I read in a reloading magazine about pistol bullets that were slightly undersized being shot in a rifle. Would .45 caliber pistol bullets be shot in a 45-70? These could be cheap bullets for practice and varmints, and would be more effective on small game than an extremely hard .458 lead bullets.

Thanks for any replies!

NO NEED!

you can get any cheaper or better than 250 bullets for $17 (7 cents a piece!)

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=819504

Hey Tyler, Did you ever pick up that guide gun you have been lusting after ????

What did you decide, stainless, blued, ported or not??

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
NO NEED!

you can get any cheaper or better than 250 bullets for $17 (7 cents a piece!)

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=819504

Nice try. They're 250 GRAIN bullets that cost $17 for TWENTY. To Tyler's questions most 45 caliber pistol bullets are .452 in diameter. Rifle bullets are .458. Look at Lasercast or other commercially cast 300 flat noses for an inexpensive practice bullet.

damn!

i thought they were on sale

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=443832

how bout these 7 cents a pop!

Tyler, to answer your question directly, YES, pistol bullets can be safely fired in a .45-70 or.458 Magnum rifle .

The problem is that accuracy may not be very good, as the diameter of your pistol bullets will likely be about .452" and the groove diameter of your rifle barrel about .457+". Still, the actual BORE (land) diameter of the barrel will probably be about .450", so the bullets WILL be spun by the rifling enough to stabilize them somewhat. In some rifles, for whatever reasons, the combo works pretty well.

There will be other things to try and/or to learn along the way, though. It may work best if you use a much quicker burning powder than you would normally use in your rifle. If you do that, you may also want to try some of the various different fillers on top of the powder to minimize air space between the bullet and powder and to avoid inconsistent igition due to varying positioning of the powder in the round as it lies in the chamber.


All things considered, it may very well be true that cast RIFLE bullets (either hard or soft) are a better way to go, IF you buy them cheaply enough and don't have to spend the money for the equipment to make them yourself. It is even cheaper to make them yourself IF, and only IF, you do a LOT of shooting....and your effort here is primarily to save money, according to your original post.

Cast rifle bullets will be at least as effective on small game as any jacketed pistol bullet. Bullets of .457"-to-.459" diameter do not need to expand to kill small game. All they have to do is to hit the game in approximately the right place.

Tyler
I would not recommend it.
Just buy some 300gr or 400gr 45/70 Remington bullets in bulk.

If you want a really mild recoiling fun load shoot 350 to 400 gr cast bullets with 10 grains of Unique in the 45/70 and 18 gr in the 458.

quote:

Hey Tyler, Did you ever pick up that guide gun you have been lusting after ????

What did you decide, stainless, blued, ported or not??

Yes sir I did, got a good deal on a stainless one, never used. The ladies fiance was a gun collector and he died, so she was selling all his guns. He had 2 pages of rifles, 12 font, not double spaced listed, and 1 of pistols. Picked the 1895gs up for $475 with a nice soft case. Got my first deer with it this year, a really fat doe, she had up to 1.5 inches of fat around her in some places. I shot her about 125 yards through the spine. I'm looking to put a scope on it with QR mounts, for some flatter shooting loads when I get reloading for next deer season. This gun is accurate too, with Remington 300 grains it shot a 1 hole group at 50 yards, and the Winchester 300 grains, which I hunted with this year did the same. I'm hoping Hornady Leverrevolution bullets will be available to reload with next year. I shot a running buck at about 150 yards, but couldn't find him, I obviously hit him too far back, several people called me and told me they saw him struggling up some hills. I felt really bad that no one gets to have the buck now, and that I made him suffer, but I searched for him for 6 hours, so I did all I could. I'll have to lead 'em more next year.

Anyways, back to the subject, I was thinking of maybe the light 185 grain Barnes X bullets, or some other light, quick opening pistol bullet maybe for smaller game. These bullets could be going pretty fast, or even better, really slow, if they would work. I guess the only thing to do is try it out when I get reloading stuff set up. I saw some rubber pistol bullets on Midwayusa, for primers only, no powder. You can shoot these indoors and they were actually recomended for Marlin Guide Guns. They look like a pellet gun pellet design, with the weight forward, plus the can be reused. They go around 550 fps in a pistol, so probably 700 fps with a rifle primer and longer barrel? Those could be heck on squirrels and rabbits!

Tyler
You might discover that different weight bullets shoot to widely different points of impact at 100 yards in the 45/70.

I have killed deer with various 300gr bullets, the 400 gr Speer, and the 350 gr Hornady.
All work great on deer.

I prefer the Hornady 350gr over all others.
My brother uses 53 gr of IMR 3031 in his Marlin Guide Gun.
That load is very accurate.

If I was to use the 45/70 for black bear, elk or bigger I would use the North Fork 350 gr.

quote:

Originally posted by Tyler Kemp:
[QUOTE] Hey Tyler, Did you ever pick up that guide gun you have been lusting after ????

What did you decide, stainless, blued, ported or not??

Yes sir I did, got a good deal on a stainless one, never used. The ladies fiance was a gun collector and he died, so she was selling all his guns. He had 2 pages of rifles, 12 font, not double spaced listed, and 1 of pistols. Picked the 1895gs up for $475 with a nice soft case. Got my first deer with it this year,


I have had my guide gun for about 7 years now. I used the Rem 405 grainers at first. Then I got a real good deal on some 300 grain patritions, which I shot my first bear with. I now use the 300 grain Barnes X and they work great on everything from coyote, deer, and moose(I didn't get the moose, a friend who drew a tag borowed the rifle to fill his)

I have Ashley Outdoors peep sights and a Leupold fixed 2.5 IER forward mounted with QD on an Ashley Outdoors rail. I love how this gun works and keeps working. I only wish that my gun was stainless as now I live in Maine where it seems to either rain or snow year round.

I got my first deer up here in Maine with the gun last week!!
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZNXDhq3atG9D¬ag=1

I just ordered a Marlin 45-70 1895 XLR SS 24" barrel & laminated stock.I used to like using SR 4759 in my benchrest schuetzen 45-70 built around a Rem Rolling Block action , a Navy Arms Octagon barrel with a Unertyl Target Scope but I traded it off.