Long range 45-70

[mike herth]

What rate of twist and bullet length is desirable for the 45-70 for long range? My body is telling me my 45-110 needs to retire.

[semtav]

I'd be more inclined to see how far you can download your 45-110 before giving up on it.
With your pp chamber, I don't think seating your bullet 3/4 into the case will give up as much accuracy as some claim.
Add Kenny's wadstack, or even more to the equation, and you might find you can still shoot your 110 comfortably.

[DeadEye]

Mike dig around and see if you find the data on the two lads that won the 1000 yard Phoenix match a couple years ago. They were both shooting 45-70's in the midst of all the big calibers. I'm sure DD can help us here.

Paul

[Don McDowell]

Mike in an 18 twist 45-70 or 45-90 for that matter, 525-530 gr bullets ( 1.42 long) seem to be about the limit. 16 twist you can go up to 545 (1.47 long) or so, but then again if you're shooting patched loads you'll be pushing hard into 45-90 powder charges.
Now that's not to say that you can't get along quite well with the long heavy bullets out to 600 maybe 8 in good conditions.
The grease groove bullets Aviator is shooting in his 45-70 and putting the grumbles on Creedmoor shooters every where he goes is a reduced diameter bullet with 3 reduced bands and seated shallow in the case on top of a bunch of powder.

[kwilliams]

Mike
Bore dia. PP are a little softer to shoot than a GG or a DD paper patch. Also 1f powder helps some too. How much does your rifle way? My Shiloh with std. weight barrel is kind of rude my on shoulder, but my 16lb bull barrel is mild. If you are brave, drill a hole under the butt plate and pour in a lead cylinder to add some mass as some souls have done in the past.
kw

[TexasMac]

Mike
Bore dia. PP are a little softer to shoot than a GG or a DD paper patch. Also 1f powder helps some too. How much does your rifle way? My Shiloh with std. weight barrel is kind of rude my on shoulder, but my 16lb bull barrel is mild. If you are brave, drill a hole under the butt plate and pour in a lead cylinder to add some mass as some souls have done in the past.
kw

One caution you might consider if you follow KW's advice to add lead to your stock. If using an existing through-bolt hole or drilling a new hole, it's a good idea to pour the lead into a metal cylinder of some type that fits snugly into the hole. The reason is the lead will oxidize over time, swelling up and reportedly cracking the stock if not constrained by the cylinder. At one time there was a fellow that sold aluminum cylinders that perfectly fit the through-bolt hole of Browning BPCR for just that purpose. If the cylinder is slightly smaller it can be tapped to enlarge the diameter.

Wayne

[mike herth]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.
Paul, good idea! I checked in BPC NEWS and found Steve Farringer uses a BACO GG money bullet in his 45-70 16 ROT Shiloh with great results so I assume a similar length PP bullet would also work well. Thanks for the tought!

[Kurt]

If recoil is a problem I would use one of these before I would use lead.
This would be more effective than just adding weight.
http://www.mercuryrecoil.com/suppressors/index.htm#top

[Don McDowell]

The mercury recoil reducers work well, but they also throw the balance of the gun off a bit.
I think that in the end putting a good recoil pad like a limb saver or pachmayer decelerator on and getting the correct length of pull does as much good as anything.

[Distant Thunder]

I have found that my 14 1/2 pound Hepburn chambered in .45-70 and loaded with 83.0 grains of Swiss 1 1/2 under a 525 grain bore diameter paper patch bullet at just under 1300 fps to be both very comfortable to shoot and accurate enough to win several Creedmoore matches over the past several years. The barrel is an 18-twist Badger and the bullet is 1.435" long.

I have shot this rifle and load through 4 days of Creedmoor and never had a problem with the recoil, to tell the truth I hardly notice the rifle going off even after 200 plus rounds. I do have a lace-on recoil pad on the rifle and a cheek pad in order to have a good cheek contact with the stock while shooting Creedmoore with iron sights. These two items reduce the felt recoil.

YMMV

[Kurt]

I shot a .45-110 hunting rifle at the shiloh range that I don't think weight 10# and it had I think three mercury recoil suppressors in it and it felt like a .308 going off.

[mike herth]

DT,
What mold is that for the bullet you described?

[Distant Thunder]

Mike that bullet is from a mold I made years ago. It is a modified elliptical similar to the ones Arnie Seitz is designing and are listed in the BACO catalog. I made several molds for other shooters like the one I use, I have no idea what became of them. I should get a drawing off my old computer for that bullet and post it here.

Here is a picture of it.

EPP4.jpg

[Aviator]

Yes, my 45-70 Shiloh 74 seems to work pretty well for both BPCR Silhouette, and BPTR long range.
It is a 16 twist, and I seem to be one of the few people left shooting grease groove bullets (I use the BACO 459542M5).

[Kurt]

That bullet is pretty close to this one. I think it has about a .200" semi ball maybe a little larger.
Paul Jones cut mine and it is a good design.

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