LaserCast 405gr. .459 bullets

[Bigbore4570]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to the forum, wanted to say hello and ask a question. I was using Remington 405gr. JSP bullets over 37 grains of IMR3031 in my Quigley Sharps with great success until they dried up. After having them on back order over a year, Larry and company cancelled the BO. Soooo, I got a bunch of LaserCast .459-405 grain lead bullets and have tried numerous powders in different charges with varied A.O.L.'s and have had less than satisfying results. The Sharps used to put 5 Remington 405 grain JSP all touching at 100 yards and shot 5-6" groups at 500 yards. Now, accuracy and standard deviations are dismal. Does anyone have any experience with the LaserCast or any ideas.
Thanks,
Bigbore4570

 

[Bullseye]

Welcome to THR! What caliber is the cartridge? .40-65 Straight?

 

[Bigbore4570]

Hi Sigsmoker,
Sorry about that, I should know better, it's a .45-70.
Thanks

 

[Bullseye]

Best I can say is that I load a lead .405 gr FP in my 45-70 and used 13 gr Trail Boss for a Springfield Trapdoor and 50 Gr Varget with a JFP .405 gr bullet for my 1895 Guide Gun. For Lead you would use less powder than 50 gr. Varget I would imagine.
I would think that 11-12 gr Unique would be a good starting load. I have used 12 gr Unique with 325 gr LRNHP with good success.

 

[Bigbore4570]

Thanks for your welcome and response. I have not tried Trail Boss yet and have a bunch of CCI200 on hand, been using GM210M fed's that have worked well in the past with the Rem's., as well as the other rifle calibers I reload. It's nice to have other loads that have worked for someone. More experimenting will hopefully bring about good results. That's the great thing about reloading.

 

[ericuda]

Jealous, i am shooting the 1895gg. This round is still making me tired. I shoot 405 and 300 from mbc with 3031, unique, trailboss, 4198 and aa5744. I have not scoped yet to try for accuracy, just having fun shooting rr ties and steel rr plates. Might head over to the marlin forum, they may have good advise. Looking back, 31 of aa5744 with mbc 405 worked well for me.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I shoot a lot if 405gr cast bullets from the Missouri Bullets Company in a Trapdoor. I use to use mostly 4198 until I tried AA5744. Now I use nothing else because it's so accurate for me.

I highly recommend trying AA5744. There are plenty of good powders that will work from Unique to 2400 to H4895 but I like AA5744 best.

 

[Slamfire]

I highly recommend trying AA5744.

Me too. Of the powders I tried in the 45-70, this was the best.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Looking back, 31 of aa5744 with mbc 405 worked well for me.

I highly recommend trying AA5744. There are plenty of good powders that will work from Unique to 2400 to H4895 but I like AA5744 best.

Me too. Of the powders I tried in the 45-70, this was the best.

It looks like great minds think alike!!

 

[Walkalong]

I don't have a .45-70, but AA 5744 works great for reduced loads (.45-70ish levels) in .458 Win Mag.

 

[Bigbore4570]

The powders I have tried already are Varget, H4895, IMR3031 and H4198 with GM210M primers and various COL's from 2.550 to 2.670 (the Sharps has a long throat). I haven't tried AA5744 or Trailboss yet but will pick some up and try more combinations, also with CCI200 primers. The rifle is very accurate with jacketed bullets (when one can find them), been playing with these cast bullets for a while and will keep experimenting until I find a load it likes. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

[LoonWulf]

I dont have a 45-70, or the exact cast bullets youve been loading. That said, i worked with my .458 socom and MBC 405grn bullets quite a bit. Im not sure the specs on the lasercasts, but with the MBCs im having to limit my velocity to 1400fps or less to get decent accuracy, and 1200 to get good accuracy (which for my gun is about 1-2" at 100yds). loading them with fast powder seems to help, but my case is much smaller than yours.

 

[Walkalong]

I recently bought 100 of these ACME coated 405 Gr bullets to try in .458 Win Mag. I'll try them with AA 5744 first before running them full speed with H322.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Bigbore4570,
I have an original Trapdoor rifle and a Marlin Levergun both in 45-70. While I now load nothing other than AA5744 with 405gr and 300gr Cast bullets for the Trapdoor I do load a 350gr Hornady Interlock over IMR3031 for the Levergun. I like the Hornady bullet for tough game but I do shoot the 300gr Cast Bullet load for thin skinned game like deer. (When not hunting with the 30-30 leverguns)

I agree with you, IMR3031 is a good choice for jacketed bullets but you should try AA5744 with the cast bullets next. Even though Trail Boss works it might not deliver acceptable velocities for hunting and accuracy might be a challenge. While Hodgdon claims Trail Boss is the substitute for the now discontinued IMR SR4759, in my opinion it's not even close.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I recently bought 100 of these ACME coated 405 Gr bullets to try in .458 Win Mag. I'll try them with AA 5744 first before running them full speed with H322.

I'm betting those coated bullets will do just fine at full pressure/velocity. As I use coated bullets more I'm realizing how very tough the coating actually is. Please post your results when you try them...

 

[the Black Spot]

You might also think about using blackpowder. You might just get back to that all shots touching group.
And its not that hard to clean blackpowder fouling.