Ok! Didn't wanna hijack Gordon thread, but several asked for pics. Here it is!

Nice Sharps.
You let your son touch it yet

Yeah! Being he lives about 40 miles from me, there wasn't much I could do about it!!!

Congrats to your son! I bet it shoots well.

Thanks Pat! We're gonna find out tomorrow!

Love the straight grain through the wrist, Shilo gets that RIGHT !

GTC

I think he's still floating around Lee county right now!

You guys shoot this one yet?

Yes! It's a shooter! He's loading some stuff for it of an evening. Went to the range yesterday and it was impressive. I suppose for that chunk of change it ought to draw you a beer too! LOL!

I think he's pretty much settled on galena pills of the heavy weight and black rifle powder only!

I had some of them Ultramax cowboy loads and he shot them too! Gave him some more brass to stuff!!! He's having fun, to say the least!

Well great. Glad it's a shooter. Took me a while just to get things I needed. Still need a case trimmer that will fit the 45-70 brass. Mine is BP only also, just the way I want it.
Did take a while to gather. You have connections or had most on hand it seems. My Cowboy 45/70's I'll save for my Marlin.

Wonderful for you and the oldest son.

Headed up to the bud's ranch tomorrow so son can try out some of his recently stuffed BP loads. My old bud is a shooter of such rifles so they can exchange much Intel. (He has been known To lurk this sight too!).

I think I'm along for either comic relief, adult supervision( yeah right) or morbid curiosity. Dunno yet.

Very nice.

Thanks EE! Report may follow.

And Jim! He's making noises about paper patched pills! So we'll see!

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Keep that case trimmer away from your 45-70 brass. Unless, of course, you want to screw it up.

Thank you Bill. I don't have one for that big of brass.

I will not purchase one.

Nice project KW, keep your distance, you'll get bit too.

A moment from this evening. No shooting today but lots of talking And drinking.

Today's talk was about old time and old (new) rifles! Lots of memories!

A few of the conversation pieces.

Lots of firepower there!

Damn, if I could have only been a fly on the wall.

edit to add: only if the house was free of flyswatters.

Gunner! I learned a lot on that and surrounding ranches. Pulled several pretty stupid stunts there in the younger days. All the old folks are gone now. And the days of the occasional car on the county road are long past.

Matter of fact it's still open range thru the place and the cows do get out there on the road. One morning, as my old bud jokingly tells, a city slicker drove up to his house to alert him the cattle were out on the road. His simple reply was "they belong here, you don't!!!!!"

I killed my first deer on that place and his mom taught me how to dress and skin it out.

Same windmill and tank there behind me in about 1973.

KW, I feel the same way when I get back by the old family homestead, a lot looks different now but strangely remains the same as it ever was.

It's nice to have backyard ballistic critters on your place. Saturday night it was a big sow. And last night he nailed a big black boar at dusk with some BP loads he worked up. Too dark to get a pic of that boar last night.

Load, distance, bullet performance? Details, please.

485 grain flat nose 20-1 bullet
60 grains FFG
60-75 yds.
Light; dusk
Both pigs ran before dying. Boar walking straight on at 60 yds. Bullet hit between shoulder and neck and went completely thru body front to back, and out the stern. Pig still ran anyway.

That load is a killer, and easy on the shoulder. It is going to be hard to improve on it. One of my favorite loads for a 45-70 is a 480 grain flat nosed bullet over 66 grains of 3f. I used it for everything in Africa in 2010. The 480 grain flat nosed bullet is one of the best.

Thanks for the update.

3F?

In the 45-70, yes. It gives 1242 fps over the Oehler. Just about perfect.

OK, thanks. I always thought u used 2F or 1F.

Thanks Sharpsguy! He texted me this morning and said he's got it singing pretty withthat 2f load. So I suggested for him to stick with it!

In the old days I shot nothing but 3FG. But I pretty much shot nothing but flintlocks. Primed with it too.

I use 73.5 3F for the .44-77 with a 485 gr and the .44-90 bn. A 105 gr of 3F in the .44-90 bn is a tack driver and puts a Bison on his knees and belly bigtime with a 485 gr RN.