Shiloh Rifle Forums

Guys,
Just wondering how much powder you're getting into your 45-90 cases. I have Starline brass, and using fireformed cases I can only get around 97 grains level full(drop tubed 24"). I'm loading 85 grains of Swiss 1.5, compressed .250 with a .030 ploy wad on both side of a 1/4" grease cookie. That only gives me about 1/8" to seat the 500 grn. bore size paper patch bullet. Does that seem normal? I seem to remember guys getting 90-95 with a grease cookie?
Just FYI, i'm trying to build hunting loads and getting 1.5" groups at 100 currently. Thanks

coolhand,

If your current load is accurate, then go with it.
85 grains of 1.5 Swiss, behind a 500 grain pp bullet, should knock over any critter on the North American continent.

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

I can droptube 100 gns into fired cases, but it is fun getting a wad started.
98 gns makes life a lot easier that way.
I use 90 gn with one greaser, and can get down to 75 with another.
in my gun about 1/8" compression seems to work, so I would go by that with whatever wadstack you want with the bulet you want.
bruce.

In my .45-90 Shiloh I was loading 85 grains of 1 1/2 swiss under a grease groove bullet that went right around 520 grains and clocked 1355 fps. With the accuracy you are getting and a 500 grain bullet you're going to have dead meat, which is what you want. Don't fix what ain't broke.

When I made the jump to paper patch I was getting 100-105 grains of 1 1/2 under a 520 grain bullet with NO grease cookie and pushing over 1400 fps, but that was a target load, hunting is a different game.

I would use what you have and sleep well at night. Good luck!

Thanks guys, I just a little worried about how little bullet is in the case. The rounds seem a little "fragile" when handling due to the little amount in the case. I'm using a taper crimp die to tighten up the neck when seating the bullet, but it doesn't seem tight enough. I actually had one bullet pull out of the case when extracting after hunting. That was a round loaded after a first shot, so the bore was dirty. BTW, I had some 380 grain that I patched up with the same load configuration and they also shot into 1-1/2" @ 100.

I had the same loose fit problem, then I tried a .45 ACP taper crimp die and "things tightened up."

coolhand,
in the days of yore, target rounds were loaded with minimal in case.
hunting rounds tended to have more bullet in the case for simple mechanical functioning reliability.
the 2.4" case was designed for target shooting with only a card wad and 100 gns of powder.
the 2 7/8" case was designed to take the same 100 gn load, but with more bullet in the case, more as a hunting tool.
using the 2.4" case for hunting, ideally the bullets is better seated deeper than 1/8", and the load must be tuned to suit this.
bruce.

Bruce makes a good point. You could try more compression. When I was using a .45-70 and GG bullets for Creedmoor I finally went with 82.0 grains of 1 1/2 Swiss and about .300" compression. I had to hand seat my LDPE wads after compressing or it would bulge the case.

It's not talk about much, everyone has always said Swiss doesn't like a lot of compression, but there usually is a second sweet spot at more compression for those who look for it. Worth a try, even another 1/8" would give the bullet something more to hold on to.

Ray Newman wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:42 pm I had the same loose fit problem, then I tried a .45 ACP taper crimp die and "things tightened up."

Well a 45 colt sizer also works well too.
Bobw

You can work out seating depth from some of these photos.

This is from James Grant's first book, Single Shot Rifles. He has many other photos of ammo. Extremely interesting to see them. This is where the modern bore diameter bullet trend comes from actually. This particular photo.

It is dependent what type of 45-90 you are loading
And how you are loading it.
I have old RCBS sizing die, and the old sharps, slightly bottle necked case and if they are at full length, (fire formed ) I can get about 90 grns drop tubed into the case, however my rifle likes 85 grnsof FFg, if I go to 87 grns, my groups open open to trapdoor accuracy of about 3" @ 100 yards....like shooting my 1" and smaller groups personally....
If you have the modern strait taper clambering and dies (my body built one a few years ago on a trapdoor he was going for the 45-80 government chambering same case as the modern 45-90 target) he holds about 87-89 grns of FFg droptubed on a resized case.
If you have a 45-90 Winchester chamber, or sizing dies it has a different taper to the case and will hold less powder. (I started with Lyman 45-90Win dies) this sizing will hold less powder.

Keep yer powder Dry
Dan