I've seen load data for the 350gr. round nose and the test arm was a Marlin GG. I see Hornady also makes a flat nose, but they weren't available, so I had to settle for the round nose with the intention of filing off the nose flat. Do you think this necessary? I called Hornady and talked to a tech and he sounded surprised that I would ask that as the bullet has been around since the 60's ad no doubt loaded in the .45-70 a lot. Safe in a tube magazine?

[This message has been edited by Daryl Elder (edited 01-17-2002).]

I believe there was mention of a round going off in a magazene tube of a hot loaded 45-70 guide gun, and as I recall, the bullet was a flat faced cast bullet.

Certainly the rn bullets aren't as near to a firing pin as a spitzer, but, I personally would file the bullet flat to a dia larger then the primer, me thinks if you file to the jacket it should be about right, but I don't have one on hand to measure.

That particular round was not intended for magazine rifles, I would be reluctant to use them in that rifle unless it is only used in the chamber, or one at a time. You will find reloading data for the 45-70, but these are not tube magazine rifles, thye would be single shots .

I am, by nature, very cautious--especially when it comes to things that go 'BOOM'. I checked out several sights for .45-70 data. One such site was 'Load your own.com'. In one of the listed loads the bullet is the RN and the test arm was the GG. Another article at another site, by Rick Jamison, taken from 'Shooting Times' apparently, list four loads for the .45-70 with the RN in a Marlin 1895SS. As far as I know these are both tube mag rifles. It was my initial feeling that an FN bullet should be used but was a little unsure if I was being too cautious when I saw this data from well known sources(Is there such a thing as being too cautious when it comes to reloading?). Talking to the Hornady tech didn't help. But I will err on the side of caution and file off the nose and hope my FNs get here soon! Thanks for the input; it confirmed my thoughts. That would be a nasty occurrence to have one go off in the mag!

I've never used them in a tube magazine, but I kind of worked out what I thought was the easiest way to flatten the noses: Get a 7/8"-14 bolt from a hardware store and screw it into the press upward, so the head is pointing down. Then, just set each bullet on top of the ram, run it up, and smoosh the nose to a flat. Adjust the amount of smoosh by screwing the bolt up and down. I think this would beat having your file all clogged with lead shavings.

Come to think of it, do you have any Lee dies with the finger-adjustable bullet seater? That's got a pretty smooth, flat end on it. Just screw the whole die in upside-down.

Opinions? Is the lead soft enough to deform to a flat before the whole bullet starts to flatten out?

I thought about clogging up the file as well. I used a wood chisel and just squared the tip off where the lead is exposed above the jacket. Should work; if you don't see any more posts from me, one can assume it didn't!

A wire brush will keep your file clean of lead...it works for me..

I used that 350 gr Horn. bullet a great deal in my old 45-90 at one time. It certainly is a fine game bullet on anything.

I didn't bother to file the noses and it worked fine for for me for a number of years, even with hot loads..

This is the first I've heard about this bullet being dangerous in tube magazines...Remington produced 30-30, 32 Spec. and some others in RN persuasion and they saw lots of use in tube magazines...but thoes are lighter recoiling calibers..I have read articles wherein the bullet was used to work up loads in lever action 45-70 etc.

I don't know if RN bullets are safe or not, if something like that really happened, then it's certainly not a good practice, but it could be just rumor running amuck, as the gun world leans that way sometimes. My guess would be a high primer, but like I say I don't know the answer...

I think a study should be done on the subject and reported in some gun rag. A primer has to be pierced before it will fire as I understand it but I don't claim to be the last word on the subject.....

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

I would not want to use a RN in a tube mag. Might do it for years w/o trouble, but as they say, all it takes is one...