Looking for something a 12 yr. old girl can shoot comfortably out of a guide gun. 300gr or lighter, less than 1300 fps.

Thanks
Micmac

Like many other .45-70 loaders I've gone to heavier loads. Have you tried the standard factory 405's from Remington? I found them very easy to shoot, and quite accurate. They do about 1300 fps.

Sierra lists several 300 grain loads at 1450 fps, which should be quite mild. I have not tried any that light though.

I'm impressed that you want to give the young lady something she can shoot well! Regards, and good luck, Guy

try something like 20gr of 2400 under a 300gr. bullet. 2400 is a pistol powder, but it can be used in rifles too. It also has the ability to be used lightly without high pressure. This is slightly over max for a .45 Colt load, out of a handgun it will do 1200-1300 fps, depending on barrel length. Just put a wad or something to keep the powder against the primer (which a standard rifle primer should suffice) and you should an easy shooting .45-70.

cyberhick

I shoot 15 gr of Unique. Lyman shoes a starting load of 9.5.

Just use BP or equivelent. That will give mild loads without the hassle or worry of half empty cases. Just load the case so that when the bullet is seated the charge is mildly compressed.

-M

Micmac (et. al.) I found a very interesting site recently that has LOTS of reduced loads for Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS) I will provide the link to it. Make sure to read Greg's notes on the internal ballistics related to light CAS loads. A very good read. If you follow the links, there are a lot of good 300 gr cast loads for velocities of 850-1200 fps that are SAFE to use.

I personally think 300 grain bullets at any velocity are going to be too much for a 12 yr old girl. Can you use a roundball instead. I know the 36 cal roundballs (.375 dia) I use for my 375 weigh only 90 grains. I know you can get 45 cal roundballs - 150 grains +/-?

.45-70 Cast Bullet Reduced Load Data

Lars G,
Thanks for the link. This is exactly what I was looking for. My recoil calculator predicts between 4 and 5 lb-ft of recoil energy. This should be adequately light. I'll let you know what she thinks.

I have shot quite a few .457" soft lead balls from a 45/70 Handi rifle.

I was doing it for quiet.

http://www.recguns.com/Sources/VIIE7.html[/URL]

I would add to that faq that the expansion ratio is the key to max power
and staying quiet.

I get my best results from chamfering the 45/70 case mouth on the inside
until sharp.
Charge with .5 gr Bullseye or Red Dot.
Put .1" thick polypropylene 28 ga or larger wad over the case mouth.
Cover the case mouth with a board.
Raise the press ram until the case cookie cutters the wad.
Do it again to another wad.
With a rod, pound the wads down on top of the powder.
Put the .457" ball over the wads and push all the way down into the case
until sitting on the wads.

The ball will bounce off wood if seated at the case mouth, but seated
down inside per above, it will go through 1/2" of wood and make the
exact pellet gun like report as when seated at the mouth.

Power is not proportional to noise if the expansion ratio changes. Peak
pressure IS higher, but not a problem.

Accuracy is not very good with the ball going so fast when it reaches
the rifling, but good enough for most tasks.

I have played with imr 4198 and 350 grain cast bullets at 1300 to 1400 fps and my end thoughts on this I was not able to get consistent accuracy evcery time i shot it- sollution might be to use a fiber wad to compress the powder a bit.

Depends on the 12 year old kid i guess some could handle the recoil and some might not.

guess if they can shoot a 35 rem levergun with out a problem give it a try but you might try a smaller caliber rifle like a 30-30 would be a nice rifle to start a 12 year old out with a lever gun

My favorite plinking load is :
Remington case
9-1/2 Rem primer
13gr red dot
any 300 cast bullet

THis is cheap and very easy on the shoulder. About 1300 fps.

A word of caution...
Be very careful to not double-charge. WIth a light charge, its easy to do. Visually inspect each case for a double charge before seating your bullet.

Another that works well is the same as above except use 30gr imr4198. Nearly the exact same performance but the powder is a little position-sensitive.

My light loads use either Unique or IMR 4227 and with the latter powder I like 20 grains with half a cotton ball pushed firmly on top of the powder to keep it positioned against the primer. My guess is I am getting around 1200 fps and the load not only kicks little but is pretty quiet. My cast bullet is the LEE 340 grain flat nose. A shooting budy got the ammo mixed up and used it on a small hog a week ago and it went through and killed the hog plenty fast enough.

Hi all. In Varmit Hunter Magazine, I dont have it in front of me now there is a custom bullet maker who is makeing 125 grn, .458 Dia bullets.These may really be neat for a light recoil load. I will post the name when I find it.BTW I shoot an 18" barreled Siamese mauser.

Hi all, Found it:
JRP bullets,offer 173 and 193 Grn. Jacketed .458 dia. bullets for $20.00 plus shipping for 50 rnds. The address is 2017 Carlton Rd. WhiteHall Ny. 12887
(802)438-5548
Hope to try some of these in the future.