Best place for 45-70 brass ? Other question on powder?

[0440]

Over the years I've been using 5744 (smokeless) powder, 20 grains. I pack down 1/4 piece of tissue paper over powder with a pencil eraser end (no metal). that keeps powder over primer. then I use a .462 dia. lead bullet, about 480 grain. Since most trapdoors have been over shot, the .458 dia bullet may be sloppy so I increased it to .462 dia. No failures to date.

[0440]

over the years I've used 20 grains of 5744 (smokeless) powder with a .462 dia lead bullet. I place a 1/4 piece of tissue over the powder with the end of a pencil eraser (no metal). this keeps powder over primer.
I use a .462 dia lead 480 grain (or about) lead bullet. The trapdoors are over shot so I use the .462 dia bullet. tighter fit. never had any problems.

[QCI Springfield]

I think 45-70 brass has gotten a lot better since I was a kid. The case head has a lot more metal in it, no matter what brand. Maybe that's part of the reason you gotta work at getting 70 gr. of BP into a load. I see 45-70 in bulk at most gun shops and sporting goods stores that handle reloading stuff. Like Snake River/ACE in Pokatello or Black Sheep in Lewiston or Coeur d'Alene.

jn

I have not really had much difficulty getting the 70gr. charge into the case. I use a long drop tube, and with the 500gr. bullets I cast an extra hard bullet and turned it down a bit to compress the powder, that way I do not deform a good bullet by using it as a compressor. With 405gr. loads I do not even need to compress the powder, just use the drop tube. When you think about it, the original inside primed copper cases were probably pretty close to the internal volume of modern brass. Then again, I have always read, over and over, "MODERN brass won't take X grains of black powder, due to thicker case heads, etc. etc." WELL, I have found 40gr. of FFG is barely compressed in .45 Colt. The original charge of 18gr. in the .32WCF? Ditto. Same with 38gr. in the .38WCF. Likewise with 48gr. in the .38-55. I have read the specs on old ammo in old catalogues, and in every case I have been able to easily duplicate the load in modern brass.

[Rick B]

Found the one & only bag of 50 Remington at Gander Mountain for $43.00 and this was one of only 4 bags of any type of brass left in the store. The shelf's were bare. I turned around and found 100 brand new Starlines for $51.00 shipped to the house. I wished I found that 1st. Rick

[joem]

Years ago I bought some Starline brass directly from the company. By the way I drove down to the company and paid cash.

[da gimp]

Years ago I bought some Starline brass directly from the company. By the way I drove down to the company and paid cash.

Starline is about a 40 minute or so drive for us.....................

[joem]

Starline is about a 40 minute or so drive for us.....................

When I head down that way I always stop a Sierra and try to get some factory seconds.

[DRAGONFLYDF]

I load 55gr of triple 7 FFG under a 405gr cast bullet, works great for me.