.45 pistol bullets for 45-70?

Pistols typically use .452, rifles .458. Different stuff

Aren't they different diameters? .45 ACP is .451 to .452. I'm BRAND NEW to loading 45-70 but the bullets I just loaded are .458 diameter.

Pistol bullets are .452. Bullets for the 45/70 are .458. I was having a conversation with a person who has been in the reloading game a long time. He told me that in his younger days they would take 255 grain lead flat point bullets for the 45 colt pistol and paper patch them to use in the 45/70 because one of the guys had a bullet mold for them and between them the only other mold they had available was for a 500 grain .458. By using the pistol bullets they could get twice as many bullets from the same amount of lead which could at times could be hard to come by (war time mainly).

I doubt paper patching a a JHP would work though.

jdh said:

He told me that in his younger days they would take 255 grain lead flat point bullets for the 45 colt pistol and paper patch them to use in the 45/70 because one of the guys had a bullet mold for them and between them the only other mold they had available was for a 500 grain .458. By using the pistol bullets they could get twice as many bullets from the same amount of lead which could at times could be hard to come by (war time mainly).

Click to expand...

Plus they didn't have to shoot a 500 grain bullet!!! I imagine that would kick like a three legged ninja.

yep, different diameters. Sucks doesnt it?

enjoy your reloading!

How many times you can safely reload your 45/70 brass depends on a number of factors, including -
How "hot" a load you are loading - softer, antique-rifle pressure level loads will have the brass generally stretching alot less and lasting longer than if you are loading Marlin 1895-level loads, and those Marlin loads will handle a few more reload trips than if you are maxing things out at the Mauser/Ruger#1 pressure load levels.
How much you resize the brass (firing in just 1 rifle, or multiple rifles)
How much you flare/bell the case mouth to load the bullet into the cartridge. This "work hardens" the brass and tends to cause it to become brittle and split. some people gently use a torch to anneal the case mouths to re-soften things and get a bit more life.
The brand/mfgr of brass and the type of brass can handle different amounts of abuse.
Thicker brass, such as StarLine or Remington versus the typically thinner-walled Winchester brass can have an effect. Plus if you use Nickel-plated brass cartridges the nickel plating will general crack and peel after a certain number of reloads, whereas the plain brass cases will just keep going.

The others have already answered your bullet diameter question -

If you anneal your brass every third loading you will extend the life a lot and this holds true on all brass cases. I have 45-70 cases 20 or more loadings on them, straight or tapered cases last longer than bottleneck cases.
Annealing is a very simple but if you don't do right you WILL turn you cases to scrape.