Which boolit will be more accurate?

[Idaho45guy]

Will be interesting to find out.

These are 500 grain spitzer-style and with 65 grains of Goex FFG, were horrible...

Attachment 299716

Went back to the drawing board tonight and cast 25 each of these molds that my dad gave me and told me to try.

Attachment 299717

The one on the left is a 520 grain spitzer-style.

Attachment 299718

The one on the right is a 575 grain.

Attachment 299719

Going to load both with 70 grains of Swiss FFG.

[Winger Ed.]

I normally lean towards a spitzer style, However;
It might take some tinkering around, but either one should do real well afterwards.

[GhostHawk]

I put my money on the 575. Could be wrong though.

[Castaway]

How long is the 575 grainer?

[Don McDowell]

In your 45-70 that 520 gr money bullet will out preform that 575 grain bullet, especially considering if your barrel has an 18 twist in it.

[Gunlaker]

I'd definitely expect the same as Don. In all of my .45 cal rifles, nothing has shot as consistently well as the 535gr version of that BACO Money bullet. If I only had one .45 cal black powder mold it'd be the 458535M1. And I have a lot of molds

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

That money bullet will also do much better cast from 16-1.
I suspect aside from the problems already pointed out in the comments on your video, the powder charge with that 65 grains of the Goex was a big factor in your accuracy woes. Jump that charge up to 70 or 72 grains and with a good fouling control regime things will come together much better than your first go round.

[Kenny Wasserburger]

Anyone that thinks the 575 gr bullet is better, well obviously they have zero long range experience. There are too many past keyboard commandos on this forum, the 520 money design with 68 grs of Goex 2F or Swiss 1.5 in a 45-70 is serious. Until you learn how to use proper fouling control methods you can’t really evaluate any loads potential. And you’re basing the load’s inaccuracy, with a lousy wiping regime. Per your video.

KW

[Gunlaker]

I think all of my .45-70's have been happy with a Money bullet and a charge of 68gr Swiss 1.5 or OE 1.5. That's the powder charge I'd start with.

With respect to fouling control, remember, the greater the distance to the target, the more important it gets. You'll know if you've got it wrong when you get unexpected flyers in the middle of a string, or suddenly the shots start to hit lower. Or you make corrections on the sights and something different happens on the target ( that's also what you might see at long range with that 575gr bullet due to instability).

That 520gr Money bullet is a proven silhouette performer, and it'll shoot a fair bit further, but the further you shoot the more important it is to have all of the little details sorted out.

Chris.

[Gunlaker]

Oh, one more thing. The rifle you are shooting looks like a C. Sharps 1885. How snug is the fit of one of your cast bullets in a fired case? I had a C. Sharps highwall that didn't shoot well until I realized that the inside diameter of a fired case was way bigger than my .458" bullets. You could slip fit a 0.461" bullet into a fired case easily. Dan Theodore designed a larger diameter bullet for me, one that fit the throat better too. That helped a great deal. I know that there is some variation in their chambers as I had one built at a later date and the chamber was as tight as my Shilohs.

I generally like to start with a bullet that is a reasonably close match to the fired case inside diameter.

Chris.

[Idaho45guy]

Oh, one more thing. The rifle you are shooting looks like a C. Sharps 1885. How snug is the fit of one of your cast bullets in a fired case? I had a C. Sharps highwall that didn't shoot well until I realized that the inside diameter of a fired case was way bigger than my .458" bullets. You could slip fit a 0.461" bullet into a fired case easily. Dan Theodore designed a larger diameter bullet for me, one that fit the throat better too. That helped a great deal. I know that there is some variation in their chambers as I had one built at a later date and the chamber was as tight as my Shilohs.

I generally like to start with a bullet that is a reasonably close match to the fired case inside diameter.

Chris.

Rifle is an Uberti high wall and the barrel is one made by JK Cloward. I hear he's pretty good.

[Idaho45guy]

Got my rounds created tonight. Went with 70 grains of Swiss FFg for both boolits.

Also worked on the trigger. When I put on the Creedmoor sights, I didn't fine tune the forward screw length, which affects the trigger function and pull.

I thought the trigger felt a little heavy at the range, so I tested it tonight and it was shockingly high at 7 lbs. Filed the screw a few times until I got the pull down to 3 lbs, then added some Loctite and got everything locked down.

Hopefully that will help things a bit as well.

The match that I was doing all this for got moved up a week to this Saturday. Weather forecast is for rain and 25 mph winds. Plus, I had knee surgery a week ago, so going prone and getting up off the shooting mat will be painful. Decided to skip this month's match and will go to the next one.

[tmanbuckhunter]

I agree the money bullet will shoot much better, at least from an overall length/twist rate wise. There are a lot more factors in BPC accuracy/precision than with smokeless though. Annealing cases, neck tension, alloy, size, wad etc... gotta get all those details down. What wad are you using? Are you annealing? What is your neck tension, if any? Alloy?

[Don McDowell]

The front screw on a tang sight should not affect the trigger pull in any way shape form or fashion.

[Bent Ramrod]

It does on a Highwall. The sear spring is right underneath the front tang sight base screw hole. Varying the spring tension by pressing the spring down with the forward tang screw will increase the trigger pull weight.

Is there any particular reason the OP is picking a single powder weight, loading 50 cartridges, and coming back from the range disappointed? You would be better served loading a sequence of weights, say from 60 to 70 grains, increasing a grain at a time, five cartridges per weight, compressing to the same depth that allows the boolit to touch the rifling, and firing your 50 rounds in five-shot groups with the same powder weight. Somewhere in there should be your optimum.

[Don McDowell]

If the sear spring is set up properly in the first place and the front tang screw is the proper length, neither should ever come in contact with each other. At least that's what Kilby and co at Wyoming armory will tell you.
Sometimes over tightening of the rear tang screw/bolt can cause a bind on the trigger's and give you fits. Per Steve Baldwin...

[Gunlaker]

Don I hadn't heard that about the rear tang screw. Thanks.

I know what Bent Ramrod is saying. That C. Sharps I was talking about had that problem with the too long front screw. I never noticed it to be honest, but the guy I sold the rifle to noticed it right away. Apparently he found marks on the sear spring from the screw, which can't be too good.

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

This CSA lowall I had them build has been a pain in the butt. After a lot of conversation with 85 builders I think maybe the kinks are coming out. Will know more about it Friday when the 22 match at Alliance gets done.

[Gunlaker]

Yeah, I like the CSA 1885's quite a bit, but they do vary in quality. Mine are all sorted out except for one, which is a PP .45-90 with Dan Theodore's PP chamber. It shoots well, but has way too much excess headspace. I'd like to get the barrel set back and have it re-chambered but there is no one around here that I trust to do the job. I just modify the rim thickness to solve the headspace problem. I wish they'd have taken more care putting it together.

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

I have 2 that Pete oversaw the build on for Carol and they are as fine a rifle as could be
This 22 of mine never should of left the shop