I'm still green with the 45-70. So far I've loaded Remington JSP 405's & hard cast 405's. Powders I've tried are IMR 3031, 4064, & Hercules 2400. I just picked up some IMR 4198. I have the Lyman 49th edition manual & been on the IMR site, plus several others. I am no sniper, but the rounds I have loaded all seem pretty good. I'm more of a hunter than a paper puncher.

What has worked well for you?

48 gr. Reloader7 under a 350 gr. Hornady Flat Point in Starline brass and CCI Large rifle. 8)

Reminton 405 JSP, Win LR primer, 46 Gr. IMR 3031 for outstanding accuracy at all ranges.

A 457124 and 25 grains of 2400. It duplicates the original 45-70 load for this bullet and kills deer DEAD.

RJ

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What rifle are you shooting, Forty5? I'm having good times with Accurate 2015 with 350 gr bullets in my Browning 1885 (single-shot drop-block, like the Ruger #1). Not sure how the powder would do with heavier bullets.

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I'm shooting a Marlin 1895. Glad you asked, should have mentioned that. So far I've shot mostly trapdoor levels.

Thanks,
Jim

I am green with the 45-70 too I have shot 350 gr horniday jfp and 310,415 cast all with imr 4064 nothing near max i have also shot some round balls with trail boss i was very happy with the accuracy i bought the pile driver series but i have not had much time to find a good one for this one i read a bunch of places that the marlin 1895 needs .460 cast and i found this to be true with mine too 1895 gbl i just ordered some starline brass and am not so busy at my job so i am going to find some time here soon

Had the High Wall out yesterday shooting. Tried 35g of 3031 with Rem 405 JSP. Shot eight shots into a 1.1" group (used 2 shots to get on paper so only had eight left for grouping). I have had other similar groups with 4198 and Rel 7. Gun is a Miruko/Win Anniversary model. It will not shoot cast bullets well at all but loves jacketed.

Speer #12 has Accurate 2015 near the top (2nd in line; Speer sorts by velocity achieved) with 400 gr bullets in Lever guns.

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There sure are a lot of different opinions. I tried 3031 with 300 gr jacketed and was not impressed. I'm going to try imr 4198 next.

Owen

What gun are you shooting?

13.5 - 13.6 grains of Unique with 300 - 400 grain home cast bullets .

And , yes , Marlins like big bullets , around .460" .

God bless
Wyr

39 grains of IMR4198 for a 400 grain jacketed bullet. Tried a range of 37 to 41 grains, but 39 gave one ragged hole at fifty yards so I was very happy. Till the next time I went to the range with sixty of these and came back home with forty. Okay but my shoulder was tender for three days.

Looked at the Free Recoil Energy calculation in Lyman's 49th, those 400 grain bullets were 29 ft-lbs FRE. Looking forward to 300 grain bullets with an FRE of 18.

Where am I going next? I've read a lot but not tried (yet) light loads of Unique with lead bullets. Many opinions but lots of data at Lever Gun Performance Studies, Low Velocity Lead Bullet Chronograph Data. People talk online about plinking loads of 45-70 that they share with their kids. And the FRE is down to 7 foot-lbs.

I know, I know, it's a 45-70, there should be meat on both ends. But I'm trying to keep all the damage downrange. Thanks and good luck!

I was out shooting my 45-70 just the other morning (along with my .444 & .450). Do you know what type velocity they claim for your load? The load I was shooting was 400gr at a claimed 1800 FPS. I used a lead sled for most of my shooting, however, and saved some wear & tear on the old shoulder bones....lol. thanks.

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most accurate for my GG is 45g of IMR 4198 over a 350gr fp.
favorite load for my ruger #1 53gr H322 over rem 405gr. OUCH.

For light loads I always recommend Trailboss. It's a very bulky powder and and only 12 or 14 grains will nearly fill the case under 400 and 300 grain bullets, respectively. The 300s clock about 1200 fps while the 400s go right at 1000 out of my Winchester '86s 26 inch barrel. I've found these loads to be very accurate as well. Great, fun plinking loads when you don't want to batter your shoulder.

How would the trailboss loads be for deer hunting? It seems that it would duplicate black powder loads. Might be good in my 1886 or my browning 1885 for a not so punishing load.

For the 400 grain copper-jacketed bullets with 39.0 gr H4198 I'm guessing around 1550 fps; those bullets with 37 grains are 1513 and 41 grains are at 1661 fps.

Since then I have tried 300 grain copper

(hit REPLY too early)

The 300 grain copper-jacketed bullets with 31 grains H4198, a Springfield 1873 level load from Lyman's 49th, are given as 1613 fps. This lighter bullet at higher velocity was a joy to shoot; I had made sixty of them (all I had) and shot them all. I'm very happy with this load.

So I bought a bunch of Oregon Trail 300 grain lead-alloy bullets to try next. Five hundred bullets for eighty-some dollars shipped, along with load data. Nice, very nice. I'll update after I shoot these. Will also be using H4198, but less.

My 40 year old Marlin 1895: Speer 400 grn softpoint over 53 grns IMR3031. Killed several deer with that load and it's accurate. Vel: 1800fps.

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