.50 3 1/4” to .45/70 re-barrel

[NDuckhunter2]

I ended up sending the sharps in for a simple rebarrel to .45/70 and the guy did take my offer on the .44/77 RRB rifle. So all is well.

[NDuckhunter2]

Received a call last week that my rifle was done already. That was a quick turn around! I’m excited to get her back. They installed a .45/70 barrel, a new breach block and did some wood work for me.

[Luke]

Hope to see some pictures

[NDuckhunter2]

Will do once I pick her up.

[NDuckhunter2]

image0.jpeg

Here’s a pic….

[NDuckhunter2]

I forgot to ask, what is the best bullet diameter to size the bullets for this new .45 2.1 barrel typically ? This is my first non-original rifle and I’m used to stuffing .459-.461 bullets in my guns do to most period guns having large bores. I test fired this rifle today and barely managed to get my normal trapdoor carbine loads to seat in the chamber. They were pretty accurate though. On a side note shooting .45/55 405 loads out of this rifle felt like a .44/40 out of a Winchester 73 recoil wise, it’s pretty nice. I can’t wait to get out and really see what this rifle can do.

[Luke]

Try .458s and .459s, your rifle may have a preference. No need to go larger. Shilohs groove at .458, and the chambers are tight as you have found.

That turned out well.

[NDuckhunter2]

Yeah, it’s a good looking rifle. The barrel finish is like a black smooth but not polished finish, if I had it to do over I would have asked if they could polish and blue it but this is a working rifle so I’m not too worried about it. I’m sure I’ll wear the finish off eventually, lol. It’s very well balanced. I will look at my sizing die collection and see what I have, I’m almost certain I have a .459 neck expander and a .459 bullet sizer. Do you think I need a .458 neck expander for tension sake if I run a .459 bullet?

[Luke]

My observation is that greasers are often run with light neck tension, pp with a slip fit into a fired case. No crimps on anything.

[NDuckhunter2]

Ok, I’ll try that I believe I have everything on hand to put .459 ammo together. I fired some 405 grain HB bullets today over 60gr of 2f kik bp and the gun shot exactly to point of aim and was grouping them 2-3” with little effort and not wiping between shots. I’ ll shoot this gun out to 500 yards for fun maybe but it will only shoot game inside 100 yards. I have a Keith style mould with giant grease grooves and replaceable nose plugs that form one flat nosed projectile and 2 different hollow point projectiles ranging from 415 to around 450 grains. The hollow point projectiles are devastating and very accurate in my trapdoor springfields. It throws a .461 projectile. Im gonna throw some of those together sized to .459, over 65ish grains of Kik and see how she like them. I had some loaded up for my trapdoors but they wouldn’t chamber due to the .461 bullets/neck. I’m pretty sure the gun would have shot much better if lightning conditions were better also the target was large and close to the same shade as the front sight which made things difficult. Those 405 grain lee hollow base bullets aren’t the most accurate so this was a good sign in my book.