Shiloh Rifle Forums

Hello everyone,

New member on the forum. Got a 45-90 '74 in the queue at Shiloh. In my little casting collection I've got a couple molds for my 45-70 1886 (Lyman 457122 330 Gould and a Lee 405 HB ) that I can use for my pending toy but want something more silhouette-oriented. To complicate my request, I want this bullet to be relatively light to reduce recoil. I like Accurate Molds and was thinking about either the 46-405C, 46-413N or 46-425P. Something with a longer bearing surface that looked like it has a decent BC but still under 450 grains. Does anybody have any experience with these or can recommend something similar?

And to save everyone's time- no, I'm not interested in changing the caliber to 40-65 or 45-70. It's going to be a 45-90 (I have my brass and dies already) and it will eventually accompany me on a bison hunt. If it helps, I have experience loading BP in some oddballs including 9.3x72R, 16 gauge brass shotshell, 577-450 MH and 56-50 Spencer CF.

Glad to meet all of you and looking forward to your wisdom. Leadville Bill

Lot of variables to consider. Most importantly, what do you intend to do with the rifle other than one shot at a bison?

Then we can get into other areas, barrel twist, chamber, total weight of rifle on the sticks, alloy, choice of powder, sights, etc

Just as one can load a 45-70 up it is also possible to load the 45-90 down.

Have you looked at the Redding/Saeco & Lyman line of .45 Black Powder Rifle Moulds ?

Arriving at a balanced load for your purposes in your rifle is not difficult, yet it can be time and component consuming.

And it all hinges on what you intend to do with the rifle.

You might consider something like the Saeco 645 bullet, or something along the lines of the BACO 510 gr creedmoor or one or the other iterations of the 500 gr government bullet or postel bullet.
Recoil is a subjective thing and altho a 45-90 sounds scary, it's not.

Stock design has a lot to do with felt recoil as well. Stocks with drop to them are going to hurt worse than ones with a straight comb. I have a 45-90 CPA with straight comb stock and the felt recoil is less than my 45-70 Shiloh running the same 540 grain bullets.

You might bring this up when you finalize details on your build. Also, this might be considered heresy but…Pachmyer pads work. I know the hardened steel pads look better and more authentic. The thing is, you’re buying the rifle to shoot it, not just look at it.

What are the details of your rifle?
Hope it doesn't have the military buttstock.

We really need more info. Barrel weight, stock configuration. I have the 405, consider it an excellent bullet in my trapdoors. But I think it too light for your stated purpose. A good deer/300 yard bullet, but I would not shoot a bison with it.

The bullet that best fits the known criteria is the Saeco 645. A corresponding design in the Accurate catalog would be the 46-475c.

Even a Standard barrel Sharps is going to be at least a pound heavier than your 86. The recoil impulse will be far milder than you might think. You need to take advantage of this.

https://accu-riser.com/leather-butt-pad/

I use one of these on my 50-70 shooting a 630 grain bullet, FWIW.

I really like these Shockeater shirts with their recoil pad.
https://shockeater.com/product-category ... ng-shirts/

Thanks for the replies.

I should've clarified that I won't be using this bullet for hunting. For that I would got with something heavy with a big meplat. The bullet I'm looking for will be used for target/BPCR silhouette shooting. I anticipate the rifle will be 80% informal target shooting at my range to about 400-500 yards, 19% BPCR competition (unless I really get into it with time) and 1% hunting. I intend to try my hand at 1K yard someday if I ever get to Whittington or a similar event but I doubt it will be a regular occurrence.

More details on the rifle. It will be a LRE, 30" heavy octagon, steel shotgun butt (the military style plate and crescent plates in general on anything other than a Win 1892 are the work of the devil), pewter forearm, MVA #113 front and LR Buffalo Soule on the rear. If it makes weight, wonderful, if it doesn't I'll shoot it at local events but not for score if the match directors let me.

At this point I've only been casting with range scrap and intend to stay with that but if I get the bug for competitive shooting I suppose I'll go with better alloy as I fine-tune loading. Planning on using 1F and 2F Goex, at least until my supply runs dry and I'm forced to look for Swiss.

I've got RCBS and Lyman handles so I've generally avoided SAECO molds. I've really been pleased with the quality of the brass Accurate mold I got for my Spencer replica that I'm thinking of getting another mold from him.

If I left out any more info you need let me know and I'll fill in the gaps.

Thanks, LB

What barrel rifling twist did you specify?

A 1:20 or 1:18 rifling twist?

That's a good question. I didn't know Shiloh offered different twist rates and Bill Goodman didn't ask me when we went over the order form.

Now that it's on the radar, I assume you'd want to go with the faster twist to stabilize the longer bullet, or is there a concern with overstabilization on the lighter ones?

Thanks, LB

Should results matter:

Four of the top six shooters at the Desert International last month used 16 twist barrels, one used a 32-16 Ron Smith gain twist, one used an 18 twist,
shooting from 500-1,000 yards.

A 16 twist Shiloh 45-90 was high score in the World 1,000 yard event.

Correction, the 1,000 yard high score was a 16 twist Shiloh 45-100, 532 grain grease groove bullet.

Shiloh's standard twist in the 45s is 1-18. 1-16 is offered as an option.

If you want to reduce recoil, I would recommend thinking about a more normal weight bullet for target shooting but using Fg powder. A buffalo arms 459540m3 is pretty much a guaranteed thing in a Shiloh chambered in 45-90.

If you don't shoot it off hand then an extra 2" of barrel won't hurt either.

That's my 2 cents.

Chris.