45-70 plinker rounds

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Shak3s1977

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I just got a Marlin 1895 GS and am wanting to start reloading 45-70 gov. I want to get a load similar to the 405gr Reminton factory ammo. I'm thinking Missouri Bullet Company has the 405gr Hitek coated bullets for a pretty good price. For powder I was going to try Accurate 5744. I'm going to be running them thru a Dillon 550 1 round at a time, since that is the press I have. Anyone use this combo? Hows that powder meter? Seems like I can get to 1200-1300 fps with extremely low pressures. Thanks for any help.
 
I like IMR 4198 in my ,45/70 loads, I’ll do 34.5 gr of 4198 under a 405 gr LRNFP. Not a stomper on the ears or shoulder out of my ported Guide Gun...

Others will load 14 gr Unique under a 405 for a really light load. I haven’t done this personally, but it may be in my future.

Stay safe.
 
The Remington 405’s are more accurate than cast bullets IME. 1200 is pretty mild with them though and enough to spin a big hog around too.

I generally load them hotter in my 45-70 but run them about 1050fps in my sub 458 socom loads.

I haven’t used the powder you are looking at but have loaded lots of 45-70 with a number of IMR powders, using Dillon measures and they work despite the extruded powders metering poorly compared to finer powders.
 
AA5744 is a good choice, my personal favorite is IMR4198... it works well in the .45-70 and in other cartridges as well. As a rule, I try to keep my .45-70 pressures below 15K PSI, which is easily done with either AA5744 or IMR4198, I have some QuickLoad data run off by a friend that supports this, if you are interested.

2400 and Unique are another avenue to low-pressure plinking loads. The standard load is 15grn Unique under a 405'ish cast bullet for around 1200fps. A word of caution, however... that small charge of Unique can be position sensitive in the big .45-70 case, I know of one shooter that had that load blow the case head out and he almost lost his eye. (This is factual... I was there when it happened, not 3rd person.) There is a theory that Unique needs to be set against the primer for consistent ignition... a tuft of Dacron does that. Do NOT use cardboard or any other type filler. I have loaded and shot that 15grn Unique load in my 1885, I 'muzzle upped' my rifle after chambering the round to make sure the powder was against the primer before firing, but it's likely I will not continue with Unique... IMR4198 does everything I want, and without problems.
 
I load for an older friend that can't take a lot of recoil. 28 grains IMR4198 and a 405 grain cast bullet works well for him. It is mild enough for target shooting and more than adequate for deer hunting.
I load a few with 13-14gr Unique as well.
 
I've found the MBCs 405 (I use uncoated) to be accurate enough for "plinking" from 30 to 75 yards with a 1895. The price for me is reasonable too.

Ive used IMR 4064, 3031, H322 and Varget. All of the comfortable loads ran under 1500 fps. The 3031 and H322 were most accurate, but the data I used isnt in a manual so I'm not throwing it out there. Some are actually below starting loads listed on Hodgdons site.
 
For both plinking and hunting. I have found the Remington 405 (bulk from Midway) to be a pretty good price, and very accurate.
I typically use H4895 for the 45-70.
I have tried very light loads of Unique as well. Call them "cat sneeze" loads since they make less noise than a .22 cb cap out of a rifle.
 
I have tried very light loads of Unique as well. Call them "cat sneeze" loads since they make less noise than a .22 cb cap out of a rifle.

I've shot 405gr LFP's with 12grs Unique from a HandiRifle. I'd hardly call it "cat sneeze" as, unless I were hunting, it gives sufficient boom to warrant earplugs. While it's pleasantly manageable, easy on the shoulder, it also gives a pretty good wallop downrange.
 
AA5744 is a good choice, my personal favorite is IMR4198... it works well in the .45-70 and in other cartridges as well. As a rule, I try to keep my .45-70 pressures below 15K PSI, which is easily done with either AA5744 or IMR4198, I have some QuickLoad data run off by a friend that supports this, if you are interested.

2400 and Unique are another avenue to low-pressure plinking loads. The standard load is 15grn Unique under a 405'ish cast bullet for around 1200fps. A word of caution, however... that small charge of Unique can be position sensitive in the big .45-70 case, I know of one shooter that had that load blow the case head out and he almost lost his eye. (This is factual... I was there when it happened, not 3rd person.) There is a theory that Unique needs to be set against the primer for consistent ignition... a tuft of Dacron does that. Do NOT use cardboard or any other type filler. I have loaded and shot that 15grn Unique load in my 1885, I 'muzzle upped' my rifle after chambering the round to make sure the powder was against the primer before firing, but it's likely I will not continue with Unique... IMR4198 does everything I want, and without problems.

Im curious how a low charge would blow out a case head? Fairly new reloader ( going on 2 years now..pistol only, no rifle rounds loaded). I read this somewhere else on the web, so your not the first person I've heard this from.

Also appears 4198 is pretty popular also for what I am looking to do. I'll have to look into that powder also. I do already have Unique on hand but that makes me a little leary now.

Thanks for all the help everyone.
 
There are theories on it, I'm not a ballistic scientist so I don't know if one theory has more validity than any other. It's possible the brass was weak. It's possible the bullet jumped the rifling and wedged (although it was a cast bullet.) The main theory is how a small charge of fast (relative, to the cartridge) ignites and burns in a large volume case like the .45-70. If the charge was forward, if the charge was spread out across the bottom of the cartridge case, the ignition would not be as linear as a charge back against the rear of the case... it would 'detonate' rather than burn progressively. Personally, I think this is what happened in this fellow's case. He is an experienced shooter, I find it very unlikely it was a double charge or other loading error... but you wouldn't be able to rule it out. For this reason, I've decided to move away from the light charges of Unique... although I have shot them, and even still have about 20 rounds or so still loaded up I will shoot... I'm just going to be careful and make sure the powder is back against the primer before firing. I bought 3# of 2400 specifically to try in the .45-70, I will have to see what the case fill looks like before I bother to jump in with both feet on load development there, too.

Personally, I've pretty much picked IMR4198 for my .45-70 powder (with cast bullets.) It's available, it's less expensive (marginally) than AA5744. I can use it in other cartridges (I also load cast in .30-30, .308, and .348; it is also supposed to be a dandy powder in .223, oddly enough.) Other powders I have loaded with... IMR's 3031, 4895, 4064... have given higher velocity with a generous dose of recoil to go with it... so much so that I wound up pulling almost 100 cartridges. A 405grn bullet with a charge of IMR4064 is a handful!

27grn IMR4198 and a 405grn bullet... gives me right at 1300fps in my 32" barreled 1885. Case fill is about 60% and pressure is less than 12K PSI... all according to QuickLoad.
 
I like 37.5 gr of IMR 4198 under a 405 gr Lee cast hollow base bullet or a 420gr Lyman rnfp all Starline brass. We shoot it in both the guide guns and the Magnum Industries revolver and none of them beat you up too bad. I load them on a 550 with no issues at all.
 
I have several light Trapdoor loads I shoot.

These are all for a 405gr Cast Bullet:

28.0gr H4198
27.0gr AA5744

In Handloader Magazine #308 they listed some data. What caught my eye was a load of 24.0gr AA5744 under the same bullet. I have not tried it yet but if it's good enough for Mike Venturino it's good enough for me too lol.

I have tried H4198 in charges of 30.0gr, 32.0gr and 34.0gr and all were accurate but if course harder on the shoulder. The 28.0gr load I listed above is a good one for me.
 
Much like AACD.
My favorite load for my 1970's Marlin 95 is the RCBS 325U or the Lee 340 gr. with 27 grs. of 5744.
Easy on the shoulder and a lot of lever fun!

IMO, 5744 meters better than the long stick 4198 although you still get some kernel cutting with 5744.
I also load my 45-70 smokeless ammo on a 550 in two steps.
Size, prime, and bell the case in the press. Remove the case, powder dropped from a Lyman 55.
Back into the press to seat and then crimp the round.

I really believe if you try 5744, you will understand how AA gets away with the higher pricing (at least in my area).
It is worth it.

JT
 
I don't load 45-70 so I don't have any first hand experience to share. Someone mentioned H4895, just thought it is worth mentioning that this powder is one of the very few that can be downloaded more than normal, it can be downloaded to 60% of max, which makes it good for reduced recoil loads. Note that this only applies to H4895, NOT IMR4895.

I have downloaded 223 using H4895 and it worked well, but interestingly enough I ended up preferring min charges of H4198 instead.
 
I have a cat sneeze load with the same bullet running TrailBoss... it is very light. I run a max trap door load with the same bullet over H4198 for hunting, but I'm about to change that up with a new mold from accurate, and some 5744. Honestly, the 45-70 has such a wide range of loads that anything really works well.
 
I'm not bashing you guys, seriously, but in my limited trials of AA5744 vs something like IMR4198, I really fail to see the added value of AA5744. I'm all ears... what am I missing?
I find it to be more accurate in my Trapdoor rifle and the felt recoil seems to be less for similar velocity. Don't get me wring, I have burned A Lot of 4198 over the years and would still use it. I just like AA5744 better right now.
 
Well I couldn't find any 4198 locally so I grabbed a bottle of 5744. I also saw somewhere on this forum about this place, www.brazosprecision.com, so I thought I would give them a try for some lead bullets. Grabbed some primers at the local shop. I bought some Lee dies off EBay, and a Lee case gauge trimmer came with the dies for $25 and free shipping. Looks like everything will be here by Friday. I can't wait.
 
Well I couldn't find any 4198 locally so I grabbed a bottle of 5744. I also saw somewhere on this forum about this place, www.brazosprecision.com, so I thought I would give them a try for some lead bullets. Grabbed some primers at the local shop. I bought some Lee dies off EBay, and a Lee case gauge trimmer came with the dies for $25 and free shipping. Looks like everything will be here by Friday. I can't wait.


45-70 405 grain coated lead BHN 13 for 16.2 cent per round. Can't beat that! Thanks for trying us out. Let me know how it works out for you.
 
I got my total cost down to $0.35 a round. That beats the heck out of this price lol.
 

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