Long, light bullet in a 45-90

[desert deuce]

OK, I have been holding back to see where this was going to go and it seems to me we are allowing the Original Poster to maneuver himself down one of those endless rabbit holes. So here goes with a shot at some helpful information.

First of all there is no such thing as an ideal situation or rifle or caliber that fits all needs. Just like you can load a 45-70 up to 85+ grains you can also successfully load the 45-90 down to 57 grains of Swiss 1.5 and a 535 grain bullet to midrange and silhouette distances. BUT, you have to know what you are doing. The 45-90 1874 Shiloh I am talking about has a 32" 16 twist shiloh barrel, 535 grain money bullet.

Most silhouette shooters use 60 + grains of 1.5 Swiss and bullets ranging from 520-545 grains in their 45-70's, for silhouette & midrange.

BUT, you won't know what your rifle will do in your hands until you receive YOUR rifle and shoot it.

Your latent fear of recoil is palpable and counterproductive to successful results. No advice about obtaining maximum accuracy will overcome that.

Perhaps obtain a quality .22 liner for your yet to be built Shiloh and start there. You must put this recoil phobia behind you.

Then, when you whip that demon, look at what people that are winning matches are doing and learn from their successful loading techniques.

[Kurt]

If recoil is a problem for you call Kirk and talk to him about installing one or two Mercury Recoil Suppressors in the butt stock
They come in variable diameters and lengths and each will add a little weight. They can also be removed if you want to do that.
I once shot a .45-110 that had three buffers in it and the recoil was very light

[desert deuce]

http://www.mercuryrecoil.com/suppressors/index.htm#top

Which can weigh 8-16 ounces per unit to the overall weight of the rifle.

Silhouette legal rifle is 12 pounds 2 ounces.

[Leadville Bill]

OP back. Hadn't been on in a long time and saw this thread went active again.

As luck would have it, I got a call from Mr. Goodman that my rifle is in, so I'll be shooting it (once work allows) before too long. I happened to pick up a box of commercially-cast and BP lubed Lyman 500 grain Schmittzer bullets from an estate sale so I'll have something heavy to try before I commit to an order from Accurate bullets. Luke was kind enough to suggest a couple designs, and Accurate's 46-480 is looking like a good candidate for a long bullet with lots of grooves and seating depth possibilities. Knowing my luck, my rifle will probably be one of those that doesn't like much bullet jump and I'll have to seat it out with a groove or two exposed.

It'll be nice to have the rifle in hand to confirm groove depth prior to ordering a mold. I'll have to cruise through the comments on dimensions and lube sizing dies, although I'm guessing the standard .458" will work well enough. Anyone have comments on that?

To the people who mentioned getting a second rifle- always an option. I thought I bought my "last" rifle in 1999. There may have been a few more that wandered home afterward to prove me wrong.

Thanks, LB

[gunlaker]

I would recommend buying a good mold that casts in the proper diameter, and not sizing at all. The best thing you can do for a quality bullet is to leave it as perfect as it came from the mold.

As far as size goes I've had very good results with .458" bullets in my 45-90 Shilohs if using neck tension, and .459" bullets if using slip fit. In my bull barreled rifles, a .458" is a better diameter for slip fit.

Chris.

[Luke]

Kirks barrels are .458. Period. Plan accordingly.

[desert deuce]

One of those historical "FACTS" so frequently either unknown, overlooked or ignored.
Ron "Grand Slam" Calderone, first Grand Slam iron sight silhouette shooter used the #745 Saeco bullet in an 18 twist Badger barrel..
Ron also won the National Long Range Championship at Raton using the same rifle and bullet with iron sights.
Truly an example of the determining factor being the Nut behind the butt.

[Luke]

Yep, the Saeco 645 and 745 bullet designs are still hard to beat.