Which to begin with: .303 or 45/70?

[jagdpanzer347]

Getting ready to start reloading for rifles. I have reloaded some .45acp and .357 magnum in the past, so I'm not a total rookie. This will be my first venture in rifle reloading however.
Which would be the easiest to begin with, the .303 or 45/70? Enfield No4 and a Marlin Guide Gun will be the rifles I'm loading for. Any input would be appreciated.
-jagdpanzer.

 

[superhornet]

Do not load for the .303 British but do for the 45-70. There are three levels of loads for the 45-70 and your Marlin will fall into Level two loading...The level one is for trapdoors and the level three for Rugers and bolt Mausers.
I normally load with Starline brass, F210 Fed primers, IMR3031 and use Remington 300 gr JHP or 405 JSP bullets.
There are many who load and shoot Cast bullets also with very good results. I scoped an NEF SB2 with a 3x9 and can consistantly hit Metalic Rams at 200 yards..it is a fun cartridge to load and shoot. I get the brass and bullets from Midwayusa.....good customer service..

 

[superhornet]

Forgot one thing...I crimp all loads with a Lee Factory Crimp die...this does two things..it stops recoil from moving the bullet and it provides the same bullet pull that pressure has to overcome..makes for accurate loads...IMHO

 

[longrifleman]

The 45/70 would be slightly easier, and would probably save more money due to the cost of components. 303 also has some quirks that you need to be aware of. Most Brit chambers are roomy and will stretch your brass more than most other calibers. This can be handled by neck sizing or "partial full length resizing". That is the trick.

For me, it would come down to the amount of each you will be shooting. Of course, you will eventually end up with both.

 

[SASS#23149]

The 45-70 would be the easier of the two.Being almost a straight-walled case,they dont tend to 'grow' like bottle necked brass does,thus less or no trimmng required.
Ya still HAVE to lube the cases though,or your first shell case you size will be your last.:banghead:
Also there are literally dozens of bullet/powder combos for this cartridge,from mild to OUCH!!!

 

[rbernie]

45/70 will be easier to load if you full length resize the 303 stuff (since 303R will need to be lubed during full length sizing) but you'll probably shoot more 303R and therefore gain the most economy if you reload 303R.

Longrifleman speaks the truth about neck sizing being the prime driver in decent brass life in 303R. Of course, neck sizing eliminates the whole case lube thing and places the 303R on par with the 45/70 for ease of loading...

150gr Sierra ProHunters over 43gr-45gr of RE15 is a right decent 303R load; good accuracy with decent case life. I probably load/shoot 200 rounds of this a month...

 

[jagdpanzer347]

Really appreciate the feedback guys. I shoot a lot of milsurp ammo and am kind of spoiled by paying .08 a round. Obviously even handloaded ammo for .303 and 45/70 costs more than that. But having a rifle and not shooting it is like having a car and not driving it IMO.
Anyways,my goals are to load reliable .303,hard-hitting stage 2 45/70 and hopefully near match grade ammo for my M1. I realize loading for the M1 could be consideradly more complex than the others, so I put it last.
Thanks again,
-jagdpanzer.

 

[P95Carry]

I'll add the vote for 45-70 too.

You have parallel cases, and less stretch problems as can occur with bottlenecks. The round is also a much lower pressure round, even in it's higher loadings - and is in a sense a shade more ''foregiving''. I shoot only cast bullets and they do fine - 405 Lasercast mostly.

Superhornet has mentioned some useful info.

I load for .303 but find it quite demanding. Progress to bottlenecks later.

 

[Berek]

Gotta vote .45-70... I found Accurate 5744 to work great. Got an old Sharps (well, it's my dad's, but...) and he has serious shoulder problems. We found that 5744 will give roughly the same velocity with less of a recoil...

 

[michakav]

I have to say .303. I imagine you shoot the Enfield more, and good .303 surplus is drying up very quickly. If it were me, I would get set up for that first.

 

[pbhome71]

I go with .303 also. The "cheap" surplus ammo is very hard to find.

In fact, I started handload when I got my first Enfield and can't find "cheap" ammo for it.

-Pat

 

[redneck2]

Depending on your reloading set-up, it may not be that big of a deal to set up for both. One set of dies costs about the same as one box of .45-70's.

For my Marlin, I use .405 Speers over 55 grains of Varget, WW cases and WLR primers. Lots of whack but not bad to shoot.

I use a Dillon 550. Load one round at a time, through all stages. Actually goes pretty fast. I was kind of hesitant to load rifle....you hear about all the checks, case prep, etc. IMO, it's actually as easy or easier than pistol.