine some years ago that might be of some help to you, if nothing else it may be entertaining. http://www.quarterbore.com/library/articles/5070.html

[Ed in North Texas]

The Swede 12.7x44mm RBs have some variation in chambers. Some, like mine, will accept a trimmed to length .50 Alaskan case, others will not. I guess someone decided .50-70 cases were easier to get and ran a chambering reamer to fit the case. I use Lyman .515-450 boolits run through a .515 die mostly for lube. I use soft lead in all BP rifles (IIRC BH 8 or 9).

[dtknowles]

The Swede 12.7x44mm RBs have some variation in chambers. Some, like mine, will accept a trimmed to length .50 Alaskan case, others will not. I guess someone decided .50-70 cases were easier to get and ran a chambering reamer to fit the case. I use Lyman .515-450 boolits run through a .515 die mostly for lube. I use soft lead in all BP rifles (IIRC BH 8 or 9).

In mine 50-70 brass has too wide a rim and I have to turn then down.

Tim

[MRGoodwin]

Is a boolit .003 overbore too big to start with?

[dtknowles]

Is a boolit .003 overbore too big to start with?

No and I assume you mean over groove diameter.

Tim

[enfield]

I would recommend annealing the cases before loading, it makes them seal better and last longer. I have had no problems using the bullets .003- .004 larger, if you can recover some of the fired ones you will see they get pretty deformed by the deep rifling. I was shooting a wheel at 235 yards on the weekend with one of mine, great fun ( I think you will want to put another sight on for any distance as they shoot quite a rainbow trajectory )