I recently purchased a C Sharps 1874 Sharps Hartford in 45/70. What is the general conscience of an all around bullet for general short to mid range target work. I plan to shoot black powder and cast bullets. Right now I have 535 grain but I think they are too heavy for the ranges that I plan to shoot at the present time.
Rider

If you're going to cast your own, get a Lyman 457121PH mould and use nothing harder than a 20:1 alloy. Drops a 475gr bullet that is great for targets and hunting out as far as you're comfortable shooting.

Lee makes a mould for the hollow-base 405gr Calvary Carbine bullet, it's the 90268.

Some folks like the 330gr Gould's Bullet. It's a hollow point design. My Shiloh doesn't care for bullets that light so I stick with the 457121PH or heavier.

Ed

It is really hard to beat the Saeco 645 bullet cast from 20-1 for an all-round geaser in the 45-70. It should weigh somewhere close to 480 grains.
The big thing to keep in mind with an 18 twist rifle is that twist doesn't always play well with the 1.1 inch bullets.

Thanks for the information. I will be purchasing the molds in the near future.

Rider,
That bullet also generates a lot more recoil.

500 grain 1881 Saeco grease groove bullet, smaller nose to let you shoot/hunt dirty, less powder compression due to being a three lube groove bullet, still carries plenty of lube to keep fouling under control, accurate as hell and has done nothing but penetrate dead straight on several head of game from friends of mine and me to, in my 45 3-1/4 over 100 grains of Ole Eyensford 2F for 1488 fps it shot length ways though a 55 gal drum filled with water, it sucked the sides of the steel drum closed on exit, no animal could survive that, with 70gr Old Eyensford under it velocity will be 1300 fps, a very formidable load for the 45-70.

In the 45-70 cast with 20 or 30 to 1 alloy you'll shoot through any game animal in this country of Alaska, round nose bullets simply work.

Rider,

I always favored the Ideal now Lyman 457-121 PH. It was originally developed by Harry Pope and I shot it first in my 86 Winchester and on through the years. It's a little undersized for the .450-.458 bore groove but with 1/20 alloy it obturate well and for midrange accuracy it's hard to beat. It's a great hunting bullet with black powder loads that will let you shoot with out fouling control that a bore rider won't let you do.

I sent a print to Tom at accurate moulds to make a twin to the 121 that is proper for the .450/.458 bore groove and I have shot this bullet using my .45-70 and the .45-90 out to 1026 yards in Montana with some good breezes and hit the iron 8 out of 10 shots.

Here is the page at Accurate so you can see it.
http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=46-467L

Kurt,

Did you have Tom cut yours at .458'? I'm thinking about an iron single-cavity for both my Shiloh 1874 45-70 and my custom .458 Win.

Thanks,

Ed

I tried a 385 RN mould but kept going back to the Lee 405 HB in my Trapdoors. I just liked the flat nose of the Lee better for hunting. Not much there so far as velocity to start with so I figure the flat nose will impart a little more energy to a deer. I think I still have the Rapine 385 and two of the Lees.

Ed,

The print I sent Tom was .458 and the mould came as the print at .458.
I don't know what happened with his print at .46

Here is a 5 shot target when I got the mould shot at 135 yards in my yard with a scoped .45-90.

Mr. Strayer,

That Lyman 457121-PH also has a flat nose, and, while not quite as large a flat nose as the 405 Gov bullet, it kills very, very well.

As a big believer in large meplats for striking effects, size does matter!

Ed

Nice work!

I believe I'll have Tom carve one out for me, too.

Thanks,

Ed

If one wants to seriously reach out, then a slug in the 500+ grain league.

Still say the saeco 645 mould is about as good as it gets for a general use bullet in the 45-70. The bugger shoots well to 1000, and will shoot nice tight groups all the way back to 200 yards. 480 grs cast from 20-1. Probably wouldn't make a bad hunting bullet if one is into shooting grease groove bullets.

Don, some of us never got into smoking dope as kids because we couldn't handle rolling papers. So...it's greasers for us!

Ed

Never messed with that [bleep] either
But did a little with bull durham
But shooting patched is the best way to go
But if a person lacks two oposible thumbs then the 645 is the way to go in a 45-70 😀

LOL, Ranch13, does the nose of that 645 Saeco look like a 535gr Postell or 540gr Creedmoor? i've never saw one, Bill said the old 1881 Saeco round nose has flew well to 1000 yards for folks too, and we all know how it and the big Lyman 520gr round nose perform on heavy game.

It looks more like an original 45 colt bullet
One time after Bill and I had a visit about stuff shortly after he got that 20 twist gun he dug around and came up with a 645 mould and when he called back he was excited

Nice, i'm going to guess mid length roundish nose with small meplat? if so one could cast it soft and knock the crap out of deer sized game animals, Thanks for the info.

Yeh I think cast out of 20-1 it would be a layer out coldbullet and it shoots quite well to 1000

Ten-4, Thanks again, if i ever have 'Smith screw my 45-70 barrel back on my #3 sporter 45-70 i may look for a mold just to cast some up and see how they shoot.

Well if I remember , when I start casting again this fall/winter, I'll get a bunch cast up and send you some.

LOL, we had a hemp rope factory 6 miles from here and hemp is still growing in the fence lines like bull thistles laugh but as kids we never smoked it but dried out corn silk stuffed in a corncob with a elderberry stem made a good corn cob pipe for the silk LOL.

Thanks Ranch, if i dont have the barrel on my 45-70 i can always shoot them in the red headed step-child 45 3-1/4 inch, that non-factory classless sob will eat anything ; ]

I haven't tried that bullet in either the 2.4 or the 2 7/8 but it should work well. for a greaser

I bet it will, my 45 3-1/4 is a really good shooting rifle, just a ladder barrel sight hunting rifle, i only shoot the 1881 Saeco in it, i absolutely refuse to paper patch for that rifle, talk about a massive attempt at overcompensation ; ]

I'm kinda contrary towards little bullets in big bores. I use BP also.

Lyman 457125 casts at 530 gr with 30:1 alloy


Someday I'll install a scope maybe and use a full bag rest just to see what it will do. Until then I'll just watch the buffalo soil their knickers.

Dang good stuff Dan, that big Lyman is a stoner on all critters, great and small, fine shooting Sir.

Fond of those bullets I am. Makes me think of an old line attributed to Hitler’s boys. “Torpedos Los!”

You bet Dan, i've heard from Bagwelll about those bullets he used on countless animals, i was also privileged to be on a buffalo [bison] hunt where two friends of Bill's and i used that big Lyman over black powder in 45-70 and 45-90 Sharps rifles, one guy shot his buffalo in the chest at 60 yards, the bull turned to walk away and fell, the butcher found that bullet in his pelvis bones, i guess near 7-8 feet of penetration.

The other guy shot his through both shoulders, was reloading his rifle when his bull fell for keeps, no bullet recoveries on that one, with those guys, and everything Bill ever said is that big Lyman does three things best of all, quick killer, penetrates dead straight, and you can shoot it to a thousand yards, sounds like a damn tall order to beat imho.

Ed, I wanted a bullet to match the # 121 profile that would drop a larger diameter and carry plenty of lube so had Tom fix me up with this 46-500Y to drop .459 since both my PH molds drop puny diameters ..

At 30;1 this one drops 505 grs and groups way better than I can shoot !

Good looking casting job Woody, favors Bill's old favorite the 480gr Lyman.

Thanks Jerry that was the intent since his old favorite shot so well however as I said my molds drop so puny you could almost PP them if a few thou smaller.

LOL, i'm past ready for some frosty fall hunting my Friend!

Woody,

That's a good looking bullet! I bet my .458 WM would like that one!

My Lyman 121 mould drops 20:1 alloy at .456". When I was complaining to Bill about the undersized bullets, he just grinned and told me to go shoot them over 65.5gr of KIK 2f and see what happens.

Well, what happened was, I came back to Bills one day with 115 of those loaded up and we proceeded to shoot all of them on his home range.

My best group of that day was four shots at his 300 meter pig that was 1.75" wide and 3" tall. I was trying to hit that little 4" square plate he had sitting next to the pig, but the sun was shining on the side of the front blade and I was holding too far to the right.

I just opened the safe up and fondled my Sharps. I really need to get it back out and shoot it.

A good friend of mine once told me that a good job will ruin a man's life. I think he might be right. I just don't have time to do everything I want to do!

Ed

This is a great Thread!!!

Yes Sir it is HS58, after talking with Kirk out at Shiloh Rifles, i have cast up some 40 cal paper patch bullets from 40 to 1 alloy, done a double soft this morning with two 5lb bags of pure lead with one 20 to 1 puck from a muffin tin Wife gave me to pour and store my lead in, these are really soft paper patch bullets for my 44-77 Sharps Bottleneck, they weigh 480 grains, think they'll do fine for deer and pigs this season.

I like that, Jerry!
I bet before your Wife gave you those Tins, she filled em with Muffins, for you! Good Woman!
You've been blessed my friend!

Enjoy!

You're exactly right HS58, imagine if you will giant blueberry muffins made with wheat/coconut/graham flour [she's going for health] with so many blueberries inside when she dumps the tin out they rupture, crack open, and oooz that blueberry syrup? goodness all over the place, she'll spatula you up a couple in a small bowl and hand you a cup of coffee, and no Sir, i dont rate that either ; ]

You guys are having entirely too much fun!

LOL, well come on up outta that Lead Mine, give em your keys, retire, and get in on the fun Sir.

Ha-how are you going to keep feeding them howitzers if someone doesn't keep getting some lead up top? I can get a few lead bullets from a friend to feed my rolling block but I'm a minor leaguer compared to you guys! Seriously, I am sitting on veins of the stuff if I could get down about 75 feet to get it!

Leadminer, for the love of God, don't stop!

We need lead in a big, big way.

Yikes! Better put on another shift!

LOL, dang LEADMINER, if you insist, we'll certainly shoot 'em.

Good looking bullets DD.