Howdy
In addition, or instead of, the book mentioned above I highly recommend Shooting Buffalo Rifles of the Old West by Mike Venturino. You can see my copy is well worn. This book has a section on every one of the different Buffalo rifles. It has a section explaining the basics of loading Back Powder cartridges for the old rifles. Probably the most valuable chapter in the book. Then there is a section on the specifics of each cartridge, of which there were many. I was quoting Mike when I said to start with the 45-70 before moving on to any of the more exotic cartridges. I just checked, this book is available on Amazon.
View attachment 1031022
I use a RCBS set of 45-70 dies. Don't forget to lube your cases, I don't think anybody makes carbide dies for 45-70. The brass actually has a very slight taper. The piece at the top of the box is the compression plug I bought from Buffalo Arms. I pop it into the belling die. I just checked and it is still available.
View attachment 1031023
I seat all my 45-70 primers by hand with a RCBS primer seating tool. I load all my 45-70 rounds on my old Lyman Spartan single stage press.
View attachment 1031024
I use 45-70 Winchester brass that I bought a long time ago. (Note: I bought some Federal 45-70 brass years ago and could not load them. Something strange, they kept getting jammed in my sizing die.)
I use any Large Rifle primer, usually Winchester because that is what I have laying around. After sizing and decapping and belling the case mouths I drop 70 grains of Schuetzen FFg through a 24" drop tube into every shell. Then the powder gets compressed a bit, then I seat a .030 thick card on top of the powder before adding the bullet. I use the 405 grain bullet Montana Precision Swaging bullet I showed in a previous post. I used to buy them from Buffalo Arms. Although it is not necessary to crimp the bullet in a cartridge intended to be shot in a single shot rifle, I do put a little bit of a crimp on my rounds.
I use these same rounds in my 45-70 Trapdoor.
P.S. Don't forget what I said about a 'shotgun style' butt plate. A friend had a Billy Dixon Sharps in 45-120 with a crescent shaped butt plate. It hurt like hell every time he pulled the trigger. I don't see the sense in buying a 45-70 rifle with a crescent shaped butt plate and then putting a pad over it. Buy the 'shotgun style' butt plate in the first place. Crescent shaped butt plates require a different technique, hiking the butt out further on the shoulder so the crescent encircles the shoulder joint. Do not place a crescent shaped butt plate on the meaty part of your shoulder, I guarantee it will hurt as the sharp points of the crescent dig into your flesh. Although I have lots of 44-40 and 38-40 rifles with crescent shaped butt plates, and I do hike them further out on my shoulder, that was uncomfortable to do from a bench or lying prone, so I went with the flatter butt plate and have always been glad I did.
View attachment 1031025
