Henry Rifle Forums

Thinking of developing a lite 45-70 plinking load. Most folks seem to like Unique. I'm thinking of 12 grains of unique with 405 grain MBC bullets. Any thoughts?

That looks like a good solution. Have you thought of using a round ball load?

Or how about a paper patched .45 Colt bullet?

A really old Lyman (#44ed) manual lists a load of 11 to 15gr of Unique behind a 405 gr jacketed bullet.

Travlin wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 25, 2022 9:40 pm

That looks like a good solution. Have you thought of using a round ball load?

I have a bunch of those .405 grain bullets, so I think that I will give those a shot. May experiment later with round, or paper patched. Thanks for the input!

Some 2400 may work with those also.
I don't shoot the cal. so have no experience, but
I shoot 24 grs. of 2400 under a 325+ gr cast for a real pleasant plinker out of the 444's.

RP

I shoot a lot of the 405 gr. bullets with 13 gr. Unique and they make for great all day plinkers and powerful enough to take care of most woods needs.
Remember it is a 405 gr. chunk of lead and at 900 FPS will tear stuff up!
Here is a 45-70 load comparison I did using my 1885 High Wall and my Marlin 1895. This is Part 1 and the High loved the 13 gr. load!!
https://youtu.be/FM_T6Lb_TbI

A note here that I was getting 1100 FPS out of the Marlin with the 13 gr. Unique load !

This probably should go without saying, but with any .45-70 hard cast lead handload, remember the gas check.

Pitchman1968 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:22 pm

This probably should go without saying, but with any .45-70 hard cast lead handload, remember the gas check.

I am using the MBC #1 Buffalo bullets with their Hi-Tek coating. I haven't had any leading problems with these bullets at higher velocities. Any thoughts?

I’ve used 12-13 grains of Unique under a 405gr Missouri .459 coated bullet in my 1888 Springfield Trapdoor. Very mild and accurate. I usually cut a 3/4”X 3/4” square piece of toilet tissue and use a dowel to push it down to keep the powder up against the primer. Tried 2400 with no luck in accuracy.

I load trail boss for plinking. Usually need some fiber fill behind the bullet to keep the powder load compressed enough when they are horizontal in the rifle. Light recoil, good practice rounds