Rechamber 45-120 down to 45-110 ?

Bentsight · Post by **Bentsight** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 1:51 pm

First, thanks to all for the great info that you have shared on this site!
I'm new to BPCR and made the same mistake that Harlan witnessed at Cabela's- I purchased a 45-120 with the 34" barrel without much research. It didn't take too long to realize that I needed a different rifle so the purchase of a 45-70 and a 40-65 weren't far behind. I don't feel that I'm too recoil sensitive yet, so would I gain enough accuracy and consistency by having this gun rechambered to a shorter case or just try to trade the thing in on something else? I plan to try some long range matches and use the rifle for some hunting as well.
Mike

wolfie · Post by **wolfie** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 7:06 pm

if i rember clive(the brit)who roams around on these sites uses the 45/120 with success,mabey he will chime in.i my self would just work with it,get some 1f powder some 535 or bigger bullets and get to work

MRich · Post by **MRich** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 5:41 am

Bentsight:

Why not shoot the 45-120, just load it with 108 grains of FFg and use veg. fiber wads to fill the space...........

MRich

rdnck · Post by **rdnck** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 9:23 am

Bentsight--My 2 cents, FWIW. You need to either learn to load and shoot the rifle as is, or sell or trade it off. Here's why.

You can't rechamber that barrel to a smaller caliber. To do so would require that the barrel be cut off at the rear, and set back. If you try to do this, you will have to cut the tulip off the breech area, and there won't be enough metal left to machine the threaded shank that screws into the receiver. The barrel is too small just forward of the tulip to do this, and the dovetail for the lever spring hanger that is cut into the bottom of the barrel interferes as well. The only choice is to rebarrel to a smaller caliber.

Rebarreling is a significant chunk of change, and you will wind up with a lot more money in that rifle than it is worth.

A better option is to simply shoot it as is. Get a 540 or so grain bullet, or a paper patched bullet and load them over a cartridge case full of Goex 1f, and you are in business. Downloading one of these and using a column of wads to take up empty space can lead to serious problems. One of our British friends, Clive Taylor, went through a series of case separations with reduced loads. The wad column was expanding radially and gripping the case walls tightly enough that the bullet pulled the case in two. Clive detailed his problems with reduced loads in the 45-120 in the Nov. 2002 issue of Black Thunder which is the official newsletter of the Single Shot Black Powder Rifle Club of Great Britain.

The rifle can be made to shoot as is. You simply have to develop a correctly assembled load that works in it.

If you don't want to shoot it as is, the best option, in my opinion, is to simply sell it. You may have to take a loss, maybe not. But experience usually costs either a certain amount of your time or a certain amount of your money. Whether you want to invest large amounts of your time on top of the money you have expended is up to you, and it may be worth it to you in the long run. If it was me, I would sell the rifle for what I could get out of it, put the money on a 13 or 14 pound Shiloh in 45-110 if you want a big caliber, and never look back.

I had a 17 pound Number 3 Sporter in 45-120, a Farmingdale gun, in 1988. A beautiful rifle with all the bells and whistles. I sold it after a year or so, and have not missed it. Shoot straight, rdnck.

Smokin · Post by **Smokin** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 5:25 pm

Bentsight,

One of the shooters here on the Frozen Tundra has a Shiloh in .45-3 1/4" and he shoots it to very good effect: I believe that he has won the Lodi WI long range shoot with it. He is, however, one of those enviable guys who seems to be recoil oblivious. Watching him shoot it makes me wince, of course, I'm a recoil pansy. Each shot will move his shoulder back about 8" when he is shooting this rifle prone. And I think that were the toes on his cowboy boots not somewhat pointed, and dug in, he would end up having to re-address himself to his shooting position about every third shot. It would seem that most any of our BP cartridges can be made to shoot well. Some, it seems, can be made to shoot either more easily or more cleanly or more comfortably. It really depends on what rings your chimes. One of the guys who I have shot with for the last couple of years at the Quigley Shoot has a 50-3 1/4". I wouldn't pull the trigger on that rifle on a bet, but he thinks it's the finest thing since sliced bread.

If you have to have that caliber, then you have to have that caliber. It may not be the easiest for which to develop a load and it may not be the easiest to shoot, but if you gotta have it, well, you gotta have it. However, if you don't gotta have it, the .45-70 is really well behaved and really isn't lost in the dust kicked up by many other cartridges. If your druthers tend toward cartridgde of serious size, there are many fine shooters, who I know personally or by reputation, who have had really enviable results from the .45-110.

I have a couple of non-Shilohs chambered in .45-2.6" which have worked both well and not so well for me. The function of the rifles is perfect; the function of my loads has been...variable: one a match winner; one a target misser 11 times. The misser missed becoming a tomato stake by about________ that much. Good luck, Smokin

Bentsight · Post by **Bentsight** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 9:03 am

Gents,
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and opinions here. I've been out of town for a couple weeks and couldn't get on the net. Managed to get back on last night to catch up and spent the first hour or more reading and re-reading the string about President Bush. Won't get anything started on this forum except to say that like my Dad a former Marine, and Father-in Law, retired Navy, I held my head a little higher when GW was elected.
Mike