Those of you loading 45-70??
 

I have a pedersoli (new) and am planning on using 405 cast lead projectiles. Going by the Load data for a trap door type reload (only one I could find with IMR3031 and. 405gr bullet) Min. Is 45.5 gr of 3031 which gives approx 1597 fts at approx 17,300 cup. Now the Max they show is 48.5 gr of 3031 which is approx 1706 at 21,000cup. This gun can handle more than the old trap doors and are rated at 29,000cup but are all tested to 35,000, I have no plans to go past about 25,000 however 50gr of 3031 looks like it will be a compressed load. Has anyone played with the components I listed.

Actually,,,I think 1600-1700 will be fast enough so I will make 10 at 45.5, 10 at 46.5, 10 at 47.5 and 10 at 48.5 and let the gun tell me. Please post comments though please.

That will make a good load. I have used it in a few 45-70s, like the SXS, that prefer lower pressure loads. You may also want to try Varget, better velocity at lower pressure.

I have a 1886 , love it. I don't load it up much. Brass was a bit hard to find!

Kinda broke my heart as I wrecked about 4 brass because I didn’t set the die off the shell holder at full stroke. It was trying to crimp it as I was still shove the bullet in the case, Then,,,,I read the instructions lol

If you want a consistent quality crimp without risking your cases, get a Lee Factory Crimp die and do it as a separate (last step). A little more work but worth it in my opinion. Also make sure your cases are all the same length if you're using the seating die to crimp. Different lengths can play havoc with the process.

I shoot a 405 gr. trapdoor load

53 thrown grains of triple 7 with one wonder wad for compression.
I use the Lee crimp die
Low pressure load with a hint of smoke

Yup im using that

Oh OK, that's not how I read post #4. Looked like you were seating and crimping in one step

I wasnt trying to do it, just didn’t have it set right, I do like the separate crimper once I got to that point lol

I generally load only 40gr of 3031 for 425gr hard cast bullets which produces around 1400 FPS out of my Marlin 1895. The highest I ever loaded was to 54gr (compressed) of 3031 but it was pretty stout and plenty of un-burnt powder. I have also used IMR 4198 with good success as well in the 45-70.

H322, IMR & H4198, RL7, H335, Benchmark are all good powders. Some like H4895 for lighter bullets.

Have 4 Marlin 1895's, load both cast and jacketed, mild to teeth rattling, all safe in modern 1895's. Lot's of stuff works.

As yyc states above are best powders.
I have loaded about 6 diff bullets and powder combos.
My fave is h4198 and 300gr Speer. 0 at 200 17 low at 300 an 5.5 high at 100.
Pretty much all I carry anymore from my safeoplenty.

curious what once fired brass is worth?

If it's the short brass from Hornady's 325gr FTX, it ain't worth much at all, unless you want to reload those gummy points. A lot of better bullets out there though.

You can usually get 30 to 50 cents per, depending on make and condition. The Rem and WW brass being what people are generally looking for.

By way of further explanation, the Hornady loaded 325gr FTX brass is 2.040" in length. If you're going to reload those bullets, you have to use that "short" brass or your rounds won't cycle in a Marlin lever gun.

Hornady brass used in their 350gr FP loads is standard length - 2.100", as is their component brass that you can buy. It's good brass and can be used for all loads.

Using the short brass in published maximum load data for other bullets can cause problems due to the reduced capacity.

Had one briefly
 

really an experiment in paper patching with 500 gr hard cast. Try it! Might get one again in a better quality single shot.