45-70 Bullet Diam. .458 or .459

[David I.]

I'm sure this has been asked before so please excuse the redundancy but: Which bullet diameter should I be using in my new H&R B.C. 45-70? I'm not entirely new to reloading just new to the 45-70. I thought most modern 45-70's use the .458, please correct me if I'm wrong. I do see some listings for the .459 for the 45-70; do I need to "slug" my barrel to be sure before I purchase any bullets? I'd hate to make an expensive mistake and end up with the wrong thing. Please advise, my H&R is new and was made in 2007. Also, I noticed some of the bullets being offered out there have more than one crimp groove and some only have one. Should I be concerned with this for my H&R?

[cwlongshot]

Jacketed bullets will be .458dia.

Lead slugs will be a bit bigger say .459 or .460 depending on your barrels preferance.

What are you wanting to load in your 45/70?

CW

[Hodr]

I finally got my H&R 45-70 and was happy with accuracy of 300 grain jacketed.  I have shortened (18") it for the use I have in mind and would like to find some 405 (?) grain lead gas check for all around use, coyote to elk under 200 yds in brush.  I have started looking at Mt Baldy bullets but would appreciate any help towards controlling recoil with either bullets or reload recipe for my new off road thumper.  As I am getting older I plan to put a red dot on and not a scope.

Thanks for any help

blindhari

[David I.]

Thanks cwlongshot for the reply. I'm planning on shooting hard cast 300gr and/or 405gr most of the time, I believe they will be less expensive than jacketed....money is a big factor. I might get a small quantity of 300gr jacketed for hunting.

[cwlongshot]

Thanks cwlongshot for the reply. I'm planning on shooting hard cast 300gr and/or 405gr most of the time, I believe they will be less expensive than jacketed....money is a big factor. I might get a small quantity of 300gr jacketed for hunting.

Try some .460's!

I cast my own and have had good luck this diameter. I use two molds a 500gr spitzer and a 410gr. I haven't cast these in years as I don't shoot many cast bullets in 45/70 or my 45/70's very much for that matter.

CW

[Dill45]

Like said before usually lead will be a bit bigger than jacketed because of the fact that lead is softer and will form to the barrel better.

In the interest of finding the best accuracy out of your riffle, yeah slugging the barrel would work great.  It would give you the exact dimensions of your barrel with out all the guess work.

For me on the other hand, I just shot the different sizes and figured out what worked the best.  My Marlin likes the .459 lead bullets.  A lot.  It will shoot jacketed rounds fine (.458), but finding good loads isn't nearly as easy as it is for .459 sized lead bullets.

Every barrel is different, just have to find out what it likes.

[Badnews Bob]

LBTs LWNFP GCs from Cast performance in 420gr .459dia shoot great out of my handie

[David I.]

Thanks to all again. I would love to have the luxury of trying different sizes, I realize every gun is a little different. The trouble is I can't afford $ to purchase different sizes at one time. I will have to buy a smaller quantity of one size ( probably .459 hard cast) and try them until almost gone. As you know it's much more cost effective to buy larger quantities....but I can't do that yet. My funds are very limited, especially right now; I'm hoping the .459 hard cast's will work well. I will stick with .458 for jacketed hunting loads.