45-70 Government

[Afy]

45-70 ...
Gettting stuff ready to load for it.

Dies: RCBS Standard. Or do I need the cow boy dies?
Cases: Going with Starline. Should I swap for Win or Rem brass?
Bullets: Berry Cowboy 405 grain the other choice seems to be the Sierra 300
Otherwise need to get something like These or even these
In essensce I will have to get someone to cast me some bullets. Do I go .457 or .458? I believe 500 grains would be ideal.

Powders: Well no real choice. VV N120 and VV n133 for Smokeless and FFFG for BP. I do have a little Varget and 4390 on hand.

Primers: CCI Large rifle.

What else do I need?

 

[loadedround]

Have you considered one or two good reloading manuals?

 

[Afy]

Already have the Lyman, VV, Tubal and Quickload.

 

[Jim Watson]

What gun?

Be advised that if you shoot black powder, you need not-very-hard cast bullets with black powder specific lubricant. I don't know if the ones advertised in French that you link to qualify.

Hardcast or jacketed bullets should be limited to smokeless.

.458" cast bullets are nearly certain to be more desirable than .457". Bigger might be better, depending on the gun. Groove diameter is the minimum that should be considered, and a thousandth... or two... or three bigger is often better.

I don't have a .45-70 but load .38-55 with Lyman dies and .40-65 with standard RCBS. Plus dedicated expander dies and compression dies as required for black powder, my .38 has not seen a grain of smokeless in 15 years and my .40 never has.

 

[Afy]

The person who makes the bullets supplies a lot to the BP comunity in France. In terms of lubricant, I am asking him to supply the bullets unlubed, and will dip thim in the mix of Beeswax, Parafin and Crisco/Goose Fat that I use for my cap and ball shooters. Have ordered the Cow boy dies, which are designed for loading BP I think. Will stick with .458 bullets.

 

[fireman 9731]

The type of gun is good to know. Loads can vary quite a bit depending on if its an old Springfield, Lever gun, or solid single shot.

I use the regular RCBS dies and they have been fantastic for smokeless. Starline brass is pretty good. Winchester after that and then Remington bringing up the rear.

Remington makes a good 300 grain jacketed hollow point for hunting, Everything else I use has been cast, 350, 405, and 500 grains.

For powders Trailboss is fantastic for light plinking loads and gives velocities very similar to BP. For the heavier stuff its hard to beat IMR 4198 and IMR 3031. Varget is also pretty good. That big case eats up the powder pretty quickly though.

The 45-70 is a very forgiving round and has lots of room to work in. Its my favorite round to reload for.

Good luck!

 

[Chas.]

-Caliper micrometer
-Case lube (I use Crisco, but it has to be wipped off)
-Lee Auto-Prime would be nice.
-Primer pocket cleaner outer tool
-Starline cases are great
-Bullets depend somewhat on the gun. You don't want pointy bullets in a lever gun or bullets that are so long the action won't cycle.

 

[Afy]

The weapon is a Armi Sport Sharps 1874. Will be used for poking holes in Paper at 100 to 300 meters. And BP competitions.

Chas the rest of the kit I have since I load for about half a dozen calibers. I dont have experience with the big stuff or BP stuff. But I do load 9mm, 6 BR, 260 Rem etc..

 

[Jim Watson]

As far as storage goes, I have not had any trouble with BPCR ammunition loaded some months ago and a friend has been shooting some put up a couple of years ago. With a good over powder wad and cool storage, it should last.
But I remember an article about DCRA Snider shooters shooting down last season's leftovers of .577s so they could load fresh for the present competitive season.