I'm a .45-70 Newbstick... need some advice!!

[mikeystew]

Why would you want to hunt with a .308 and not your 45/70 Guide gun?????

That's what I'm thinking? I would do just the exact opposite.

 

[Hungry]

Ah yes.... This wonderful Marlin 1895 GG deserves to be fondled and since I'm not a walnut stock kinda guy, this rifle gets out on nice days. My synthetic stock'ed M700 .308 SPS gets bounced around (climbing fences and rock piles) in the field. I could not ever dream of scratching this nice walnut on my Guide Gun.

Wild West in Alaska advertises (don't wanna hijack my own thread ) fiberglass stocks from MPI (I believe) of Oregon. Hey, they even feature a parkerized Guide Gun on their web site. Now, that parkerizing could be a summer project. yuk yuk yuk

I've always wanted a parkerized lever gun! yeeeeha!! I'm just provoking you all!

Have a look! Hey, maybe I should start this discussion in another thread....







Barney

 

[Andy]

Welcome aboard!

Now you need three things:

- 500+ gr cast bullets;
- H4198, Re7 and/or H322 (or WC-735) powder; and
- a Lyman neck Sizing Die.

What I have found with WC-735, is that it is not suitable for reduced loads in the 45-70 (or any other cartridge IMO) - it needs to be used for at or near max loads (40K+ psi), or you risk hangfires or squib loads.

This is not an indictment of WC-735, so no need to spread rumours that it's a bad powder. Quite the contrary, it's an excellent ball powder with a burn rate near H322, it just is not suitable for reduced loads. I have found this to be true of any of the ball powders I have used (e.g. H335, N380, BLC-(2)), and additionally recommend a magnum primer.

For the 45-70 in a strong action that can handle 40K+ psi, with a 500gr bullet, you'd need to use 50.0+ grs of WC-735 and a magnum primer. I cannot recommend it for reduced "Trapdoor" loads - powders like H4198, SR4759 or faster, are much better suited for that.