Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 45-70 loads

box says WLN.

Think 5744, about 28 grains.

No need to beat the sheit out of yourself with 50grains of powder, cuzz you ain't gonna accomplish anything.

http://home.earthlink.net/~sharpsshtr/CritterPhotos/SandyHook/SandyHook.html

Interesting article. It might have been discussed here before.

I'd start with Reloader 7 as its worked well for me with rounds that have a similar expansion ratio.

Thanks guys, as I also have a Guide Gun. If there is another Campfire Hog Hunt in the West, I \will bring it.

Pigs don't like a charge of H-322.
I have played with Trail Boss and it does a good job as well without hammering the shooter.

Agree with just about all of the above.

3031, H322, or 4198 are all good powders. Unless you need to kill an escaped rhino 1500-1700 fps should be a fine load and not abusive.

If loading for a tubular magazine, you need a tight bullet fit, and a firm crimp, to keep bullets from setting back in recoil, in the magazine.

What diameter are the Beartooths? they usually offer them in several different sizes.

I'll look to see if I have anything with a shorter nose, suitable for a Guide Gun. My Ruger typically gets pointy bullets

I've used 4895, 3031 and 4198 and never had bad results. I've even used Unique and it was fine, if at lower velocities. I was going to go down to the basement and look at my records, but I've not shot that bullet before. I always loaded 405's that I cast myself. I know my old Lyman manual has three levels...Trapdoor, '86 and Ruger #1. I always used the mid-level loads.

I do use 350 grainers in my 45-75...but that's a different animal.

500 grains, paper patch it and a healthy dose of RX7.

Thump

I do have a box of the Hornady FTX 325gr, which have a soft pointed tip and are suitable for a Marlin. PM me if you want them. I have some Cast Performance 405gr but they are also WLNGC and may not work in your Marlin.

On the powder, I've found H322 best all around in the 45 70. I use it for 325's and 400's, don't see any reason it wouldn't work as well with 350's. Now why I don't see it listed for 350's I don't know, it is listed for 325's and 400's.

H322 and Trailboss are my two 45-70 powders.

Good point.

The crimp groove on the Piledriver series of bullets is placed with the Marlin 95 in mind. I've used these bullets pretty extensively in my Guide gun. They are in (advertised as) 350, 425, and 525 grain weights, and firmly crimped, they feed well in my rifle, typically OAL being just under 2.55". My chamber can accommodate an OAL of 2.570", but that length won't feed well.

I've had the best luck with IMR4198 and H322 with the lighter bullets, H322 having very good accuracy and consistency.

I tried light loads with H4198, but it was very inconsistent, IMR4198 seemed to work better.

H322, IMR4198, IMR4895, AA2495, and IMR3031 work good with the heavier ones, and though the slower powders display some tendency to burn dirty, accuracy does not seem to be affected. Some of the loads I tried were real thumpers.

I used .460" diameter bullets.

The list of suitable powders is pretty extensive in that case, and loads can run from fairly fun to shoot to downright painful.

Dan , can you get OAL short enough for the Marlin with those 500's?
i just now cast some Lyman 457125's and am going to use them in the Mauser. they are LONG.

Those Flex Tip Hornadys don't load right except in a 450 Marlin case which is 1/10 inch shorter than 45 70 case.I bought some and had to send them back.

Look for a p m Roger.

Indeed. The reference I made was used in a Marlin 1895 CB with MOA precision. The lever gun platform requires a short radius nose form to function properly.



With smokeless I've had better luck with a flat base rather than cup base....and a card wad helps. Don't twist the tail...cut the patch to allow for about 1/8" overlap on the base and fold it over. Smooth sided patch bullets provide a lot of wiggle room for seating depth...

Brooks Moulds is a good place to start looking.

You have to turn the case down to 2.040 and trim a bit off the bottom of the seating die. Not a problem, I did that on my belt sander.

I've personally killed or seen killed three deer with that bullet. Devastating internal damage, two bang flops and a 20 yard run.

First one was a doe at 45 yards, between the shoulder and the neck mushing the chest cavity and stopping in the off side hip. Bang Flop. Second one was a buck at 90 yards up hill quartering away. Entered just ahead of the last rib and came out ahead of the shoulder. That deer kicked about 20 yards and dropped dead. Third one was broadside 1/3rd the way up from the bottom, hit part of the heart, again a bang flop.

Wow! You guys get pretty complicated about the whole thing. Looks like fun and maybe someday I'll join in. But for now....I've used the same load in my Guide Gun (and those of 2 friends) for about 20 years now: 400 grain Speer flat nose over 54 or 55 grains of Varget in Starline cases with CCI 200 primers. It's not what I'd call a pleasant load to shoot, but I don't shoot it that much. It does shoot flat enough that, with a 100 yard zero, the POI is pretty close to the point of the bottom coarse section of my duplex reticle at 200 yards (1-4 Leupold Shotgun-Muzzle Loader scope with coarse duplex reticle) with the scope at 4X. It has killed a lot of deer very dead.

The .45-70 is seldom a mistake, in any case.