45-70 and cast bullets?

[JD338]

Great loads fellas.

JD, I'd love to see you do the 1.8" load work. I'm betting there are a few guys that would like to see your results. Be nice to get ahold of the LVR cases. Might make trimming just that much easier. I believe you'll have to stick with 400's in order to keep enough bullet in the case. Be cool to see you work it out.

Good point with the LVR cases. Let me know if you run across some. I agree that I will have to go with a 400-405 gr bullet. It would be nice if I could find a 350 gr HC bullet that would feed as the higher velocity would be nice.
Guess we could call it the 45-70 Shorty.

JD338

 

[orchemo]

I have been shooting the Oregon Trail 405's for a while with RL-7.

Nice shooting load. Just never find myself carrying the Guide Gun hunting.

I also have some Oregon Trail Trueshot 430 gr bullets loaded wild and crazy for when I went to Alaska.

Have in the past loaded 350 gr Hornady bullets with good results also.

RL-7 has been my 45-70 go to powder

 

[Dwh7271]

Thanks!
I like the looks of Oregon Trail bullets, if that counts for anything. :grin:
Scotty will probably want some run through jugs once I get a load worked up. :lol: problem will be I have a bunch of jugs but bet it would take a heck of a line of em to catch one.

 

[1Shot]

bet it would take a heck of a line of em to catch one.

Yep a looooooog line. I once shot a deer with the Lyman 405 flat nose bullet that came out 418 grs loaded with 70 grs FFG which does around 1400 fps. This was the first time I ever used my Sharps 45-70 to hunt with. Two doe deer came across the logging road I was hunting on at 111 yards away and stood side by side. I thought great I am going to shoot two with one shot. When I tried to find them through the target peep on the vernier rear sight I could not make out where I was aiming because of the narrow field of view. Then one of the deer turned to face me. I could make out the white on it's chest so that is where I aimed. I lightly squeezed the set trigger and BOOM and was rewarded with what sounded like a water million hitting the ground after being dropped off a ten story building. When the smoke cleared one deer was laying on the ground and the other was standing there looking at it. As I tried to reload to shoot the second deer that one decided something was up and took off. When I got to the dead deer it's head was laying in a pool of blood and I could see a bullet size hole tight behind the left shoulder and it's left back leg was shot completely off just above the knee. Upon further investigation I found that the deer had put it's head down between the time I fired and the bullet got to it. The bullet struck the deer in the forehead between the eyes. The bullet traveled down it's spine in the neck making saw dust then deflected off and came out behind the shoulder traveled down shooting off the leg. The bullet then hit the hard packed logging road and traveled along just under the ground looking like a mole trail for about 10 yards then came out of the ground and went through the base of a 4 to 5 inch thick pine tree about 10 yards away and from there I could not find any more evidence of where it went. Yep have a looooooooooooog line of jugs.

 

[SJB358]

You just can't beat the 45-70. Might be the only thing the GOVERMENT has come up with in the last 100 years worth anything.

 

[HeathSexton]

I saw a video a couple years ago where a guy set up 17 one gallon jugs of water and fired a Laser Cast 350gr @ 1400fps into them from his 45/70........he needed more jugs.

 

[Dwh7271]

That's what I was afraid of. :grin:

 

[Guy Miner]

I tried to stop a 425 grain hard cast bullet, the "Piledriver Jr" from Beartooth Bullets...

12 jugs and it exited into the berm, never to be recovered... Yes, those hard cast, flat meplat lead bullets PENETRATE!