45-120 question

[Jason F]

Can you still shoot 45-70 after reaming to 45-120

[petemi]

No.  Once you shoot the .45-120 you'll be permanently disabled and won't be able to shoot your Daisy Red Ryder    Seriously, I don't think you can, but one of those perverts will be along to confirm that.  It's still a tapered case and might not work.

Pete

[quickdtoo]

I haven't done it, but it was one of the first questions I asked when I had mine done, yes you can, just be sure to clean the chamber good before shooting 45-120 in it again.

Tim

[petemi]

Tim, the 120 being longer, wouldn't the 70's case mouth expand more than it should?

Pete

[quickdtoo]

I would think so, but I've never tried it, I have seven 45-70s, so no need to.  Someday when the planets align I might even get the new Trapper to the range. 

Tim

[Ranch13]

Can you still shoot 45-70 after reaming to 45-120

Yes you can, but to do so is folly.
The 45-70 case is fully 1 inch shorter than the 120, At the point where the 45-70 bullet will start its run from in the 120 chamber it will have to expand to something over .480 to fill the chamber, then it gets slammed back down to 458. Not good for accuracy, not reall good for maintaining reasonable chamber pressures, and will really make a mess out of your barrel with cast bullets.
 The long 45 caliber cases came about due to magnumitice in the 1800's when smokeless still hadn't got it's stuff together. The only way to significantly increase velocity was to add more powder the only way to get more powder was either a lighter bullet or a longer case, and sometimes both. Fast forward to today, there are safe pressure tested smokeless loads that let the 45-70 exceed anything ever possible with the 120 in black, and a close examination of pressure tested 120 smokeless loads makes it pretty clear pretty fast that the reaming job and 2$ apiece cartridge cases really don't gain you much except for wow factor.
 

[Jason F]

I have two 32"45-70 i probably never will shoot 45-70 out of it but i was just wondering

[gcrank1]

Bikerbeans is the man with the answer, I think..........but he has been delving into the dark side with the 50-70 project of late (somehow I think there might be a 50-90 or bigger in his plan  .

[Jason F]

Mine is gonna stay a 50-70, after i shot BB 45-120 i just had to have one

[bikerbeans]

Jason,
 
I have shot 45-70 in a 45-120 in answer to a question a year or so back.  I only tried it with cast bullets.  Went bang no problem but the megabullet jump resulted in keyholes in the target.  Also, you get to practice your lead removal skills when done.    If you want a low recoil 45-120, shoot a 45-70.
 
It is possible with a 45-120 to keep up with a 458WM in the velocity department w/o needing magnum pressures.  However this is done at the cost of efficiency as it will take more powder to get there.  My gun will push a 350 Hornady RN > 2,600 fps at only an 85% percent powder charge.  The gun will handle more than this load  but I can't.      In fact I now rarely push these bullets faster than about 2,400 FPS, which is what you shot in Sidney. .   As I get older I am learning to listen to the sage advice from Wisconsin and I think when all my jacketed .458s are gone I see cast lead and peep/globe sights in store for the 45-120.
 
BB

[Jason F]

I ordered the reamers today for 460,45-120,38-55

[bikerbeans]

 
 

Bikerbeans is the man with the answer, I think..........but he has been delving into the dark side with the 50-70 project of late (somehow I think there might be a 50-90 or bigger in his plan  .

For once, common sense may prevail.
 
BB

[Jason F]

If you want a low recoil 45-120, shoot a 45-70.

You will get them going now

[gcrank1]

BB, you've lost so much weight you cant take the recoil anymore, now you are just an ordinary mortal again instead of a Greek God  , we might have a chance against you now  .

[knight0334]

Tim, the 120 being longer, wouldn't the 70's case mouth expand more than it should?

Pete

The .45-70 and .45-120 are not straightwalled cases.   They taper from the rim to mouth.

At about 2.0" up from the base on a case diameter of .45-70 I measure about .476".   At 2.0" up on my .45-120 I measure .483" diameter at the same spot.   The chamber will of course be slightly larger than the case measurements.

.007" isn't much to worry about, but it is possible to split .45-70 cases that haven't been annealed properly or bulge them out to the point that they may not be reloadable again without significant work.

The pen points to about where I measured on my .45's. 

[gcrank1]

But now, if you fireform some 45-70s to that bigger chamber, dont resize, and load in a CAST bullet that 'fits that mouth dia.comfortably' you wont get gas cutting and the freebore probably wont matter. My guess is they would shoot pretty good. Ive done similar in a veryyy long 43 Spanish Peabody and it shot well.

[Jason F]

what bullet and velocity are you getting out of the 120,

[knight0334]

what bullet and velocity are you getting out of the 120,

That there is a 300gr JHP Remington loaded to about 2750-2800fps.   I push my 300gr JHPs that I drilled out to 250-265gr to about 3000fps - groundhog round.

[bikerbeans]

what bullet and velocity are you getting out of the 120,

 I push my 300gr JHPs that I drilled out to 250-265gr to about 3000fps - groundhog round.

Any video?
 
On a serious note, well serious for me anyway, would you care to describe how you drill out the 300s?
 
thanks,
 
BB
 

[bikerbeans]

BB, you've lost so much weight you cant take the recoil anymore, now you are just an ordinary mortal again instead of a Greek God  , we might have a chance against you now  .

gcrank,
 
you are on to something here.  After have lost 70 pounds, I think from now on the the 45-120 and the 44 Bodeen are going to pretty much be offhand shooters.  Same reason for deciding against the 50-90 as it would be about the same as shooting 12 ga Buckhammers in a Pardner.   The recoil doesn't bother me but I have lost my "padding" i tend to bruise like a banana.   Because of the Coumadin, Momma doesn't have much of a sense of humor about internal bleeding.  I guess she has worked in the ICU for too long.
 
BB

[knight0334]

Any video?
 
On a serious note, well serious for me anyway, would you care to describe how you drill out the 300s?
 
thanks,
 
BB

I don't have any video presently.  But I'm working on getting some of my uncle and I groundhog hunting with the big-bores.   Shooting at a couple groundhogs on a hill side from the top of another hill.

Drilling out -   I have jig that I mount to a drill press that holds the bullet center under the drill bit.   I have the bit marked for depth, then I just drill out some of the core to lighten the bullet and make it frag upon hitting a light bodied critter.

I've played around with hot glue to make "flex-tips" too.   I fill the bullet's hollowed out nose with glue and then put a blob on top.   I then use a small block of metal that I had funnel shaped cone milled out to form the tip while it is still hot.  I then trim off the excess.   Trajectory is certainly much flatter than the flying ashtrays.  But if the tip isn't formed right it can be erratic in it's flight.