45-70 IN deer legal round development

[davedolli]

Great job, thanks for sharing.

Dave

 

[45-70]

Nice doe David! Good to see one of us took one this year with that big bullet. Congratulations!

 

[djones]

Nice doe David! Good to see one of us took one this year with that big bullet. Congratulations!

Thank you for originally posting the configuration!

I had fun working on this load. Sure did a good job and my deer. No meat loss but very lethal.

 

[jburris]

Im using 400gr pulled bullets for mine. next to 300gr hornady hp for comparison

 

[TiminMishawaka]

Is this safe to use in a Sharps? I'd love to take my Sharps out in the woods next year.

Edit: What I mean is can you use the recommended Sharps loads with a bullet this size and still be gtg? I'm not referring to using modern load pressures in a Sharps.

 

[Broom_jm]

The key is how long your cartridge OAL is with the finished load, and hence, how far into the case capacity you have seated your bullet. If the OAL is the exact same, but the case has been trimmed, you can use Sharps loads. If the OAL is shorter, meaning you are taking up more of the available volume in the case, you have to adjust your powder charge accordingly...and maybe go to a slightly faster-burning powder, to compensate.

 

[djones]

My uncle has made some custom hollow points from the 450 grain bullet. Final weight is around 440 grain. We need to start casting before I can develop any loads. The bullet looks like it could do some damage with the hollow point.

If we went too deep with the hollow point (430 grain) we experienced some key-holing. Never thought a 450 grain bullet could get that unstable. When key-holing the bullet let out a pretty load and strange noise!

Will update once I get some more rock solid data on performance.

 

[djones]

Im using 400gr pulled bullets for mine. next to 300gr hornady hp for comparison

How is your accuracy? Do you have a velocity range you are shooting for?

 

[ru44mag]

David. I don't want to cause any problems, but in Indiana the max case length is 1.625 inches. You might check the rules and your case length.

 

[jburris]

David. I don't want to cause any problems, but in Indiana the max case length is 1.625 inches. You might check the rules and your case length.

The case rule is 1.8" changed it a year or so ago.

 

[ru44mag]

The case rule is 1.8" changed it a year or so ago.

Lol. Good. I just grabbed an old book. 2009-2010. Had me scared for him for a minute. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[tstormdrums]

Sounds like a great alternative to slugs! I LOVE my 1895GS. Any thoughts on an OAL and powder charge for a Hornady 350 Gr Flat Point? Or the 405 gr Flat Nose?

 

[Mgderf]

I've taken a few deer with factory load .45-70govt. in the past few years here in Indiana.
The .45-70 does a fine job of stopping a deer in it's tracks.

I used a "Super 16" barrel on my Thompson Contender.

Not really much of a shot. My hunting property rarely offers more than about a 40-45 yard shot at best.

Last season, two of the doe I took were only 25 FEET off of my muzzle at the time of ignition.

Needless to say, complete pass-through each and every time.

 

[tstormdrums]

Just finished shortening cases and working up powder charges for my 45/70-1.8. Using cases shortened to 1.80" with 39.0 grains of IMR 4198 behind a Remington 405 grain FN and Fed 210 primer. Pressure looks good and recoil is medium. I loaded the bullets to original factory 45/70 overall length. I am estimating 1450-1500 fps out of my 18.5 inch Guide Gun. Should be a good deer hammer. So far accuracy seems good too but want to shoot more before I am totally confident. I may try the Speer 400 grain FN loaded the same way. Wish I had done this last year!

 

[djones]

Just finished shortening cases and working up powder charges for my 45/70-1.8. Using cases shortened to 1.80" with 39.0 grains of IMR 4198 behind a Remington 405 grain FN and Fed 210 primer. Pressure looks good and recoil is medium. I loaded the bullets to original factory 45/70 overall length. I am estimating 1450-1500 fps out of my 18.5 inch Guide Gun. Should be a good deer hammer. So far accuracy seems good too but want to shoot more before I am totally confident. I may try the Speer 400 grain FN loaded the same way. Wish I had done this last year!

Congrats! You are on your way. Hunting with your own reloads is very rewarding.

I would be worried about meat loss from the jacketed bullets moving that fast. They mushroom a lot on game correct?

The hard cast bullets I have recovered look as if you could reshoot them where the hornady jacketed hollow points almost double in diameter.

No matter what good luck!

David

 

[melensdad]

If a lighter bullet was used the overall length might end up being short of the standard length. Will it still feed? What would happen to the accuracy?

 

[teddy12b]

Just finished shortening cases and working up powder charges for my 45/70-1.8. Using cases shortened to 1.80" with 39.0 grains of IMR 4198 behind a Remington 405 grain FN and Fed 210 primer. Pressure looks good and recoil is medium. I loaded the bullets to original factory 45/70 overall length. I am estimating 1450-1500 fps out of my 18.5 inch Guide Gun. Should be a good deer hammer. So far accuracy seems good too but want to shoot more before I am totally confident. I may try the Speer 400 grain FN loaded the same way. Wish I had done this last year!

I'm not so sure either 400gr bullet would outperform the other since the same basic design of a jacketed soft point is the same. Switching to a hard cast might shoot better or worse with your rifle, but I think you can get them at 460gr as well. If it were me, I'd see what one shot the best and call it a day. I've tried the marlin 1895 full size and the 1895 guide and never had good luck with the accuracy of them, so good luck with working up a load for your hunting season.

 

[tstormdrums]

I love "Rolling my own" for hunting. My Pig loads are 46.7 grains of IMR 4198 behind a Hornady 350 gr FN and it holds under 1 MOA with my guide gun. Took three pigs in Texas this past February with one shot each. None even took one step. One shot was a VERY LUCKY shot at 270 yds. (All luck - I figured it would be either a hit or a miss) I do want to try the hard cast next. Whose 460 grainers are in the picture? To be honest, I have not tried the 405 grains on game, but the 350 gr Hornady did a job on hogs. Yes they did expand, but not terribly. The almost 1/2" hole makes quite an impression!

melensdad, the two problems I see with the lighter bullet loaded to a shortened OAL would be both feed issues and higher pressures due to less internal case volume behind the bullet. I didn't want to mess with either condition, so I opted for the heavier bullet with factory OAL. Then all of those problems go away.

 

[djones]

Beartooth bullets has a great 425 wfn cast bullet. I think it is their pile driver junior or something like that. Midway sells cast performance version of the lwfngc also.

https://beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/details.php?id=102

 

[Hawkeye]

So, you guys shoot those out of a standard Marlin Guide Gun?