After no small amount of research and hearing differing opinions, I went to the I.A.B. workshop and picked up a rifle. The overappearance and finish are far better than the famed Pedersolis, though they don't match the Ubertis.

The I.A.B. are made by a family affair, father and two sons.
They are great people, good to deal with and helpful.

Since nearly all the custom gun makers in Italy are found within a few k's of each other in Gardone Val Trompia, he called up the boos over at Uberti and have me recieve him for a bit of a tour and a chat.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Uberti guns.

I think I will be getting him to put topgether a .38-55 for me soon, but I want to start shooting the .45-120 first.

For the moment I'm stuck. I have powder, bullets, cases, data though no dies, it has been hard to track them down but I have some on order that hopefully should be here by next week.

I'll post results once I get to shoot it. For now I have one loaded round that was given to me over the the IAB workshop, I might see if I can spend it on a pig at 50m or so...

You can load the .45-120 perfectly well with the common .45-70 dies. Suggest you orient the case in tne chamber and in the dies for consistency. Size only enough of the case to accomplish the style of bullet seating you wish. Good Shooting, ned

For a fair period of time I loaded my 45-70 cases without any die. using black powder I simply thumb set the bullets into the case. Even after getting a set of dies I use only the finaldie to give a gentle crimp so the bullet will not slide out of the case.

To decap I use a homemade tool which acts as a hand press driving a steel rod with a decapping pin into the case mouth. Mine is copied on an old style decapper but was made by a friend. It is nice to decap at the range and drop the brass into soapy water for the trip home.

Most guys I know that started with the larger 45's ie 45-90 or 45-120 ended up selling the guns and going for 45-70 or 40-65. It became known as the hat gun as the shooter would automatically turn and pick his cap up off the ground/ Recoil seems to accumulate if shooting 50 or so shots at a time. One 45-120 made the rounds of almost every member in the local club before being rebarrelled. Only a very select group of shooters like the big 50-140 which holds more like 155 grains of powder. they do hurt!

I have Bertram .45 base brass. It is 3.25inches long so it needs to be trimmed and won't chamber since the walls are straight. I have been told that you need to be very gently when sizing this stuff and do it in stages to avoid crumpling it.

At the moment I don't have the shell holder for the trimmer either so I am stuck in a rut.

Hopefull the dies get in tomorrow, will arrive here by post by Thrusday or Friday and in the mean time I will try to get the shell holder.