Good Bullet For My Miroku 45-70

[Glen Ring]

Finally a bullet my 45-70 likes. RCBS 45-500-BPS, After many tried..this is THE one for this rifle.
This 1885 has been very picky rifle.

[bruce m]

so glen,
now you have to work out what it is about that bullet that makes it work.
bruce.

[Glen Ring]

Bruce
This is the only bullet I've tried that will reliably chamber in this rifle. I don't know all the technical/slang terms...but the rifling starts IMMEDIATELY at the end of the case mouth. The nose of the bullet fits nicely and the very first band engages the rifling very slightly with a 20-1 alloy. I have tried several molds...this one is the bullet I think. Now the only thing that needs work is me.

[Gussy]

Postel works fine in mine. Just have to seat the bullet so that it just touched the rifling. I usually run the loaded round just into the sizer to eliminate any flare.

[Glen Ring]

Gussy
I have been shooting the Lyman postel bullet for about a year and it does pretty well. I don't shoot paper, but our range has 10 inch plates at 3oo,400 and 500 meters. I could only hit the 500 meter plate about 30% of the time, while Jeanne was pounding it with her 40-65. This rifle seems to like the RCBS bullet better. Now I need to work on me. I use a taper crimp die to remove the bell. The bullet is just held by friction . Jeanne and I are still learning about all this stuff. This is my second year and Jeanne just started, but we're getting better and are now AAA shooters. Our goals are to be Master Class shooters by the end of summer.

[ChrisF]

I shoot a 535 money Bullet reduced first band

[bruce m]

what trouble did you have chambering rounds with previous bullets?
bruce.

[Glen Ring]

Bruce
I liked the Lyman 457125...but the nose was too big to fit the bore, no matter what alloy.
The Lyman 457132 was pretty good in the rifle..But I could not get consistent accuracy at 500 meters.
The RCBS 45-500 seems to fit the best. The nose will fit properly and the first band engages the rifling very slightly..even if I purposely shoot the rifle dirty for several rounds.
My hit average came up at 500 meters .

[bruce m]

sounds like you need to establish your bore diameter.
knowing this can save a lot of money on bullet moulds.
just keeping trying moulds can be expensive compared to ordering one that will fit.
reading would suggest that some of the basic brands vary in themselves, so it is just pot luck getting one that fits.
I have read of someone buying 3 lyman moulds, same model no, and all were different.
baco seem true to claim as is brooks.
kal pp moulds have been true to size for me.
if you accurately measure inside diameter of twice fired cases and bore diameter, getting a good mould is easy.
and then you don't need to size cases either.
bruce.

[mdeland]

If it were me I would either get a throating reamer in that chamber or fire lap it a bit. Both will work and let you seat any bullet out further, lapping will give you a bit of taper. I've used both but I think fire lapping worked better and is a less drastic change.

[gunlaker]

The Browning/Winchester BPCR rifles will shoot just fine the way they are. I'm pretty sure that Michael Rix set NRA records with one. Those Badger barrels are pretty consistent. I would be very surprised if it is significantly different than 0.450"x0.458".

I think that any of the off the shelf molds are hit and miss. Oversized noses are pretty common. My Browning BPCR liked a .460" diameter bullet. It shot pretty well with the BACO 459535M1, but I think the bullet it liked best was a custom Creedmoor bullet by Steve Brooks. It was .460" but with a couple of reduced driving bands. The nose was .449" and the were bands at .450" and 0.454" if I remember.

Chris.

[Glen Ring]

Chris
That is just about the dimensions of this RCBS bullet. It drops at just under 500 grains with 20-1. The nose fits well and chambers well. I lubrisized the bullets at 459. I think the gun shoots much better now. I am not skilled/brave enough to do anything to a barrel.
I just need to keep up with Jeanne and her old 40-65.

[gunlaker]

Chris
That is just about the dimensions of this RCBS bullet. It drops at just under 500 grains with 20-1. The nose fits well and chambers well. I lubrisized the bullets at 459. I think the gun shoots much better now. I am not skilled/brave enough to do anything to a barrel.
I just need to keep up with Jeanne and her old 40-65.

Glen I once owned an RCBS mold too, the 530 grain silhouette one. If I remember, it shot pretty well in my Shiloh, but I wasn't a very good shot in those days so it's hard to tell . It was the first mold I ever used. The only problem I had with it was that the bullets always had whiskers. That could also be because I didn't know how to cast then either

I just found one of the Brooks Creedmoor bullets I mentioned earlier. It weighs 525gr, 1.4" long, three bands at 0.460", one at 0.453", one at 0.450" ( this one is part of the nose ), and the nose itself is just under 0.449". I actually had it cut for a C. Sharps highwall with a sloppy chamber. It was the best shooting bullet in that rifle. I now have a newer C. Sharps highwall and the chamber design is completely different. It appears to be very similar to the one in my old Browning one as far as I can tell. I'll have to try some of these bullets in it and see how it shoots.

Chris.

[mdeland]

Seems to me that it was rather common for the Browning guns to have short throats if I remember correctly, my friends is, and counter bored crowns that loaded fouling in the early guns. Either of these conditions can quite easily be corrected.
In my opinion it makes sense to correct a guns faults with some judicious tweaking after a bit of investigation rather than live with a condition that will not allow the optimum accuracy potential.
Bullet selection is the second tier of accuracy search after first selecting or correcting a chamber and throat design prone to demonstrate difficulty.

[gunlaker]

Mike, it's not only common, it's the way they were all made as far as I'm aware. They have a 12.5 degree angle from the outside of the case mouth right into the rifling. No cylindrical freebore.

Personally I think they want the biggest diameter bullet you can fit into the case, and some reduced bands to get as much of the bullet into the bore as is practical.

Chris.