45-70 Reloading Help

So I bought this Marlin 1895 for medium to large game a few years ago. At the time I had bought leverrevolutions and saved the brass until I got a set of dies to reload them. When I got dies for it, I was reloading with hornady 300 gr HP that worked great for deer (in Ohio you need to have a straight walled cartridge to rifle hunt deer). I’ve got my load data in one of the pictures but I was shooting 300 gr at about 2100 FPS is what I chronographed. While being good hunting rounds, they are not good range/plinking rounds as you might expect. Usually can’t shoot more than 3-4 shots before your shoulder makes you stop shooting. To solve this problem, I had picked up Barnes .458 300 gr bullets (pictured below) that I would use as range fun by using load data for trapdoor Springfields (or something very similar). They were pointed tips but when I went to reload them, they became smashed as you can see in the picture. The problem is that every time I’ve tried to chamber these when I’ve had them loaded is that they won’t chamber at all. I can close the action about 3/4 the way then it just stops and won’t go in any further. I remeasured the bullet diameter and it is .458. I have shot 300 gr HP, 325 gr leverrevolution plastic tips, and 405 gr cast bullets through and they ran fine. I don’t know if it’s a bullet thing or a chamber thing or what. Any help would be appreciated.

1 the tips are mashed when I seat them. And 2) I am using the shorter leverrevolution brass anyways so I don’t think it would matter.

Charlie98 said:

I think you have two things going on here...

1) Are the tips mashed when you seat them, or when you chamber them? There is nothing that would mash the tips like that cycling the action on a 1895.

2) As far as closing the action on those bullets, either you are seating them too far out and they are contacting the rifling, or you have something in your chamber. You mentioned you were shooting Leverloution cartridges, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the brass on those is slightly shorter than standard .45-70 brass. If you had reloaded those with 405grn cast bullets, there may be a buildup of lead just behind the shoulder in the chamber... much like lead buildup after shooting cast .38's in a .357MAG revolver. Give the chamber a good scrubbing and, after checking your seating depth with the Barnes bullets first, see if you can chamber them.

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I got these Barnes cheap from a friend. And the OAL is the same as the ones for the hornady.

mrawesome22-250 said:

Probably the bullet ogive touching the lands.

What was the OAL used for this bullet? Where did you find load data for this bullet? I can find none on Barnes' site. Normally, 45-70 bullets have a crimp groove so they don't move under spring tension and recoil in a tube fed rifle. Hard tipped, pointy bullets stacked in a tube is a big no no.

When I think plinking bullets, Barnes would be about last on the list. Way too expensive. Cheap cast bullets is what you want for plinking.

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I think I just figured it out. The case is slightly bulged right where the bullet is seated. I’m not sure why it would do this but I think this is it

Riomouse911 said:

Are the bullets loaded so long they’re hitting the lands before the action closes? See if there are marks on one of the bullets in a cartridge that wouldn’t chamber.

Are the cases buckling a bit leaving a wrinkle that don’t let the action close? Ive unintentionally put too much crimp and made it where the cartridge wouldn’t chamber.

What is the finished diameter of the “smashed” bullets? I wonder if they’re expanding just enough to fill the chamber before the action closes.

Just a few suggestions to narrow it down.

Stay safe.

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Soonerpesek said:

^^^^^^This^^^^^.......and.....

What seating stem are you using...?

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Using RCBS dies. Not sure what stem I would be using.