A Painful Beauty, need advice!

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seabast

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I thanked the wife to buy me a Pedersoli sharp 74 in 45-70 for Christmas, beautiful gun, but I think she had a plan.... the crescent stock is painful.

I dropped my load from 46gr of IMR3031 to 38.5gr and it is better but after a dozen rounds or so it becomes uncomfortable.

I researched online how to shot it properly. Holding it differently didn’t help, maybe I'm just bad at it.

So, has anyone any advice? Are those gun meant to shot in a sitting position?

How slow do you think 405gr lead bullet can fly and still be accurate at nothing farther than 400 yards?

Anyway, I don’t want to cut the stock off so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Seabast
 
Not sure if this came up in your research but my method with crescents is if you take the rifle and shoulder it like you would a shotgun when shooting at a bird flying almost overhead then rotate the rifle down parallel with the ground it should sit much better on your shoulder. If that doesn't work you could take a look at the recoil pads at Buffalo Arms Co. they have some that attach to the rifle and some that attach to your shoulder.
 
I goofle searched the Pedersole Model 74 line. Most have flat buttplates. You evidently chose the painful one. If you don't want to cut the stock, how about some bandsaw work on a piece of cross grain walnut? Make a shallow semi-circular "filler" to square off the existing stock with a more civilized flat buttplate.
 
B_noser said:
The crescent butt plates are intended to be shot off the bicep - not the shoulder.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Those butt plate are not intended for bench shooting but for use in the field tucked on the bicep. Someone must wear a shooting pad to do so. Take a look at Bob's video, he talks about crescent butt plates : h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdwwrlHt9I0&ab_channel=BlackPowderTV
 
I shoot a 58 cal flintlock hawken with a crescent buttplate, & shoot it off my bicep. Its quite comfortable to shoot that way. My full load of 140 gr of 3fff with round ball will probably recoil less than your 45-70 though.
 
The 45/70 is not for the recoil sensitive. I don't care how you load it. And that's not a criticism at you OP, I draw the line at .303 Br...okay, 30/06, but no more!? There is nothing that walks this earth that needs to be that deadimho.:ninja:
 
There is no doubt that a crescent butt can brutalize you with a stout load. i fired 3 rounds of 45-70 405 gr through my Pedersoli at about 1780 fps and they just plain hurt.

But there are a # of ways to tame the cartridge so that you can shoot all afternoon with no pain...use a fast rifle powder such as 5744 or slower pistol powder to load those 405's down to BP velocity in the 1100-1300 fps range ( the range those rifles with crescent B-P's were designed to be fired with) .

If you really want to tame the recoil of a 45-70, powder coat some .452 pistol bullets up to .459 dia and shoot them with the same charge of powder that shoots a 405 at 1200 fps.. Those 200-250 gr rounds will be as accurate as any heavy slug (at least they are in every 45-70 I own) but recoil is reduced to less than a .223 generates.
if either of the above don't solve your recoil issue then you definitely have the wrong caliber for you.
 
Ihad at one time a Shiloh Sharps in 45/120, now that kicked with the crescent plate and full loads .It was a beast while shooting from a bench but off hand it wasn’t that bad as you could roll with the recoil.Mind you it would never be a target gun ,one of the reasons you rarely see the 45/120 in competition it just beats you up too much.
 
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BlackPowderBurner said:
Not sure if this came up in your research but my method with crescents is if you take the rifle and shoulder it like you would a shotgun when shooting at a bird flying almost overhead then rotate the rifle down parallel with the ground it should sit much better on your shoulder. If that doesn't work you could take a look at the recoil pads at Buffalo Arms Co. they have some that attach to the rifle and some that attach to your shoulder.
Click to expand...

B_noser said:
The crescent butt plates are intended to be shot off the bicep - not the shoulder.
Click to expand...

8ball said:
Exactly. Those butt plate are not intended for bench shooting but for use in the field tucked on the bicep. Someone must wear a shooting pad to do so. Take a look at Bob's video, he talks about crescent butt plates : h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdwwrlHt9I0&ab_channel=BlackPowderTV
Click to expand...

rosebute said:
I shoot a 58 cal flintlock hawken with a crescent buttplate, & shoot it off my bicep. Its quite comfortable to shoot that way. My full load of 140 gr of 3fff with round ball will probably recoil less than your 45-70 though.
Click to expand...


You all nasiled it! After posting this I found this post: https://www.levergunscommunity.org/viewtopic.php?t=32398

I gave it a try this this evening, shooting from the bicep and facing 45deg from the target was the key. Need more practice but at least it was enjoyable.

Thank you all!
 
I have the Uberti 1885 in 45/70 crescent buttstock. I shoot powder coated 405 grain with 30 grains of 4198 and it’s moving 1350 fps out of that 30” barrel. I can shoot 30 of those and I have 3 small tears in my shoulder. I don’t find it too bad. Also used 13 grains of unique but it’s too slow and not very accurate.
 
It is not a collector piece, but a shooter.
I would get a quality sorbocoil, or similar pad and get it properly fitted.
Then, start low and work up loads to your comfort level.

In this crazy world, my goal is to cram in as much enjoyment into whatever time I have left.
 
mac100 said:
I have the Uberti 1885 in 45/70 crescent buttstock. I shoot powder coated 405 grain with 30 grains of 4198 and it’s moving 1350 fps out of that 30” barrel. I can shoot 30 of those and I have 3 small tears in my shoulder. I don’t find it too bad. Also used 13 grains of unique but it’s too slow and not very accurate.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check how fast my load currently fly.
 
Take a sweater and put between your butt plate and you....move it around until you get it right...I've had to do it on a couple of hard hitter...not pretty...but it works.
Cheers
Brian
 
mac100 said:
I have the Uberti 1885 in 45/70 crescent buttstock. I shoot powder coated 405 grain with 30 grains of 4198 and it’s moving 1350 fps out of that 30” barrel. I can shoot 30 of those and I have 3 small tears in my shoulder. I don’t find it too bad. Also used 13 grains of unique but it’s too slow and not very accurate.
Click to expand...

Whoa?
 
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