Round ball loads for .45/70

sniper58

sniper58

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Hey folks,
I have recently come into possession of 2 bean cans full of cast round balls and some other stuff (molds x2, and 700 - 800 45 cal felt wads, bullet lube, and some 3/8' lead rods)
I measured the balls, and they are averaging .456 in. and weigh 145 gr

Has anyone loaded 2 of these balls in a .45/70 case, (even 1 at a time) and how did it work? I'm just looking for plinking loads to ring a 50 yd gong.

My plan is to use smokeless powder at "trapdoor" pressures, topped with 1 or 2 felt wads to hold the powder in place, then seat 2 balls on top. I use a Lee crimp die, and I did a couple of samples last night (no primer) They look like they should work.

Am I going to kill myself? or will this work.
I couldn't find much information about doing this on Google.

I got some .308 dia. gas checked 115 grain cast bullets that I have loaded with 13 gr of Green Dot already. trying for some light grouse loads for my .308 Win.

Help and opinions and hints gratefully received.

sniper58
 
I know nothing about shooting round balls in a 45-70, either. My guess is you could patch them with cloth and they would shoot so-so to 50 yards, but other than using up your find of lead balls, I can't see much point in it.

I am also not familiar with Green Dot powder, either, but virtually any fast powder will work for light loads with cast bullets in a bottle neck cartridge. The thing we used to try for was to get the cast bullets to shoot to the same point of impact as your hunting loads, at maybe about 15 to 20 yards. That way it is easy to take the heads off of grouse with your cast bullets.

It takes a lot of trials with the cast bullets and several different powders, to get the poi where you want it. For practical purposes you would have to be doing your loading where you can shoot to try it. Lots of fun and good satisfaction when you get it.
 
I've loaded single round ball for my 45/70. The balls I used measured .460 and I seated them with thumb pressure in an unsized but flared case to just below the center line of the ball. Very light crimp to retain the ball. Balls lubed with Alox.

Round balls do not have a lot of surface that contacts the lands and consequently velocity must be kept low or they "strip" out and are not accurate. I don't have good feelings about accuracy with balls as small as
.456 and you may have to patch them to get good bore contact.

At low speeds they will shoot minute of grouse head at 25 yards.

Believe my load was 10 grains of 5744 powder with large pistol primer. These loads were worked out by actually starting much higher (on the powder manufacturer tech's idea of what might work) and then working backwards until they were accurate. They had recommended 3 times as much powder which had no relationship to what I was trying to accomplish and shot all over the place. There are no concerns with reducing loads with 5744 as long as you have enough powder to get the ball out of the barrel. The loads are so quiet that I did a lot of checking with a rod between shots to be sure it had exited.

If you want to use loads at this velocity range you will have to count on either sight adjustment or a secondary sighting arrangement. I use a 3/4" eyepiece for a receiver sight which has a second hole drilled in it that is above the main body of the eyepiece receptacle. The spacing for the holes was worked out by measurement of the distance required to elevate the sight when it only had a single hole in the eyepiece. This worked interchangeably on both my 348 (.350 ball) and 45/70 without having to raise the slide of the sights. It is necessary to grind away the lower part of the eyepiece to provide clearance for bolt retraction.
 
sniper58 said:
Hey folks,
I have recently come into possession of 2 bean cans full of cast round balls and some other stuff (molds x2, and 700 - 800 45 cal felt wads, bullet lube, and some 3/8' lead rods)
I measured the balls, and they are averaging .456 in. and weigh 145 gr

Has anyone loaded 2 of these balls in a .45/70 case, (even 1 at a time) and how did it work? I'm just looking for plinking loads to ring a 50 yd gong.

My plan is to use smokeless powder at "trapdoor" pressures, topped with 1 or 2 felt wads to hold the powder in place, then seat 2 balls on top. I use a Lee crimp die, and I did a couple of samples last night (no primer) They look like they should work.

Am I going to kill myself? or will this work.
I couldn't find much information about doing this on Google.

I got some .308 dia. gas checked 115 grain cast bullets that I have loaded with 13 gr of Green Dot already. trying for some light grouse loads for my .308 Win.

Help and opinions and hints gratefully received.

sniper58
Click to expand...

Contact hs4570 on the board,he has done lots of round ball in 45-70:wave:
 
I used bullseye under a .458 ball (the ball is about 175 grains) seated by hand, and crimped sprue up in a slightly flared case. I put a dob of alox on top, and single loaded them for grouse. Worked dandy at up to 25 yards or so, I never tried them farther.
Sorry I don't remember the powder weight.
 
Round ball in 45/70

8.0 Grains Unique Unsized .457 round ball.. teflon tape wrapped.. Cotton filler.. Ball seated flush with Case neck. 22 inch #3 Ruger

1060..1022..1045..fps.. one inch at 50 yds..however 3 inch at 100 yds strung horizontally.

10.0 grains Unique..as above configured Round ball
1235..1274..1247 fps... 2.00 inch/100yds

1.5 Grains Bullseye 1 ball seated directly on top of powder
466..440..431 fps under one inch at 25 yards. ( Will blow through 1x4 pallet board that target was stapled to)

Two round balls, a/a configured Teflon taped rnd.ball and seated flush.

14.8 gr. unique...1472..1489..1498 6 holes from three shots at 50 yds/ 2.60 inch.
 
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Thanks guys!

The load for the .308 is from Lyman's Handbook. I'll try and get them to shoot to the crosshairs at 25 yds.

I've got somewhere to start with the .45/70 now

With two wads and 2 balls, I can push the balls down about 1/8" into the case. I might try 1 more wad for a slightly compressed load. The wads are "Ox-Yoke" Wonder Wads. I checked a bunch more balls and the average is just over .457. That should grab some rifling, and I'm hoping for the wads to seal the bore a bit so as not to get any flame cutting of the ball from a loose fit.

I'm using brand new Starline brass, WLR primers and a Ruger #1 rifle.
32.0 gr of IMR 4198 Should be low pressure and around 1300fps
 
Well, I went and tried them today.
The round-ball loads shot an 8" pattern at 25 yards.
The .308 cast bullets on the other hand made a very nice cloverleaf about 1" below point of aim at 25 yards. They chronographed at 1950 fps (average) I will tweak this load a bit and see if I can get them hitting a bit higher. Very quiet and no recoil.
 
Sniper58; Not withstanding the balls might be a bit small I think you need to find a slower load than 1300. Look for something that gives you 1000 or less.
I never chrony'd my 5744 loads but suspect they were in the 700-900 range.
 
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