If your shooting a decent quality 45/70 like a marlin lever action, your really missing the boat,
in my opinion, and I have several people I hand load for that would certainly agree.
if you don,t cast your own bullets and hand load, this allows you to reduce the cost and duplicate or even increase,
the rifles accuracy over factory ammo accuracy and if you choose too, push the power levels a bit and still remain at safe pressure levels
maximizing accuracy is far more important than pushing the velocity to get the last potential FPS
and the
350 grain to 420 grain gas check,design, bullets
provide the best balance between retained down range energy,accuracy and safe pressures
remember the lower friction in the bore results in higher velocity with less pressure and bore wear with cast gas check bullet designs,
powders like RL7,IMR 4198 and IMR 3031 with a standard large rifle primer
(in some rare cases mag primers have a very minor detrimental effect on accuracy)
cast gas check bullets cast from 95% WW alloy and 5% pure tin by weight provide excellent accuracy,
if properly sized .001 over bore (generally .459)and a quality lube is used,
bore leading is almost non-existent if ammo is properly loaded and bore wear is nearly non-existent in a properly maintained 45/70
or most similar calibers like 450 marlin,444 marlin, 375 win, with cast bullets being much softer and producing much less friction than a copper jacket
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/63...nose-gas-check
http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog/index.html
http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=45-70&Weight=All&type=rifle&Order=Powder&Source=
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/do-you-cast-and-hunt-with-bullets-you-made.6802/