45-70 Load for 450 gr LBT LFN Bullet

[Billy Jack]

I have decided to load a 450gr LBT-LFN bullet in my Ruger #1 45-70. I do not want a "Ruger Only Load" however. I want something with recoil below the PMC 350gr SP at 2025 fps I have been shooting. I shot some Remington 405 gr SP at 1330fps that I liked a lot. I'd love to have recoil somewhere in between those two. I want to hunt hogs and just "shoot stuff". Any 450 gr load should be plenty for hogs and I don't care about a rainbow trajectory as I will be shooting 100 yards or less.

For powder I already have Bullseye, Unique, 2400, H380, and H 4831. But if one of those is not a pretty good choice I will get something that is better.

As soon as I slug my barrel and maybe do a chamber casting I will be ready to order bullets.

If anyone has used a bullet close to this weight in their 45-70 and has a favorite "moderate" load I would love to hear about it.

 

[klausman]

I have shot the Cast Performance 440 grain LBT over 64 grains of Hodgdon 777, a black powder sub that is easy and non-stinky to clean up at about 1550 FPS. I have also shot this same bullet over 47 grains of H4895 at about 1780 FPS. The H4895 load is pretty stout at nearly 3100 foot pounds. Both these loads are 100% effective on buffalo. The 440 is now discontinued though.

My standard hunt load is the Rem 405 grain JSP bullet over 52 grains of H4895 for about 1820 FPS. This too is pretty stout. I can take this bullet to over 2000 FPS, but see no need to. At 1800+ FPS, the bullet passes all the way through a buffalo, and beyond that is just a waste that only beats up the shooter.

Neither of these H4895 loads are suitable for a Trapdoor or replica. The LBT bullets may have feeding problems in lever guns like the Marlins. Does that make them #1 only loads?

H4895 gives nice flexibility in loading, but will not reach the top velocities that some other powders will. But it looks like top performance is not your goal.

The Rem bullet is nice in that it provides sublime accuracy in my #1 and costs less than the cast bullets.

There is another nice thing about shooting these big and relatively slow bullets. They don't destroy nearly as much meat on impact as HV loads, and they put the animal down right now.

Happy shooting.

 

[klausman]

A couple of additional thoughts:
Loading black powder and subs is kind of a specialty unto itself, and must be done correctly. Powder loads must be in contact with the bullet with no voids or air gaps, and loads are compressed to one extent or another. In the 45-70, simply getting a particular amount of powder into a modern case can be a problem.

Since you mention Unique, I have loaded 9 grains of Unique behind a 300 grain cast bullet to get about 800 FPS. The fun part is that you have to have good follow-through to shoot a load this slow (good training), and the load makes less noise than a .22 CB cap shot in a rifle. If you want to do this, make sure that the bullet has cleared the barrel before shooting again since this is such a light load.

 

[highlander 5]

I would call Accurate Arms and ask what they would recommend using 5744.
The latest Lyman manual has loads for 400 and 500 gr bullets using 5744 but the charges are almost the same. I've used 5744 in the past and with the loads for trapdoor Springfields the recoil should be very tolerable.

 

[highlander 5]

Just for laughs I looked at the AA load data and they have a load using a 460 gr bullet with 5744.
Starting load is 24.3 grs for 1100 fps and max is 27 grs for 1220 fps. This is a trapdoor load btw hope the info helps.

 

[Billy Jack]

I saw a post somewhere that mentioned Hodgdon 380 as being a good powder for 45-70. Now I can't find it.
Anyone ever use H-380 for their 45-70?