Lightweight .45/70 boolit choice ?

[rockrat]

Been playing with a few lighter weight boolits in the 45-70. NOE copy of the 457191 has a large meplat for slapping down the deer and hogs and shoots very well out of my #1 @100yds. I have a 330gr from Arsenal that shoots as well, but smaller meplat and a 300 gr Ranchdog plain base that is about 315gr and also shoots well in my Ruger. I load the same load with all three boolits, the same load JDL posts above, using Unique. Really smacks our 100yd gongs.

[Sgt H]

Bob about 12 grains of Unique under a 340 boolit should get you close to 1100, maybe a bit less with your short barrel. I shoot this load in my Sharps and 1886 Browning for gongs out to several hundred yards. Recoil is next to nothing but those rifles weigh about 12# and 10# respectively.

[BobT]

Bob about 12 grains of Unique under a 340 boolit should get you close to 1100, maybe a bit less with your short barrel. I shoot this load in my Sharps and 1886 Browning for gongs out to several hundred yards. Recoil is next to nothing but those rifles weigh about 12# and 10# respectively.

I was planning to start with 12 grains of Unique, my Contender pistol shot that load pretty well. I have some Trailboss and plan to try that too although I don't have much hope for resupply at this point.

[2TM101]

I got the 160 gr lee mold in yesterday but its a .452, so obviously powdercoat that one. I don't know how much you gain from powdercoating, I may need to do it twice.

[brstevns]

I got the 160 gr lee mold in yesterday but its a .452, so obviously powdercoat that one. I don't know how much you gain from powdercoating, I may need to do it twice.

Like to hear how this bullet works out.

[StrawHat]

BobT,

Have you considered using blackpowder? The Army kept getting complaint about how hard the rifle load recoiled in the carbine so they eventually reduced the powder charge to 55 grains and seated the bullet down on the powder. You could do the same thing with a 300 grain boolit or the Gould boolit (my favorite when I used the small bore -70).

You could even reduce the powder charge more. Me, I prefer penetration to expansion. Heck, you are starting with a 46 caliber boolit. Choose a boolit with a large flat meplat and you never recover them.

Kevin

[BobT]

BobT,

Have you considered using blackpowder? The Army kept getting complaint about how hard the rifle load recoiled in the carbine so they eventually reduced the powder charge to 55 grains and seated the bullet down on the powder. You could do the same thing with a 300 grain boolit or the Gould boolit (my favorite when I used the small bore -70).

You could even reduce the powder charge more. Me, I prefer penetration to expansion. Heck, you are starting with a 46 caliber boolit. Choose a boolit with a large flat meplat and you never recover them.

Kevin

I never really considered black powder, I may eventually try some, likely a duplex load to try to keep the fouling to a minimum. For the time being I'm going to concentrate on smokeless powder, mostly Unique since I have a pretty good supply of it. I did come up with some 300 grain flat point commercial cast boolits the other day also and I'll try them as well as the Lee 340 and the Gould.

[Baltimoreed]

The lightest I ever loaded for my .45-70s and 45-60 was the 292 gr lead, mold #457191.

[StrawHat]

If you really want a lightweight boolit, consider the Lyman 457130. The collar button bullet, about 150 grains. Not much heavier than a round ball. Not sure if Lyman still offers it. There was also a Group Buy mold for it.

Kevin

[longbow]

There is a lot of info here:

https://1895gunner.com/loaddata/table%2045-70.html

Stick with Trapdoor data and the loads will be light. He lists boolit weights down to 250 gr. Oddly he doesn't show the Unique load with is very popular but you can find that here:

https://www.nzha.co.nz/wp-content/up...08/Lyman44.pdf

Page 98 for Trapdoor Springfield load data.

Longbow

[Digital Dan]

At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, you might try a round ball. I shoot a few from a .30 cal CF wildcat I put together. .310 diameter, sized to .309", wee bit of SPG lube smeared on the ball. No leading, top velocity 1,400 fps with 18 gr of 3fg. Lower velocity with smokeless powder worked well. 25 yard groups hovered around 3/4-1" for five shots.

https://i.imgur.com/Sftn5LR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rZgILkb.jpg

https://www.hornady.com/muzzleloading/round-balls#!/

[BobT]

At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, you might try a round ball. I shoot a few from a .30 cal CF wildcat I put together. .310 diameter, sized to .309", wee bit of SPG lube smeared on the ball. No leading, top velocity 1,400 fps with 18 gr of 3fg. Lower velocity with smokeless powder worked well. 25 yard groups hovered around 3/4-1" for five shots.

https://i.imgur.com/Sftn5LR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rZgILkb.jpg

https://www.hornady.com/muzzleloading/round-balls#!/

The round ball is not something I had considered either but I can't see where it would hurt to try it.