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If anyone was on the fence about loading lead with pistol powder give it a shot. Here are my results.
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Did someone say 45/70 plus 405gr Lead plus Unique
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How much Unique, which bullet, brass, primer...tell the tale man.
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16.5grs of Unique (Max load out of the lyman manual at 27300 CUP @ 1286fps)
Winchester Brass
Winchester Large Rifle Primers
Seated to the crimp groove (2.520")
The bullet is from Suters Choice. When I get threw those I have a stock of dardass cast on deck.
What a powder puff load. Practicing with the 45/70 is a hoot now. I am thinking this would still work over a deer or small black bear pretty hard.
Winchester Brass
Winchester Large Rifle Primers
Seated to the crimp groove (2.520")
The bullet is from Suters Choice. When I get threw those I have a stock of dardass cast on deck.
What a powder puff load. Practicing with the 45/70 is a hoot now. I am thinking this would still work over a deer or small black bear pretty hard.
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When using the Lee 405 grain flatbase, I get 1260 fps with 16 grains of Unique and have been shooting that combo as long as I have loaded the 45-70. It shoots well in my peep sighted Microgroove Marlin.
The Lee 405 hollowbase gets more velocity because more of the bullet is seated deeply in the case.
Congratulations......you have found cheap and accurate.....the Holy Grail!
Nice mild muzzle blast and clean burning. Very good load. Not at all painful to shoot. Would go through a bear lengthwise. Make sure the bullet has enough meplat and it should do for hunting inside 100 yards.
The Lee 405 hollowbase gets more velocity because more of the bullet is seated deeply in the case.
Congratulations......you have found cheap and accurate.....the Holy Grail!
Nice mild muzzle blast and clean burning. Very good load. Not at all painful to shoot. Would go through a bear lengthwise. Make sure the bullet has enough meplat and it should do for hunting inside 100 yards.
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Any idea what dose of Unique would do under an RD 425 and 350?35remington said:
Those are GC bullets, I'm not sure if that matters...I'm out of my comfort zone with reduced loads...seeking advice.
Hi,Ridgerunner665 said:
In my 450 Marlin 18.5" ported, using 15gr of Unique I get 1165fps with the 440gr and 1240fps with the 360gr Ranch Dog bullets. That's with water quenched WW alloy and gas checks. Without gas checks the same bullets go 20-30 fps faster but with less accuracy.
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With Lyman's 420gr mold they recommend a starting load of 11.0grains of Unique gets you 1006fps to max load of 13.5gr for 1163fps. This yielded 16800 to 27200 cup of pressure. They also used a 1/2gr polyester fiber wab, 5/8" square x 1/4" thick over the powder. They also used remington brass and primers.
With Lyman's 322gr mold they recommend a starting load of 9.5grains of Unique gets you 963fps to max load of 14.5gr for 1295fps. This yielded 9600 to 24400 cup of pressure. They also used a 1/2gr polyester fiber wab, 5/8" square x 1/4" thick over the powder. This was also used remington brass and primers.
Not exactly what you are looking for but gets you in the ball park.
Also Ranchdog may have some data as well. I would shoot him a PM.
With Lyman's 322gr mold they recommend a starting load of 9.5grains of Unique gets you 963fps to max load of 14.5gr for 1295fps. This yielded 9600 to 24400 cup of pressure. They also used a 1/2gr polyester fiber wab, 5/8" square x 1/4" thick over the powder. This was also used remington brass and primers.
Not exactly what you are looking for but gets you in the ball park.
Also Ranchdog may have some data as well. I would shoot him a PM.
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Nice group.
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The 45-70's like a big overgrown pistol cartridge loaded this way. Beware of significantly greater bullet seating, as it'll drive the pressures up.
Compare seating depth of your bullet versus others to determine, to some degree, suitability.
Stay away from the extra heavies with Unique.
Try it without dacron first, as it will likely not be necessary, but when and if you do use dacron, don't use it as Lyman suggests.
Almost inevitably once one of these threads comes up one of the other fast powder loads of 13.0 grains Red Dot gets mentioned. With the same Lee bullet I average around 1115 to 1130 fps.
With some of these loads the pressures are getting such that a gascheck is worth looking into, but I get acceptable accuracy with plainbase bullets.
Very pleasant to shoot.
Compare seating depth of your bullet versus others to determine, to some degree, suitability.
Stay away from the extra heavies with Unique.
Try it without dacron first, as it will likely not be necessary, but when and if you do use dacron, don't use it as Lyman suggests.
Almost inevitably once one of these threads comes up one of the other fast powder loads of 13.0 grains Red Dot gets mentioned. With the same Lee bullet I average around 1115 to 1130 fps.
With some of these loads the pressures are getting such that a gascheck is worth looking into, but I get acceptable accuracy with plainbase bullets.
Very pleasant to shoot.
I just loaded a bunch of 350 grain cast bullets with 11.5 grains of unique. Then I read elsewhere that the extra space needs to be stuffed with toilet paper. Is this necessary to have a filler? Once again Im in a situation where I might need a bullet puller
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I gotta try it! 
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I've yet to load any of my 405gr lead with Unique but I have had the same luck and tight pattering with Unique with Jacketed 240gr in the .444, 7 and 8 shots into double 4 leaf clover holes at 50 yards. At .44mag speeds with a bullet designed for that speed. Looking forward to playing with the 45/70
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