Lead ball loadings

[simplicity]

Anyone have any lead ball loadings for the 30-30 or the 45-70?  Ie a .310 lead ball for the 30-30 and a .458 or.460 for the 45-70?  Just think it would be fun to have around to dispatch small critters at camp if I only had one gun or just tyo shoot for cheap fun to booot. but I have know idea what to use for powder or charge weight.

[necchi]

I come from a Trad ML background, and while your idea has merit and may well be possible, I'll lay out a few inherant problems to consider;
 Twist rate to stabilize round ball projectiles is alot slower than what's found in CF rifles, a 1-48 is considered proper for the .32/.310 ball and 1-60 in the .45 range. Even guys with modern ML that are ment for sabots with 1-28/1-32 twists have trouble with Patched ball unless they use really light loads and then are limited to 30-50 yard ranges before accuracy becomes a pattern instead of a group.
 Off the shelf ball ment for ML's are made from pure or nearly pure lead,,meaning a really soft projectile. Thats needed so the patched ball will deformate a little and fit the rifling tight to recieve the proper spin. If a soft un-patched lead ball is used the fast twist CF rifling will foul with lead within 1 or two shots.
 You could get molds and cast your own projectiles useing a harder lead mix, but if your going that route, might as well get molds designed for CF bullets, gas checks,,,,
maybe someone has better feed back for ya, but it's not gonna be as easy as "Gee, I'll shoot a couple round ball loads at the chipmunks, then just drop in my deer load with a copper jacket modern bullet",,

[tacklebury]

Anyone have any lead ball loadings for the 30-30 or the 45-70?  Ie a .310 lead ball for the 30-30 and a .458 or.460 for the 45-70?  Just think it would be fun to have around to dispatch small critters at camp if I only had one gun or just tyo shoot for cheap fun to booot. but I have know idea what to use for powder or charge weight.

I load lead balls for the .45-70.  In my BC, due to barrel length, I have to use more than a 22" barrel version, but I find that 10 gr. Unique with the .457 RB is a nice small game/close range load.  I load mostly 13 Gr. Unique though, to extend range out to about 100 yards.  POI is pretty close out to 25 yards, but drifts a bit down and right by 50 yards.  At 100 yards, I'm about 10" down and 6" right.  I mainly use these for finishing shots in the head to avoid meat damage.  They are pretty quiet though and can be used for that pesky squirrel while you are deer hunting, if you don't see deer of course.    One trick I've used to get them to shoot accurately, is to separate 10 pieces of my brass and they are decapped on my Lee Loader base with a rod and hammer.  Don't resize them at all and only slight flare on the mouth.  You can clean as per normal.  I use my expander die set very high to act as a seating die and keep the depths consistent.  Once seated just barely past 1/2 way, I use the factory crimp die to very gently remove the flare and put a mild crimp on the ball.  This keeps them from rolling back inside the case if pressed against and maintains some pressure build to get the small charge fully going.  They are really fun to plink with also, but if you don't want to switch sight settings you will need to be decent at "kentucky windage".    Good luck and enjoy if you try it.

***edit***  Oh, and they kill ground hogs nicely clear out to 100 yards. 

[Mule]

Anyone have any lead ball loadings for the 30-30 or the 45-70?  Ie a .310 lead ball for the 30-30 and a .458 or.460 for the 45-70?  Just think it would be fun to have around to dispatch small critters at camp if I only had one gun or just tyo shoot for cheap fun to booot. but I have know idea what to use for powder or charge weight.

I load lead balls for the .45-70.  In my BC, due to barrel length, I have to use more than a 22" barrel version, but I find that 10 gr. Unique with the .457 RB is a nice small game/close range load.  I load mostly 13 Gr. Unique though, to extend range out to about 100 yards.  POI is pretty close out to 25 yards, but drifts a bit down and right by 50 yards.  At 100 yards, I'm about 10" down and 6" right.  I mainly use these for finishing shots in the head to avoid meat damage.  They are pretty quiet though and can be used for that pesky squirrel while you are deer hunting, if you don't see deer of course.    One trick I've used to get them to shoot accurately, is to separate 10 pieces of my brass and they are decapped on my Lee Loader base with a rod and hammer.  Don't resize them at all and only slight flare on the mouth.  You can clean as per normal.  I use my expander die set very high to act as a seating die and keep the depths consistent.  Once seated just barely past 1/2 way, I use the factory crimp die to very gently remove the flare and put a mild crimp on the ball.  This keeps them from rolling back inside the case if pressed against and maintains some pressure build to get the small charge fully going.  They are really fun to plink with also, but if you don't want to switch sight settings you will need to be decent at "kentucky windage".    Good luck and enjoy if you try it.

***edit***  Oh, and they kill ground hogs nicely clear out to 100 yards.  

Do you use dacron or a filler to hold the powder in place?

[jhalcott]

  Some states laws say you NEED a regular strength cartridge to be legal to finish off a wounded animal. They frown on down loaded ammo for some reason

[McDerry]

10 gr red dot works wonders for 45/70 with a round ball.  Real bulky fills the case. 


The 30/30 can be alot of fun aswell with those 55gr balls.  Use the lightest bullet weight load you can find using the fastest powder.  Heavy crimp.

I have an old .303 british that I use .311 balls in on top of 43 grs of Accurate  2015; muzzle velocity hovers around 4300 fps.

[tacklebury]

Anyone have any lead ball loadings for the 30-30 or the 45-70?  Ie a .310 lead ball for the 30-30 and a .458 or.460 for the 45-70?  Just think it would be fun to have around to dispatch small critters at camp if I only had one gun or just tyo shoot for cheap fun to booot. but I have know idea what to use for powder or charge weight.

I load lead balls for the .45-70.  In my BC, due to barrel length, I have to use more than a 22" barrel version, but I find that 10 gr. Unique with the .457 RB is a nice small game/close range load.  I load mostly 13 Gr. Unique though, to extend range out to about 100 yards.  POI is pretty close out to 25 yards, but drifts a bit down and right by 50 yards.  At 100 yards, I'm about 10" down and 6" right.  I mainly use these for finishing shots in the head to avoid meat damage.  They are pretty quiet though and can be used for that pesky squirrel while you are deer hunting, if you don't see deer of course.    One trick I've used to get them to shoot accurately, is to separate 10 pieces of my brass and they are decapped on my Lee Loader base with a rod and hammer.  Don't resize them at all and only slight flare on the mouth.  You can clean as per normal.  I use my expander die set very high to act as a seating die and keep the depths consistent.  Once seated just barely past 1/2 way, I use the factory crimp die to very gently remove the flare and put a mild crimp on the ball.  This keeps them from rolling back inside the case if pressed against and maintains some pressure build to get the small charge fully going.  They are really fun to plink with also, but if you don't want to switch sight settings you will need to be decent at "kentucky windage".    Good luck and enjoy if you try it.

***edit***  Oh, and they kill ground hogs nicely clear out to 100 yards.  

Do you use dacron or a filler to hold the powder in place?

Nope, no filler added.