First 45-70 recomendations

[gunlaker]

Wow, lots of good info in this thread from some of the experienced members here. I too am looking at buying my first black powder 45-70 for long range plinking so I find this thread very informative. One question though. Can someone suggest a retailer in Alberta that stocks these rifles. I know Marstar brings Pedersoli rifles in but their store is almost on the other side of the planet for me! I sure would like to handle one and discuss the different rifles with someone relatively close by. Checked with some of the site sponsors that live close by and none of them sell these rifles.....

Are there any ranges near you that hold black powder shoots? Chances are good that there'd be people there that would let you give their rifles a try, or at least a good look over.

Keep an eye on the Ellwood Epps site. They often have used black powder rifles for sale. Last time I checked there were a couple of used Pedersolis and a C. Sharps 1875.

As one of the other guys said, a good sight is important. Save some dough for that.

Chris.

 

[Mark-II]

Love my Pedersoli Sharps. I've shot BP in it and just used the same hard cast bullets as I use with smokeless. They're sized properly, so why use soft lead? The whole point of having a soft bullet was for muzzle loaders where your slug has to be undersized in order to load the gun and the slug had to obturate upon firing to grab the rifling. I've used either the TC bore butter in my lube sizer, or even just the old Ideal lube, which is a tallow/wax mixture, AFAIK (with a bit of lamp black for colour).

I won't shoot black in the '86. It's just too much filth to clean up.

For smokeless I've had good results with Reloader 7. I like a powder that takes up more room in the case. IMR powders give me squibs if I'm not careful to get the powder to the back of the case before firing.

 

[Randy B]

I purchased a used Pederosoli about 7 or 8 years ago and was stunned by the accuracy!!. Since that time I have purchased an older B00 Marlin with the ballard style rifiling. Two Uberti Highwalls and a Stainless Laminated Ruger num 1 and I took the time to build A custom 45-70 on a Ruger Num 1 with a MacLennan 14 twist heavy contour Stainless Barrel. The 45-70 quickly became one of my favorites!!

 

[vagrantviking]

Get ahold of the people at Valleyview and see when they are having a BP shoot. http://valleyviewgunclub.com/Home_Page.html

I know most will be happy to show and talk guns as long as you have questions. Might be people with a line on something second hand too.

 

[griaguns]

I have about 8 X 45-70s and 4 X 50-70s from original Springfield military rifles,sharps Borchardt,Pedersoli Creedmoors 45-70 and a Pedersoli Gemmer 50-90. All are accurate using the original battle sights or the Soule type sight.Soule sights are probably easier Mopping between shots helps as well as the blow tube,bullet size is very important and you should slug the bore of your rifle to get the bore diameter and then cast and size your bullet about 2 thou over bore diameter ( molds can be bought to the size required. I just recieved a new mold for my 50-70 Springfields from NEI they are realy good to deal with and can tweek a mold to the diameter needed) I use soft (95-5 %) as they size well and will be kind to the older rifling,a wax cookie will also help keep the fouling soft. When not using black powder or if time will not allow thorough cleaning after a shoot I use 12 1/2 Grns of Trail Boss behind either a 405 grn bullet or even a 520grn Lyman Postel bullet.There is no recoil to speak of and the accuracy is very good.Once fired I do not full length size the brass just neck size and carry on,brass lasts a long time.