Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Spitzer die seater for .45-70

I have recently purchased a Ruger #3 in .45-70 and I want to use the Barnes 458 SOCOM bullets at around 2000 fps in my rifle. Obviously the RN seater stem that is in my RCBS die set is not going to work. I called RCBS and they said to send them 5 bullets and 17.99 and they will make me a stem for it. While that is acceptable, how much time will this take? I'd like to use the rifle this hunting season, hehe.

Has anyone used the set of Hornady dies and does it come with the proper stem for the FTX? I'm assuming if it works for that it would work for most any pointed .458 bullet?

Other ideas?

Custom seater sounds good for 17.99. Another option is to mold one on the RN seater if it is deep enough or can be drilled deeper. Buy a second seater in case this doesn't work out. Wax the bullet, die, die threads and mold a tough epoxy over the bullet nose. Do this upside down so the epoxy won't run out. You can wrap tape around it to hold the epoxy in place. Do a search as some place like 6mm BR had the info on this.

If you have the right tap & die set you can just mold the seater and then re-cut the threads. I did this before the VLD type stems were as available and it is still working after many rounds.

Turn around? Call RCBS they used to be pretty fast but been awhile.

If you have another RCBS die set with a seater intended for spitzers you might try swapping them.

Dunno what you're trying to get out of your gun but there be a number of RN bullets that will do the job. BTW, 400 grains at 2,000 fps is gonna thump you a fair bit in a #3.

Yes. I don't like them at all at 1,750 in a Guide Gun. Accuracy is great, but I'd rather shoot my 30-378 than those 45-70 rounds.

The Hornady die set works great for the Mono-Flex and FTX bullets as well as all cast or jacketed bullets I've tried so far, I'm loading for Marlins.
They also crimp the bullet properly in the shorter Hornady 45-70 brass.

Would love to see your Deer pics from this year with the new rifle!

Thanks for the warning, but know better than that. Yes - it won't just thump you, it will flat out kick your ass! Haha. I had the misfortune as a teenager of being pranked by someone with a #3 in .45-70. I was shooting trapdoor loads and he snuck (he loaded it) a 500g Hornady at about 1800 fps in it. That was literally the most unpleasant thing I've ever shot.

I'm really just trying to experiment a bit with it more than anything else with some of the lighter bullets, most of what I will be shooting will be at the upper end of trapdoor level or around the starting level II loads. Sounds like the sensible option is to send away for a proper seater plug from RCBS or buy a seating die from Hornady if I am too impatient to wait. I have about 70 of the old 405g Remingtons left and some 300g Hornady HP bullets I can use in the meantime.

Thanks for the tips fellas!

Was trying to be polite. Let me rephrase.....knock the snot out of ya.