ORIGINAL: statjunk
BC,
Do the steps I posted seem like the right way to go? What about the number of rounds I intend to put together? Any thoughts on that?
Also does anyone know if the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual goes into detail on all of the most popular grain weights for the .45-70? Specifially the 425gr. I haven't seem much on the 425 gr for the .45-70.
Thanks
Tom
Steps looks good. A few tips. 45-70 brass notoriously has to be trimmed far down to get good straight rims. If you don't trim square, you will not get a good crimp. In other words, if you use new brass, alot of times, you will have a high side to the brass, and when you seat a bullet, you will notice one side covering up your cannalure, and the other side low.
Also, yep, 425 is a rare load.
Finding correct load data is tough for the 45-70. Everybodies opinion is all over the place espeically for the modern Lever.
For instance,
For a 300gr jacked bullet in 1895 Marlin
Sierra lists max for IMR4198 at 51.8gr and lists IMR-3031 max at 60gr
Hodgdon lists max for IMR4198 at 57.2gr (this seems way too high for me)
Hodgdon lists max for IMR3031 at 64gr Compressed. Again, very high.
Then lymans and hornady takes the high road, and puts max loads way lower than this.