Hi!

I wonder what velocity you can get from a 45-70 built on a Ruger no1 with 350 grains and 400 grains bullets?

I have seem that they load that caliber in Ruger no1 to 2100 to 2200 fps.

Best regards
Kalle

The Ruger is a very strong action. I have one and I have found that the felt recoil from that rifle gets very uncomfortable long before I approach the limits of the action. A 400 grain bullet at about 2000 fps is very uncomfortable for me, yet one can do better with max loads. Go to sixgunner.com and find old articles by Paco Kelly etc.
Peter.

Peter is right! I have a .45/70 No. 1 load that delivers 2270 FPS MV with a 400-grain Barnes Original semi-spitzer with a B.C. of .389. I consider this a medium-range elk load due to the flatness of its' trajectory. Yet, for all-round use, I throttle the 400-grain bullet back to the classic Elmer Keith load of 53 grains of IMR 3031 for 1800 FPS. This is a LOT easier on your anatomy than the faster load!!

Karl-Eric.....

Ditto to all the above. My #1 in 45-70 weighs just over 3 Kilograms, so when you soup up loads in this rifle/caliber the recoil on one end soon approaches that from the other. 400 grain Speers at 2000+ were as much fun as I needed.

The "up" side of that equation is that the rifle is a delight to carry afield, and 1873-pressure loads can be fired all day.

The only load I have worked up in my No.1 is for the 450 gr. LBT LFNGC bullet at 1825 fps, and I am nowhere near the rifle's maximum load. However, I am most certainly at MY maximum load. That thing is brutal, much worse than any other rifle I shoot, and that includes .416 Rigby and .458 Winny. What I find weird is it only calcs out to 50 ft-lbs of recoil, much less than the others, but it sure feels like a LOT more, and that with a Decelorator on it to boot.

My rifles weight is 10 pounds with a barrel lenght of 26" and there is not a mercury recoil reducer in my rifle.

Karl, at 10 pounds, the recoil of your rifle will certainly be more tolerable than mine at 7.5 lb!!

To reduce the recoil I made my rifle a bit heavier by placing leadshot into the chamber under the recoilpad . The recoil generated by my loads are now manageble :
350gr - 2100fps
400gr Speer - 2000 fps
470 Cast GC - 1815 fps

Due to limited powder choices I cannot get more velocity out of my rifle ( cannot compress more powder into case ) . Somchem doesn't make a Reloader 7 equivalent and I have to use a IMR3031 equivalent. Maybe it is better so - recoil above the loads I mentioned will be brutal .

Ben

I got my Ruger No1A last year, while haven�t taken any game with it as of yet. I have done a little reloading. Upon advice of this board (good advice at that) I have used only Reloader #7. I got the throat of my Ruger lengthened so I could seat the 400 gr. Speer out to the 2nd canular and seat others a touch further out as well. I can easily get 2000 fps with 400 gr. bullets and push it up right to 2200 fps. I worked up a load with 350�s I�ll hunt with this year that is running at 2050 fps. I can push it a lot more but this is more than I�ll need in my area. It is very accurate and is not bad to shoot.

When Re7 is not available, I substitute Vectan Tu-2000. A relatively effective, but not maximum load in MY gun is 50.0 grs. Tu-2000 and any 350 gr .457" bullet. (Not max in Ruger No. 1, but IS about max in Browning 1886 or Marlin 1895...probably too hot for lots of other 45-70's. Definitely too hot for things like the Trapdoor springfield.)

Incidentally, 30 years ago I tried 53.0 grs. 3031 behind a 500 gr. bullet (the Lyman 457125) in my Ruger No. 1-S .45-70. Shot a whole box of them with no ill effect on the rifle, but promptly changed the load on returning home to same powder charge behind the 405 gr. bullet. Recoil with 500 gr. bullet load was undescribably fierce.

At the time I also had a .470 Nitro double, a .450 Nitro double, a .577 Nitro double, and access to three 4-bores (one a double, two singles). Can't say that any of them kicked as badly as that Ruger. I suspect it was stock design as much as anything.

Even my .375 H&H Ruger No. 1 seemed to kick worse than any of my double guns.

Agree with all above posts...the No. I Ruger action and barrel will likely take a great deal more than the shooter can in .45-70 chambering, with any weight of bullet.

AC

[ 10-10-2003, 00:10: Message edited by: Alberta Canuck ]