Good Bullet For My Miroku 45-70

[bruce m]

chris,
the std 45/70 chamber is as you describe.
it must work well enough, as most guys can get it to shoot.
adding freebore could be described as unnecessary, and possibly a retrograde step.
fire lapping 0.001" out of a barrel would be sacrelidge, particularly in a quality barrel.
those old badgers were hand lapped to certain dimensions.
in fact lapping is usually used in barrels only to take out tool marks and high spots.
why make changes to a well put together rifle to avoid measuring inside fired case and bore diameters to get the right bullet?
from what I have read, those brownings might suit a .460 bullet better than a 0.458, but this is not from experience.
bruce.

[mdeland]

Throating or fire lapping does not create a true freebore which technically is parallel sided, it makes a taper forward lengthening the throat more than widening it. The reason I like fire lapping is because it removes radial chamber reaming scratches and allows deeper bullet seating.
Paper patching does the same thing only much slower.
I have found it to be a very useful procedure for problematic barrels that are difficult to make behave properly.
What is sacrilegious about taming an ornery barrel that refused to behave with any good proven bullet design? Guns like this remind me of my Palomino horse I had as a kid that needed a good rap between the ears from a lanyard broom handle I carried on my saddle, ever week or so to adjust his attitude. True story!

[beltfed]

Std 45-70 chamber like you describe is just "wanting" for a DDEPP
Dual Diameter Elliptical Paper Patched bullet..
beltfed/arnie

[bruce m]

arnie,
I thought the 45/70 chamber was for greasers period.
oh sorry I forgot, dual diameter pp bullets deal with that perfectly, and you can design a bullet to exactly fit your gun with your cases.
bruce.

[VectorMan]

Bring you rifle to Miller Glen, and I’ll have some extra loads for you to try.

I shoot PPB in the Browning 45-70 in Silhouette matches here in the Midwest.

Bullet: BACO elliptical cast .444 in 20-1 lead from BACO. Drops around 524 grains. No sizing.

Paper: BACO onion, wrapped wet and put on a hot plate to dry.

Powder: Swiss 1.5 76 to 78 grains by weight dropped thru a 24" tube slowly.

Compression: None

Wad: .06 LDPE from BACO.

Primer: CCI BR2. Under primer wad of notebook paper between brass and primer.

Brass: Starline, fireformed and annealed.

Sight taper crimp, just enough to hold the bullet in but you can still spin it in the case.

This load is pretty accurate out to the Ram line. Using A DZ scope it will move the bullet impact exactly 1 M.O.A. when the spotter tells you to.

My Browning has had the trigger worked on by Lee Shaver.

This load is so accurate I bought another mould as a spare and am thinking about getting another rifle just like this one.

[Glen Ring]

Thanks Kevin. I need to pick your brain on the paper patch bullets. We have decided our matches this summer will be Miller Kansas, Graham Texas, Oklahoma City and Raton New Mexico.

We are shooting less Lever action matches and more BPCR matches...but you should come to our regional Lever Gun match in September.
If you don't have the lever guns needed no worries. I'll be working the match and not shooting so you can shoot my rifles.