I called Pedersoli to find out about their 1874 Quigley rifle.
They also offer this rifle in .45-90 and .45-120.

Does anyone here have any experience with these calibers? Apparently they recomend a load of 90 - 100gn of Black powder No 2 for a 500gn bullet.
I know nothing about BP but that's double the smokeless powder behind a .45-70 or the smokeless .45-120 loads I found at reloadersnest.

After calling back, the people at Pedersoli said that they recomend the use of BP only.

I have a vauge recolection of BP shooters simetimes substituting with smokeless with no ill effects.

I'd like this rifle for target shooting and a little hunting, and the idea of a little know cartridge appeals to me.

Can anyone give me any more info on this cartridge?

Express, these are good rifles. I would opt for the 90 myself.

You will want a case full of 2fg Goex or 1.5 fg or 1fg Swiss. That will be 80-90 grs with the 90 or 100-110 with the 120. You can compress bp (a lot even).

Yes you can use smokeless, but why?

To buy an oldfashioned rifle and then shoot newfashioned ammo seems to be a contradiction.

Brent

If you want to use smokeless then stick with the .45-70. For BP I'd get still get the .45-70 but if you want maximum BP velocities then get the 120.

Hi,

The rounds were denoted by the amount by volume of black powder the case could hold. So it was 75, 90 or 120 grains in either 45 or 50 caliber.

Do not substitute a modern powder by volume or weight. They simply don't equate. There are some very good black powder substitutes around. Take a look at Pyrodex, 777, Clean Shot, to name a few.

Pedersoli makes a fine product. But they do tend to resist making any statements about proof strength. This goes for all their products, at least that has been my experience.

I would interpret their statement to mean, that they have built these guns to the handle the pressure levels of black powder and will not be held responsible for some one's hand loads.

Having said that, Accurate Reloading does have a load for the 45-120 using smokeless in the manual.
I would be cautious in working up to it.

Ultimately you have to decide what is more important to you. Do you want to shoot an old time round in a reproduction gun? Or do you want to shoot an old time round and maximize it's potential?

A case in point is the 45-70. The SAAMI pressure for this round is 27000 psi. This would be considered a max loading in an old Springfield Trapdoor rifle in excellent condition. A new Marlin 1895 lever action can eat those loads all day. In fact, it can handle loads upto about 35,000 or 40,00 psi. The Ruger #1 in fact can take the round up to 50,000+ psi. At that level, it begins to compete with the 458 Win mag.

So, I guess, if you want an old time rifle that can shoot paper patched black powder rounds all day long, then go for the Pedersoli in 45-120. It was in it's day considered a 1,000 yard rig.

The 45-90 and 45-120 were natural extentions of the 45-70. The army had tested and accepted the 45-70, based mainly on it's long distance pentrating ability. The 90 and 120 were developed in an attempt to over come the rainbow trajectory. In any case, I wouldn't call the 45-120 a little known round. Especially after Selleck made it so popular in Quigley down under.

By the way, that 800+ yard shot where he hits the water bucket? The gun is capable of that accuracy, but I would doubt anyone would do that shot off-hand.

Regards,

Pete

[ 09-23-2003, 21:48: Message edited by: Quail Wing ]

To be accurate about the Quigly rifle, it was a 45-110 in the movie, although I relize Pedersoli may not offer that chambering.

Carlos,

You are correct.

Pete

Thanks for the insights gents.

This is a rifle that may not be coming home with me for until next year but until then I'm keen to learn a little about PB loading and paper patching.

I am pretty much set to go with the .45-120 - if they offer more power, why not? One can always load down.

Pedersoli say that there is no difference in the accuracy between the 3 calibers they offer.