45-70 bullet choices
 

i was wondering if anybody reloaded 45-70. i was wondering if there was any way you could reload smaller than 300 grain bullets, i'm shooting a marlin guide gun. right now i shooting the winchester 300 grain hollow point. for some reason i dont think i'm getting the expansion i would like. i already thought about the hornady leveralution but didnt wont to waste the money if i could just reload my own.

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

Barnes is about the only people who makes a bullet less than 300gr. I shoot nosler partitions kicked up to 2100fps and they are devastating. I also shoot 300gr sierra Hollow point and they too are good on deer. I just can't afford the noslers anymore. I also am working up a 350gr hornady which I plan to use this year. I wasn't getting the accuracy I wanted with 300gr.

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

Aren't getting enough expansion on what size animal?

A friend of mine shot a brown bear with 400 Speers... Expanded waaaay to fast with poor penetration... He also shot a brown bear with the 350 Hornandys, not enough penetration even though they didn't expand too fast.

If your talking smaller animals, your either going to have to speed your 45/70 up quite a bit and live with the recoil and muzzle blast, or use soft bullets like "pistol" bullets, and not over speed them...

DM

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

BigCountry mentioned the Nosler Partitions and that's what I shoot. I use the .458 300 grain bullets. Heck, I also shoot them in my muzzleloader.

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

Expansion trouble could be solved by shooting the same bullets at a higher velocity, or using a softer bullet. IMO, it would be a mistake to use a lighter than 300-grain bullet in the .45/70! The 300 is actually a little on the light side for that caliber.

I use 400-grain Speer flatnoses and Barnes Originals. If you loaded the 400-grain Speer flatnose or even the Remington commercial 405 grainer up to 1800 FPS, it will more than make a big hole in things! 53 grains of IMR 3031 with either of these bullets is plenty, even for Grizzly bears!

The .45 caliber rifle bullet is one which is sufficiently large, it does not need to expand at all to make a large wound channel through game animals.

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

BC, if you ever ghet into casting bullets, get yourself a mould for the Lyman/Gould .457122HP bullet. Mine comes out at 342 grains cast from wheelweights. It wasone devastating bullet in 1890, and it still is for the .45/70 or .45/90. Even with black powder!

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

The 45/70 is a blast to reload for there are so many options from light plinking loads to tooth shaking ones! I use a 350 grain hornady flat point on top of 56 grains of 3031 in my guide gun drops moose like a semi truck!!

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

I don't think pistyol bullets are an option forthe .45-cal. rifles, as the rifles need .458" bullets, while handguns use smaller ones (.451"-452"). I believe it would be difficult to get the needed accuracy from the pistol slugs...

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

My Guide gun shoot the 300 gr Sierra HP well and with good results. My load is 51 gr of H4198. I've taken 3 black bear with this load with as many shots. For the larger bears though, I would go with a FP and/or a heavier bullet like a 405 gr hard cast.

RE: 45-70 bullet choices
 

Thats a hefty load. I got horrible results and still do with 51gr. Only can go up to 46gr. But still getting 1950fps or more with 300gr.

Thinking of getting a new guide gun and trying.