45-70 load questions

[Chas.]

I just got some new bullets to play with.  They are 530gr. Postell.  Dayum, those are some big bullets.  I have H4198.  Does anybody have experience loading these with H4198?

[bikerbeans]

Chas,

Yes, on the Postells and H4198.  I loaded them in the 28 to 31 grain range at an OAL of 2.8"  Would need to verify that this length would be okay with your particular gun.  It is min. of .025" off the lands on my rifles, all three are Handis.  These are fairly mild loads that I can shoot out of a stock weight Handi w/o a recoil pad.  At the level I loads these they are fun to plink, so much fun I just order 250 more of them.  I have no idea what a max. load for these bullets and this powder would be and I don't intend to find out.  Good luck.

BB

[Chas.]

Well, I loaded up 5 and went to the range this afternoon.  I was primarily going to shoot some .44's.  The 5 shot great with 30 gr. H4198 and OAL of 2.9" which is .049 off the lands in my BC.  Thanks, BB.

[bikerbeans]

Chas,

Good to hear.  If you keep shooting them out of the 32" barrel let me know what can of groups you are getting.

thanks

BB

[shot1]

If you really want to make them shoot get you some Black Powder and learn how to load it.

[bikerbeans]

Blackpowder is manufactured to a higher standard than smokeless and therefore it is more consistent shot to shot in a 45 70 with large lead bullets? 

[KansasPaul]

I really should start a new post with this question but since we are talking 45/70 and Handi rifles I figured it would fit in.  I have a Handi, not a BC, in 45/70 that I am very fond of. It shoots jacketed bullets great (5 shot groups will be a large cloverleaf) but cast bullets are all over the place (I'm talking 4 inch groups at best).  I would love to try a bullet like the postells but I figure that I would just be wasting money.  Is there anything special about getting a Handi to shoot cast bullets?

Paul

[Chas.]

You may be shooting bullets that are too small.  A cast bullet needs to be .001-.002 larger than the groove diameter.  Anything less and they are going to be all over the place.  All barrels are not the same.  You need to "slug" your barrel to see exactly what the groove diameter is and then buy bullets accordingly.  I found some football shaped fishing sinkers that are just a bit larger than my barrel.  Drive one through with a wood or brass rod and then measure it.

[PawPaw]

Chas is right.  For cast to work well, you've really got to slug your barrel.

Also, some Handi barrels are micro-groove rifled (as opposed to Ballard rifled).  Microgroove barrels will shoot cast bullets, but it helps to know what type barrel you have, because it's easier to push a lead bullet down a MC barrel than a conventional barrel.

A month or so ago we had a long discussion about such things and you can see the link here.

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,206287.0.html

[Ranger J]

Don't know what kind of performance you are looking for but my Handi shoots 300 gr OT Cast over both Trail Boss and 2400 really well.  Both loads are in the Trapdoor level but have taken deer with the 2400 load while with the Trail Boss load there is practically no recoil at all.

RJ