I was intrigued by the 45-70 Nitro thread, and had a question. I just bought a Handirifle 45-70 - my first big bore - and I love it. For a light rifle, it's not that bad at all; kind of like my muzzleloader. Anyway, how far do you ream the throat to use the bullets you want? Handi's are notoriously short-throated in this caliber, and I was just wondering.

I believe jeffeosso mentioned 2.65" as a start; would this handle most bullets? I'm not going to try and hotrod this into a .458 Lott, I just want to get the most out of it before I explore the world of high-power bigbores.

Thanks in advance...

I would select the longest bullet you want to shoot, seat it in the case for maximum cartridge overall length and ream it to that.

quote:

Posted 02 February 2007 17:31 Hide Post
I would select the longest bullet you want to shoot, seat it in the case for maximum cartridge overall length and ream

That is exactley what I would do.
Bill

I figured it would be something pretty basic like that, but you never know...Thanks!

That's what I did!!

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/smf/index.php/topic,100524.0.html

you'll find the 45/70 "normal" throat to be surprisingly short

jeffe