I have a USRAC (new) 1886 Win in 45-70 with a 22" barrel (cut down from 26"). I want to use 405 Cast Bullets from Cast Performance Inc.

I'm interested in where to start with loads - this is my wife's gun, and while she isn't particularly recoil-shy, I don't need to bring these loads up to "overkill" levels - that big slug moving at moderate speeds will certainly do the trick on deer and hogs here in SW Texas.

So, any info on starting loads, powders, and to what levels I might safely work up to would be appreciated.

Troy

For deer and pigs even factory loads will work fine .Does she handle factory loads without problems ? Those are loaded well below SAAMI max which is 27,000 psi.

mete,

she's shot the PMC "replica" loads (405 gr cast bullets at original 1880s velocity) and Federal's 300 gr jacket bullet loads - no problems.

Just looking for a starting point for reloading the cast bullets - finding published data with a variety of powders with the cast bullets hasn't been so easy as I might have expected.

Troy

Looking in an old Lyman manual
24. grains of IMR 4227 gives 1140 fps to 27.5 grains gives 1360 fps
42 grains of IMR 3031 gives 1455 fps to 46.5 grains gives 1640 fps.

Jim

All sorts of published loads:

Bullet Weight (Gr.) Order BW Powder Bullet Diam. C.O.L. Grs. Vel. (ft/s) Pressure Grs. Vel. (ft/s) Pressure
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 Varget .458" 2.540" 40.0 1392 15,600 CUP 50.0 1718 20,900 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 H4895 .458" 2.540" 40.0 1424 14,900 CUP 48.0 1645 18,900 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 Benchmark .458" 2.540" 47.0 1564 17,100 CUP 50.0 1695 22,600 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 H4198 .458" 2.540" 27.0 1251 14,200 CUP 31.0 1459 17,100 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 IMR 4064 .458" 2.540" 46.0 1534 17,900 CUP 49.5 1660 23,200 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 IMR 4895 .458" 2.540" 45.6 1496 18,900 CUP 48.5 1598 23,000 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 IMR 3031 .458" 2.540" 45.5 1597 17,300 CUP 48.5 1706 21,100 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 IMR 4198 .458" 2.540" 30.0 1370 17,000 CUP 32.0 1462 19,000 CUP
405 GR. CAST LFP 405 Trail Boss .458" 2.540" 12.0 971 24,500 CUP 13.0 1007 25,600 CUP
Hodgdon Powder

405 Cast Performance LFNGC
Powder Start Load Velocity Powder MAX Load Velocity PSI COL
5744 30.6 1468 5744 34.0 1600 27800 2.550"
2015 44.3 1666 2015 49.2 1817 27400 2.550"
2230 38.9 1550 2230 43.2 1694 27500 2.550"
Accurate Powder

Bullet type Bullet weight Bullet dia. COL Powder type Powder charge Primer type Velocity Energy Group
Cast Performance WLNGC 405 .461 2.560" Re 10 45.0 CCI 200 1545 2147 0.9
Cast Performance WLNGC 405 .461 2.560" Re 10 48.5 MAX CCI 200 1721 2664 0.6
Cast Performance WLNGC 405 .461 2.560" Benchmark 47.0 CCI 200 1279 1471 1.2
Cast Performance WLNGC 405 .461 2.560" Benchmark 51.5 MAX CCI 200 1687 2560 1.2
Cast Performance WLNGC 405 .461 2.560" Re 7 40.0 CCI 200 1664 2491 1.2
Cast Performance WLNGC 405 .461 2.560" Re 7 44.0 MAX CCI 200 1791 2885 0.7
Realguns.com The maximum loads exceed 28,000 CUP/PSI