Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots 45-90 High wall

I'm looking at a Winchester high wall (japan) in 45-90. I'm not a black powder shooter. My question is can you shoot 45/70 ammo out of a 45/90 without causing any chamber damage. I own a couple of 1874 Sharps rifles in 45/70 and just reload smokeless. The gun I'm looking at is in 98% condition and priced around the $900 mark.

Yes, you can and it is unlikely to do any damage.

However, among knowledgable shooters, it is virtually universally considered not a good idea. Not likely to be accurate, and potential fouling problems.

Without knowing exactly which model this rifle is, but thinking in .45-90 it is probably one of the BPCR variations, $900 sounds like a very good price. I know of one that recently went for twice that amount. I'd grab it.

Paul

The .45-90 is/was also available (I think) in the Legacy model with the curved butt. I would suggest you avoid that configuration. The recoil at top loads out of my .45-70 was brutal! IT WENT that-away. jack

Check with the mfr. to make sure the rifling twist is the same as a .45-70. If it is, you're in business. If not, stay away. Shooting .45-70s in the chamber of a .45-90 won't damage it any more than shooting .38 Spl. in a .357 if you clean the chamber regularly.

The reason older shooters don't mix the two .45s is because originally the .45-90 was an "Express" rifle meant to shoot lighter bullets at a higher velocity than other blackpowder .45s. So the twist of the rifling was different from the .45-70 and the heavier bullets of the .45-70 weren't accurate in the .45-90. Original .45-90 ctgs. used 300 gr. bullets; most .45-70 loads were 450-500 grs.

Mesa,
You have it a bit backwards for new rifles. The 90 is an 18-twist. And it was never and express cartridge in the singleshot.

You can shoot 45-70's in a 90 chamber, but with cast bullets the leading in the throat will be horrific after a few rounds due to the .3 of an inch the bullet has to travel before it starts into the throat and the rifling.
Best bet is to just bite the bullet and go with the proper length case and be done with it.

The winchester 45-90 did use a slower twist , something on the order of 1-32, howsomever the Sharps 2.4 inch case used a 1-18 twist.
But in todays world they all have a 18 or 20 twist coming from the factory, unless somebody special orders or rebarrels the rifle.

Yeah, Brent, I don't know much about new .45-90s. All I'm sayin' is that the old guys shied away from using .45-70s in the old .45-90s because they knew there were "Express" barrels out there and had heard of accuracy problems. Unless I'm mistook, the vast majority of .45-90s were Winchester '86s, with some Sharps, Ballards, and Win 1885s and others.

Don't know about the other single shots (Sharps, Ballard, Bullard, Remington, etc.) but the Winchester 1885 single shot .45-90 (not the Miroku/Winchester) ALWAYS used the "Express" 1-in-32 twist unless the buyer special ordered something different (source is the barrel dimension table in Campbell's "Winchester Single Shot" book and the 1894 Winchester dealer's catalog).

Gentlemen: Many thanks for the advise and information. I'm going to pass on this 45/90 and wait untill I find another 45/70.
Pete Yuro "Riverpines"