Powder for .45/70?

Missionary

Missionary

Well-Known Member
Unless you live in a city so badly overpopulated that it takes high rise buildings to house them all in any type of disorder.
 
R

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
Ben said:
Ever heard of Retinal Detachment ?
Click to expand...
That's no joke. It wasn't from recoil, but my dad suffered a detached retina and it wrecked his shooting career, he'd been a state level Bullseye pistol champion. He was also a college professor and the months of time with his not being able to read or even hold his head up for long while the surgery healed up was just about intolerable to him. He did regain the ability to shoot some, but it never was the same and he never really did get decent vison in his right eye.

I loaded up some full power loads in the '06 because the early deer segment was on and I hadn't gotten something else ready to go. Accurate and effective, but wow is it loud and kicks hard. Maybe I've turned into a wuss, but the idea of beating myself up when deer aren't very hard to kill just seems stupid now.
 
TXTad

TXTad

Active Member
richhodg66 said:
That's no joke. It wasn't from recoil, but my dad suffered a detached retina and it wrecked his shooting career, he'd been a state level Bullseye pistol champion. He was also a college professor and the months of time with his not being able to read or even hold his head up for long while the surgery healed up was just about intolerable to him. He did regain the ability to shoot some, but it never was the same and he never really did get decent vison in his right eye.

I loaded up some full power loads in the '06 because the early deer segment was on and I hadn't gotten something else ready to go. Accurate and effective, but wow is it loud and kicks hard. Maybe I've turned into a wuss, but the idea of beating myself up when deer aren't very hard to kill just seems stupid now.
Click to expand...
I have wondered the same thing. For a while, I think one of the most popular calibers people were buying around here was the 7mm Remington Magnum. I once went hunting with a girlfriend's dad who dropped me off at a blind and said that he wasn't trying very hard to get anything himself, so if he heard me fire, he'd just drive over from his immediately. I see a nice little doe, shoot it with my 7mm-08, and wait. And wait. When he finally arrived, he was surprised to see that I'd shot a deer. He said he heard the shot, but he thought it was on another property. :oops: And that was with a Varget load that was under book then, but is now over top published loads.
 
Last edited:
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
chuckle.
when i type out what my 0-6 is running at.
a 150 at 2700
or the ex's a 150 at 2650.
they are all going well my 308 does 100 over that,, i'm like i bet it is... at 60-K.
besides i know exactly what my 20 cent bullet is gonna do when it gets there.
 
L

LEC Guy

Active Member
4198 is my smokeless go to powder for 45-70. For the original 405, 32 grains of 4198. For the heavier 500, I use 30 grains of 4198. I just use a scoop and load on the vintage I deal Tools. My Rifles are the reproductions made by H&R in 1973 for the 100th anniversary. They are not original vintage rifles.

Bruce
 
B

beagle

Active Member
3031 has always been my serious "go to powder" for the .45/70. However, it's a bit costly and other powders work better for plinking/practice loads. With the shortage/inflation on powder these days, I resorted to a jug of milsurp 4759 a couple weeks ago that I had stashed back and loaded some 300 grain RCBS HPs over 25.0 grains withe a Federal 215 to light it off. Shot 'em day before yesterday and it makes a nice, light recoiling load in my M95 Marlin./beagle
 
Axman

Axman

Active Member
CZ93X62 said:
I used to LOVE running my Ruger #1 in 45-70 to ridiculous velocities. This was my way even into early retirement.

The tip-over point came not so long ago when I loaded 100 cases with sufficient fuel to enable 350 grain Hornadys to go 2100-2150 FPS. There was a time in my life when I found such pastimes entertaining, and those lasted into my mid- to late-50s.

Good sense finally dawned upon me when the sensation of my right shoulder blade colliding with its left-side counterpart hit home. 15-20 of those at the end of a range session was quite enough, and it took almost a year's time to ration that recoil out over several range sessions to unload them through the muzzle. Having been raised in the Roman Catholic faith, I was cognizant of penance--so I knew it when I saw/felt it.

Ahem.

For some time I had been messing about with the 45/70 and WC-860 milsurp powders. Duplexed atop 6.0 grains if IMR-4198, 48.0 grains of this 50 BMG ball powder gives blackpowder ballistics to the Lee 405 grain bullet with about 1/16" of compression. 5-shot groups would cluster into 1.25"-1.5" at 100 yards pretty reliably.

Assembled together, all of the above constitutes what we called a CLUE at my old job site. 1250-1300 FPS even in that featherweight No. 1 still gave all-day recoil.....about like a 12 gauge trap load. Accuracy is sufficient for the critters usually sought using 45/70 rifles. In my present Marlin 1895, they are docile. I still have about 12# of that old $3.50/lb. milsurp stuff, so I'm set for a while. It works scaled down in the 38/55, too.

I have yet to scale this 6/1 powder ratio of WC-860/IMR-4198 to the 44/40, 32/20, or 25/20 calibers yet. I have tried the late Ross Seyfried's black powder-equivalent formula (BP grains x 0.4 of IMR-4198), and it worked pretty well. We shall see.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify, I talked to Ross yesterday, Alive and well as of 10:00 AM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.