45 70 500 gr katadhin bbl - anyone w/data?
Yep, I'm being "silly". Picked up a 45-70 katadhin/prohunter barrel for my encore. Loaded up some 300 gr hornady #4500 HP's over 60gr of 8208XBR, from published data; BUT I also have some cast 500gr spitzer from the Lee mold (459-500-3r) - anyone out there have any good and more recent experience with this bullet? Kinda liking the looks of Trail Boss data, just did some eyeballing at the bench - looks like 12-15 gr of TB will fit under the fully seated bullet BUT am seeing pressure warnings all over the net (and see that they publish 8-10 gr TB under a 485 cast in the Hodgdon manual, for trapdoor rifles), so I understand the pressure warnings for the antiques. Note: I am mainly a Hodgdon fan, with a couple AA powders for pistols and the previously mentioned TB & 8208. I do not want to load black powder, but do have some FFG triple 7 if there's a good recipe for it out there.
Here we go . . . .
Here we go . . . .
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I have seen more wasted 45-70's than any other cartridge. 2 rolling blocks, a Ruger #1, several shotgun double rifle conversions and a TC pistol barrel. Seems pressures crosses the line from working good to making scrap metal without much warning. You are wise to look for pressure tested data.
I have a Mexican small ring Mauser in 45-70 I got from Mr.45-70 on his deathbed from liver cancer. It ate 1000's of rounds that took the extractor and forearm out of the #1 on the first shot. Good lesson for balloon head cases with proper support.
I ripped the recoil lug through the factory laminated stock of my 600 Rem in 45-350 R Mag using 540 hard cast gas checks. 11 1/8 inch music wire rods and lots of microbed later; I tested the repair by strapping the rifle to a Volkswagon tire and wheel using 1 inch nylon tubular strap. I fried a dozen or with a lanyard to test the repair. Recoil would slide the entire assembly rearward about a foot and stand it right up on the tread. I shot about a dozen offhand but the recoil got to me so back in the tire sling it went to get rid of the remaining ammo. As a side note the repaired wood stock held but I had a special order Brown Precision fiberglass one made. The second surprising feature of that load was the bullets would go in almost 5 feet in undisturbed hard soil. The way I finally found the first one was to push a 36 inch steel cleaning rod into the bullet channel, dig along using the rod as guide and then as a pointer.
I built an adjustable breach seater for the 45-350. Those big 540 grain bullets were seated in the barrel without the gas check. A full case of DuPont 4Fg held in by a thin card wad was then chambered. I entered the local unlimited class Black Powder Iron Chicken shoot that combo. It seems that after the first 5 rounds they were concerned about the damage to their targets. I got to finish the match with a loaner original 50-70. Was fun watching the 200 meter rams slowly tipping over from a good hit.
I once loaded some 44 mag with all the 4Fg I could compress under the 245 grain Lyman 429421. It felt like a full power load of 2400.0 -
Thank you very much for the info Charlie; for anyone else out there - the Hodgdon annual manual and Lee books so far seem the best places to start. 0
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