I'm all castin' & coatin'
What's the details on that coating?
Reloading 45-70
- Thread starter Dfnjetproductions
- Start date
What's the details on that coating?
Ford Blue powder coat
An advantage to using CAST bullets (aside from cheaper cost & enjoyment making them) is it’s so easy to down load them to minimal velocity for practice. I’ve used 10-13 gr of shotgun powder under a 300 gr pill for VERY MILD recoiling rounds out to 50 yards or so. Accurate enough for 3 shot rapid fire offhand practice as well as “moving deer” targets. Now your powder usage is 1/3 of full loads & bullets costs are WAY down. When you want/need full power loads you still use the cast bullets, they perform VERY well on deer, no need for jacketed pills at all.
I have loaded and shot 45-70 almost exclusively for the last 15 years. It's a wonderful round. If you plan to do as.much shooting as you claim, there is no other way to go than casting your own bullets. Pick up the Cast Bullets Handbook by Lyman and read it cover to cover. One piece of advice....buy a quality mold. I fussed and messed with undersized Lee molds for years until the frustration finally got to me. Marlin rifles tend to like "fat" bullets and with cast, the best fit is 0.002" over bore diameter. Slug your bore, my guess would be it will slug at .457-.458".....this will mean you need a mold of AT LEAST .459-.460. I recommend NOE molds, I dumped all my Lee gear and use NOE exclusively and have never looked back. I have never powder coated, and never plan to, the 45-70 uses a bullet with a large lube groove for a reason. I pan lube everything with great results, and have never ran into problems with leading. Shooting undersized bullets is the number one cause of leading followed closely by improper lubing or bullet alloy. Shooting that volume, I'd stay away from jacketed bullets unless you have a barrel supplier readily available, you will never wear out a barrel with cast and proper pan lubing.
Okay so. I've read through a good clump of a casting manual... i feel like If I read and completely understand that whole manual I will ha e the brain compactly to fly the the moon but that's another conversation. I will be casting. 100%. Already have some tire shops saving pales of wheel weights for me. I haven't slugged my barrel yet but yeah I'm guessing it will be around .457, .458 as well. So your saying the mold should be .002 larger? Is that to account for the -+.001? Wouldn't I get a mold at .458 and scrap/remelt anything .002+-.
I am going to try my best to stay away from Lee equipment. Not being a hater but I am hearing quality is far superior with well everything else. Haha I could be out to lunch or being to gucci but I liked the look of the accurate molds and its crazy you can choose a different mold for each cavity. Up to six cavities!
As for the barrel... well I shoot my firearms. They don't sit in a safe as a conversation piece. So everyone knows. Yeah it's easy for me to send 200 plus rounds each through my AR and P226. Will I shoot 800 rounds downrange a month will my Marlin. Well sh*t maybe, but realistically its going to be at least 400 and that's if I don't let a friend shoot it. That's what Bullet lube is for. Right my casting brothers. See I read at least some important parts of that manual.
Okay dude your blowing my mind right now. Please explain. I plan on doing all my reloading by the book but this makes my ears perk up.
Some guys seem to get away with 0.001" over bore so for example they shoot a .459 bullet in a .458 bore. I personally have had spotty accuracy going that route. I use a minimum of 0.002" over bore. My barrel slugs at 0.458.....my NOE mold drops them at 0.4605....and I size them back to 0.460 using a push thru sizer and install a gas check at the same time.
Bigger is better but I'm not convinced it's all related to the bore dimensions.
The best cast accuracy seems to come from the largest diameter bullet that will chamber. The larger diameter bullet is better centralized from the start and has a better chance of entering the rifling straight and concentric with the bore. I have rifles with generously sized chambers that shoot poorly until the bullet diameter is increased to .003-.004" over groove depth, because the bullet fits the chamber tighter.
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