45-70's from a 45-120?

[oldsoldja]

what do you think about accuracy problems shooting a 45-70 out of a 45-120? will it matter?

[jeepmann1948]

Why not just load the 45-120 down to 45-70 levels then the bullet does not have the long jump to the rifling?

[Ranch13]

It'll make a terrible mess out of your chamber and throat especially if you're shooting cast bullets.
 The 45-70 case is 2.1 inches long the 120 case is 3.25 inches long, that's a good awul lot of freebore at .480 diameter before you geta bullet to the throat of the 120 chamber.
 If you're short on brass, just bite the bullet and get the 120 brass from Jamison International, and stock up on 1f blackpowder..

[quickdtoo]

Tom,

It won't hurt anything, but it won't likely shoot accurately, not unlike shooting 45 Colt in a 45/410, will leave fouling in the chamber that will need to be cleaned good before you can shoot 45-120 in it. George makes a good point tho, I've shot a ton of smokeless loads in my 45-120 BC, most at 45-70 velocities using A5744(load data attached below) with both jacketed and cast bullets, it works just fine. If you need 45-120 brass, Track appears to have Bell brass in stock again, and Cabelas has Norma on sale again, I'm not sure the Norma 45 Basic Cabela's has is the full length stuff or the shorter stuff, they've advertised it as 45 Basic before and sold the long stuff,  Norma makes both, the stuff I got from them is 3¼" long and is marked 45-120.

Tim

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/categories/partdetail.aspx?catid=2&subid=26&styleid=75&partnum=case-45-120&as=1

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/partDetail.aspx?catId=2&subId=190&styleId=929&partNum=CASE-45-120-PACK-020

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/partDetail.aspx?catId=2&subId=190&styleId=929&partNum=CASE-45-120-PACK-050

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/partDetail.aspx?catId=2&subId=190&styleId=929&partNum=CASE-45-120-PACK-100

http://www.cabelas.com/reloading-components-norma-unprimed-rifle-brass-3.shtml

[bikerbeans]

Tom,

Somebody asked this question a few months back and guess who was dumb enough to try it?   Anyway, I shot a handful of cast 45-70s out of my 45-120 and the cleanup wasn't that big a deal.  The accuracy was non existent, either missing the target or keyholing when I hit it.  Tim is right, just download the 45-120 if you want to fire a slower bullet.  FWIW, the published data for the 45-120 is usually less than 28K CUP (psi?, i forget) which isn't a big recoil load for that gun.  It takes maybe a 1/2 hour to hand ream a 45-70 t 45-120, just watch the depth of the rim cut.

BB

[oldsoldja]

Thanks guys, you are a plethora of good information and much appreciated. I woke up with the bright idea of reaming all my 45-70s to 120, then I could shoot whatever. Not.

[gcrank1]

As cool as that 120 cigar looks, I get all the performance I need out of the standard case using either black powder or smokeless and cast bullets. I'm sure if I wanted to shoot jacketed it would be the same.
But thats me.
Your question does make me wonder about the 45-90 though.

[Ranch13]

Same deal with the 90 , it's 3 tenths of an inch longer than the 70, while you can get some accuracy it goes to pot pretty fast, and the lead mining that follows is pure drudgery.
 With 3f goex express powder you can put 530 gr bullets squarely in the 45-90 velocity territory, and with smokeless in the 45-70 you can out run the 45-90 bp by a gob..

[bikerbeans]

Thanks guys, you are a plethora of good information and much appreciated. I woke up with the bright idea of reaming all my 45-70s to 120, then I could shoot whatever. Not.

I have (2) 45-70s & a 45-120.  I am going to ream one of the 70s to 45-90 or maybe 45-100.  Then when I trash the case mouth on a 45-120 all I do is trim it too length for the next shorter chamber.  I have several pieces of 45-120 brass that I unintentionally performed oral surgery on the case mouths with my press, and I ain't throwin' away $2 plus brass.

BB

[necchi]

FWIW, guy's have been shooting long range target with the 45-70 for  LONG TIME.
 Harkins back to the buffalo days. Theres one I go to each year an set camp, 400yrds with an 18"bull and it usually goes 20-25 rounds of single shot after qualifiers to get a winner. That's because they all keep hitting the bull. (elimination rounds, ya miss-yer out)
As others have said the 45-70's no slouch. Bigger ones just use more powder.

[Ranch13]

I have (2) 45-70s & a 45-120.  I am going to ream one of the 70s to 45-90 or maybe 45-100.  Then when I trash the case mouth on a 45-120 all I do is trim it too length for the next shorter chamber.  I have several pieces of 45-120 brass that I unintentionally performed oral surgery on the case mouths with my press, and I ain't throwin' away $2 plus brass.

BB

 You may want to do some experimenting with that 3 1/4 inch brass before you go to reaming chambers. By the time you take either Norma or Jamison 120 brass down to 2.4  you can't seat and chamber a grease groove bullet without some pretty serious neck reaming, but it does work very well for paper patch rounds.