Author Topic: What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?  (Read 583 times)

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Offline 44 Man

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What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?
« on: December 07, 2004, 07:56:35 AM »
Just bought a BC!!!  Ok, I lied.  It's on layaway but I will have it home soon and can hardly wait!  Looks to be a really fun gun!  It would seem as light as this is in 45-70, that a 350gr factory duplication load would be plenty.  Do many of you shoot heavy bullets/loads in your BCs?  I have a mold at home that I used to think was for .45 colt.  I throws a 255 gr rnfp bullet.  But it is cut for a gas check and drops out of the mold at .458".  Might be a fun bullet to load for the BC!  Anyway, what are most of you shooting in your gun?  44 Man
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Offline Cottonwood

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What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2004, 09:58:06 AM »
Well I can tell you what I used to shoot in my Buffalo Classic.  When I first got mine home, I started casting for it using a Lee Precision Molds .459-405-HB mold and it threw a .460 bullet from pure lead.  I had several run through a .459 sizer that lubed them with SPG.  Lee went and done it now with a good 500-gr mold 459-500-3R for long range shooting with the 45-70.   Now when your looking at these molds these two are what I recomend because of the wide lube grooves that these two offer.  These work great in case you decided to shoot blackpowder and will offer plenty of lube.  These can also be used with smokeless loads as well with the same BP lube.

I started loading for it right away with blackpowder cartridge loads and had a whole bunch of fun.

We figured out that by adding weight to the stock bolt hole (an extra 2.25) with a dead mule you can tame the recoil to a more likeness so as not to cause to much a bruse  :lol:

But I have shot as much as 500-gr's out of those Buffalo Classics with no problems.  But if you want to stick to those light boolits go right ahead, the Buffalo Classic will shoot those just as good too.

Now depending what your shooting needs are, we can assist in proper sights for it, unless your perfectly happy with the current Williams peep sight and front globe set up.

Take care
 :D

Offline Deadeye47

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What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2004, 10:58:25 AM »
I'm positive that you will enjoy this caliber Handi more than any other...I shoot 300 ans 405 grain cast bullets w/G.C.'s almost exclusively...they are very accurate and can be down loaded or hot rodded if needed ...as with jacketed. There is a large range of bullet weitghts and I'm sure the 255's will work just fine in the rifle.The above poster just recently got me started shooting that smoky stuff in my handis and it is just plain F U N! There is a large amount of info here on this site regarding the 45-70...congratulations and enjoy :D
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Offline handirifle

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What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2004, 12:14:09 PM »
44 Man
Congrats on the BC they are fun to shoot.  Mine liked the Speer 400gr jacketed the best of anything I tried.  Shot 3/4" groups with about 1600fps at the muzzle.  Way more than enough power for anything most of us will ever hunt.

They'll handle the high velocity stuff, but you'll find, if you ask others here, that you don't gain much from beating yourself up with it.  Do as Montanan said about the weight in the stock, and make the loads enjoyable.
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Offline Big Blue

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What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2004, 03:13:44 PM »
44 Man,
  Mine favored the Hornady 350 RNSP and for cast, the Cast Performance 420 gr. , both loads like Hodgdon's Varget powder. One funny thing about that rifle. You might curse the recoil and noise while your shootin' from the bench, but you won't even remember the recoil or the noise when your shootin' at game.  :)  The BC is probably one of the best reasons I can think of to reload. I spend more time shooting it than anything else I own.
Don

Offline Cottonwood

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What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2004, 05:04:19 PM »
Big Blue

Having either the Buffalo Classic or a Handi-Rifle or Ultra in 45-70 is a good reason to get out and reload and shoot so you can shoot some more.  I just have too much fun shooting it.

Tonight I took my 21 yr old daughter up to the indoor range so she could shoot my Rem 700 ADL in .223 Rem and I could shoot of course my Ultra 45-70.  I used my Remington Ballistics Software program to sight my Ultra back in for a zero at 140 yards with a 405-gr bullet.  Now I will have to wait to get up to my uncles place and set up a backboard with a deer target at 140 yards to see if this works or not.

I must say, its a very fun cartridge to work with.

Have a good one guys  :D

Offline Ed Hill

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What do you shoot in your 45-70 BC?
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2004, 05:22:33 PM »
Good advice from all. The one additional thing I'll mention is I don't get good accuracy with plain cast bullets much past 1200 fps. I can load up gas checked bullets and keep accurate, and jacketed bullets will shoot well at loads my shoulder doesn't like!
I'm using .459 and .450 cast at 20-1 I haven't tried pure lead, that might make a difference.

I also got my B.P. tips from the Montanan, and other than having to sit on the far end of the firing line, it's fun!

E.D.

Offline tomaldridge

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BC loads
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2004, 10:03:00 AM »
My BC likes 300 grn JHPs w/51 grns of IMR 3031.  With this load, it's the best cold shot rifle I've ever seen.  The 405 cast RNFP is doing well with 45 grns of IMR 3031, but I haven't finished testing with heavier loads.