Maverick223
Member
I have been scouring the internet, looking in manuals, and asking a few knowledgeable folks I know about this cartridge in hopes that I can duplicate it in a .45-120NE (no intentions to use black for this one), that hopefully will begin to take shape next week from my Browning 1885 HighWall. From what I have found out the .450 Nitro Express 3.25in. (henceforth referred to as the .450NE) was based upon the .45-120 blackpowder cartridge, so my idea is to take a stout .45-70 action and ream it out to chamber the larger cartridge and load it to nuclear velocities, and this will keep the rifle in a period cartridge even if it isn't loaded like the original. My hope is to drive a 450gr. monolithic solid to at least 2200fps. Right now I can drive 300gr. bullets at about 2400fps with my .45-70 loads (60-62gr. of RL-7) so I believe this is possible.
...but I have yet to find any reloading information to give me a starting point (powder type, minimum charge, an idea of what max. charge should be, as well as any other relevant information). The best I can come up with so far is to take the capacity of the .45-70 that I am loading now (about 79gr. of H2O) and multiply the starting charge by the new capacity (about 129gr. of H2O), giving me 63% more case capacity and hopefully 50%+ more energy. Unless there are any better ideas put forth, my thought is to stuff the case with about 75gr. of RL-7 and work up from there...does this sound about right?
Merry Christmas and thank you all in advance;
Mav.
...but I have yet to find any reloading information to give me a starting point (powder type, minimum charge, an idea of what max. charge should be, as well as any other relevant information). The best I can come up with so far is to take the capacity of the .45-70 that I am loading now (about 79gr. of H2O) and multiply the starting charge by the new capacity (about 129gr. of H2O), giving me 63% more case capacity and hopefully 50%+ more energy. Unless there are any better ideas put forth, my thought is to stuff the case with about 75gr. of RL-7 and work up from there...does this sound about right?
Merry Christmas and thank you all in advance;
Mav.