"Modern" potential of 45-70, 45-90, 45-110, 45-120 + ???

[mattparliament]

Alright, I'm curious and intrigued....

Firearm limitations or integrity set aside let's talk true cartridge potential.  I have some serious curiousities.

What can we do with these "old" cartridges?  You know, the 450 Marlin can push a 250 gr. Barnes at 2400FPS ish, cool.  Most handloaders of the 45-70 know this is obtainable in the right action.  It can also do great things with 405 grainers.  From what I've read and understood the longer cartridges from the 45-70 can do better with similar or lower pressures.  Let's leave black powder out of this and keep up with the modern theme of the thread, different hobbies/interests/specuations, no offence meant to black powder enthusiasts, bottom line, that is fun stuff!!!

Let's try this, what has been done with light weight loads in the 45-70,90,110,120, and in the same breath the heavy stuff, the 405, 450, 500 and so on also intrigue me.  WHAT'S THE POTENTIAL??? Can we touch 458 Win? With the disclaimer of firearm durability left aloof...

for some comparison, a neat article about the 444 marlin was in last months G&A.  Cool thing about that is that the 444 Marlin is "similar" to the 45-70 dimensionally but has the availability of 180, 200,240 (of course) and so on for bullet availability.  Imagine the fun we'd have with a 200 grain copper bullet in the 458 caliber.

Let them roll and let's have some fun!

[quickdtoo]

To give you an idea of the potential of the bigger cases, take a look at the pressure level of the 45-120 with 60gr of H4895 and a 500gr cast bullet.  FWIW, Ed Hubel gave me a load to try with up to an 85% load density of a smokeless Hodgdon powder in the .45-120 with the 555gr Saeco #20 GC cast bullet, I'll be working on that load sometime in the future, just for kicks!!! If it will work with the big slugs, it ought to work fine with the lighter bullets, like a 300gr or 350gr X-bullet!! H4895 gave good velocity, but was very position sensitive, I got a few hang fires if I didn't make sure the powder was all the way at the back of the case, of course if the case was 85% full, that wouldn't be a problem!!

EDIT: I forgot to mention one of the real nice things about the bigger .45 basic cases is you don't take up valuable powder room with the big bullets, the 525gr BTB is 1.27" long and the 555gr Saeco is 1.37" long, there's still plenty of room left even for a short throated bore.

Tim

http://www.hodgdon.com/data/cowboy/lrrd.php#45-120

[knight0334]

Tim,

Have you tried over-powder wads(felt or cork) to take up some of the space?

[quickdtoo]

No, I've seen no data that recommended fillers or wads, but I have considered using Puff-lon, but I think I'd rather just fill the case with powder than buy an expensive filler!!

Tim

www.pufflon.com