.45-70 Government

Fish and Hunt Texas ^ | Dec 2004 | Clay Oldham

[Myrddin]

That's quite a confluence of fortunate events. Still, it took much skill and care to carve the stock. I don't blame you for backing off on the checkering job. That takes serious patience and care. Flaws are immediately obvious. It was a good decision.

[45Auto]

[elkfersupper]

Thanks for the ping.

Gun porn!

Mine is a Winchester 1886 Ultralight. Good brush or open-country gun on big game (don't shoot a Javelina with one, there's not much left).

[Squantos]

BTW let Slim know that we have officially started our efforts to secure the Texas borders......he better stop sneaking over here late at night stealing cowpies !

[Swordmaker]

It is pretty, isn't it? The '86 is my favorite rifle. John Browning outdid himself.

The 1892 is essentially a miniature '86... same drop lock mechanism.

[Tijeras_Slim]

BTW let Slim know that we have officially started our efforts to secure the Texas borders......he better stop sneaking over here late at night stealing cowpies !

How am I gonna heat my house?

[OKSooner]

Reference ping.

[uglor]

I have just purchased a 45-70 BFR and i have to reload this thing or i cant afford to shoot it.... do i have to keep my formulas consistant w/ the trapdoor guns to keep it from flying apart? I'm interested in expanding on the 45-70's potential for greater distance in some loads (hot 300 gr'ers) and more knock-down in others (500 gr'ers) but there is little or no realoading data available for the BFR. What experience do you have with this? do you reload your BFR 45-70?

[Myrddin]

I reload all my 45-70. The gunsmith at Magnum Research quoted 31,000 PSI as maximum pressure for the BFR. The corresponding value for CUP is around 32000. That's more than a trapdoor (28000 CUP), but less than a Marlin 1895G at 40,000 CUP. A load that is rated no more than 30,000 CUP should be fine.

One problem you find with the 45-70 is keeping the powder near the primer. The recommended approach is to purchase some cotton batting from the local sewing materials store. A small patch placed on top of the powder will help ensure consistent ignition.

There is a nice article on PSI vs CUP here. You can find a couple trapdoor loads using Hodgdon powder here

If you are interested, Magnum Research will fit the 450 Marlin cylinder to your frame for $150. That's a hotter belted magnum load. Two cartridges using the same frame/barrel.