Hi y'all

(posted this in "reloading" as well..but no replies yet..)

I've been reloading a pretty mild cartridge for a .45-70 Contender pistol (no muzzlebrake), using 51grs of blackpowder and a 350grs lead flatnose. Reasonably accurate, and not much recoil. Unfortunately, I've run out of these bullets...but I do still have a couple of 300grs hollowpoints and 405grs flatnoses. However, these are jacketed bullets...and if I remember correctly, I've been told (or read somewhere?) that you cannot use these with blackpowder.

Can anybody tell me if I can use these or not? Thanx.

If you were told that, somebody had been nibbing no-doz, and sniffing Airwick. The 405-grain bullet is what the .45-70 was developed around, and it darned sure wasn't named the .45-70 because they shot 70 grains of smokeless!!!
Load the 405s with black, and have fun!

quote:

Originally posted by Max:
Hi y'all

(posted this in "reloading" as well..but no replies yet..)

I've been reloading a pretty mild cartridge for a .45-70 Contender pistol (no muzzlebrake), using 51grs of blackpowder and a 350grs lead flatnose. Reasonably accurate, and not much recoil. Unfortunately, I've run out of these bullets...but I do still have a couple of 300grs hollowpoints and 405grs flatnoses. However, these are jacketed bullets...and if I remember correctly, I've been told (or read somewhere?) that you cannot use these with blackpowder.

Can anybody tell me if I can use these or not? Thanx.

You certainly CAN use jacketed bullets with BP -for example, the original .303 British and the original 7.5mm Swiss service rifle ammo was loaded with jacketed bullets and pellets of compressed black powder, before these two countries had succeeded in developing a satisfactory smokeless powder for their ammo....

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
If you were told that, somebody had been nibbing no-doz, and sniffing Airwick. The 405-grain bullet is what the .45-70 was developed around, and it darned sure wasn't named the .45-70 because they shot 70 grains of smokeless!!!
Load the 405s with black, and have fun!

You are right, BUT the .45/70 was originally loaded with LEAD BULLETS......

I can see this is an old tread, but i guess that doesen't matter...

14 years ago i tried to use jacked bullets in my 32-40 winchester and to my surprise it shot accurrately and with uniform velocity...

The load was 37 grains of unknown blackpowder and a 321 cal Hornady 170 grains... wich gave 296 m/s...

I think that the information you received may have been from a source that had crossed up a couple of other rumours.

1.) It is not recommended that you use jacketed bullets in old soft black powder steels as it is said to wear them out faster.

2.) Jacketed bullets are also said to raise the pressures a tad bit over an equal weighted cast bullet due to bullet frictional resistance.

3.) Since jacketed bullets have no grease grooves or grease to keep the powder foaling soft, they are also said to increase the pressure as foaling builds up with black powder.

4.) Muzzle loaders rely on undersized soft lead bullets to obdurate up to groove diameter after being fired, which jacketed bullets are not able to do.

First, modern jacketed 45-70 bullets were built lightly jacketed for BP velocities and barrels. You would have to do a fair bit of shooting to not any discernable differences.

Second and third, jacketed bullets would have a higher coefficient for friction and would ‘slightly’ elevate the pressure, causing better combustion of the black powder, hence a reduction in the amount of foaling combined with a tougher bullet that seems to scrape the foaling out as you go.

Last, your rifle is not a muzzle loader…

I’ve had great luck shooing jacketed bullets in my 32-20’s, 32-40’s, 38-40’s, 38-55’s, 44-40’s, 45-70’s and 45-90’s with BP using as much as I could fit into the case and still get the bullet seated down. I’ve also been able to shoot longer strings accurately with jacketed bullets than I would have been able with lead.

I like to shoot lead the most with these, but at times it is nice to get that little extra out of your BP round without taking up valuable powder space with wadding. It’s just the clean up that I hate the most with BP…