300 vs 350 vs 400

[Roosterman]

What bullet do you find to be most accurate in your 45-60/75? I have found a 405 to be most accurate in my 45-60 for a smokeless load. I'd like to try some 350's or 385's  to see if they shot as well or better than the 405.  So far my BP groups aren't impressive with anjything, probably 2 7/8" @ 100 yards with 300 gr bullets. Smokeless loads with  405's will go 1 5/8". Smokeless 300 gr bullets are about as accurate as BP, not too great

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Doesn't sound too bad to me!  Even with a tang sight they are respectable groups.

[doketx]

Howdy
     Thanks to the advice I got recently  from the learned people on this forum, I tried 350 grain cast bullets in my 45-60 Uberti, and have been able to shoot 1 1/4 inch groups at 100 yards, consistently, using a marbles tang sight.  The load is 15.5 grains of 2400 pushing 350 grain Penn cast bullet.  I also shoot a Marlin 45-70 cowboy, but the 45-60 is  much more pleasant to shoot.
      I've learned a great deal of interesting information on this forum, and really appreciate that there is a site devoted to the 1876.
Thanks a lot!
                                                                                                                       Dave(Doketx)

[wyldwylliam]

Those are outstanding groups, congratulations  . I've yet to even approach that kind of shooting with my .45-75 and black, but it's early days yet. If I could get that kind of accuracy I'd be over the moon.

[doketx]

Wyldwylliam,
     Thanks for the kind words.   I've been trying to find a decent load since September, and have been shooting 100 rounds a week, which isn't much, but I live in Texas, and finding a place to shoot is challenging.
     Like you said about your 45-75 groups, it's early yet.  It'll come together. 
     I've often thought about shooting black powder, just to see how it behaves in the gun.  Is it very difficult to clean a lever action after having shot BP?  The Remington .44 revolver I used to shoot was a time consuming pain to clean.  Maybe I'm just lazy.
     Thanks again for the congratulations!
                                                                                                                  doketx     

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Its not that hard to clean a BP cartridge long arm.  Revolvers are messier with more little crooks & crannies to wipe out.

[Arizona Trooper]

I have had very good results in 45-60s with the Lyman 45-70 Marlin bullet, 457193. It casts at about 430 grains in 20-1 lead/tin.

As for cleaning BP, it seems to take about as long to clean 3 rifles as 2 revolvers. Also, at the end of the season, I like to take my BP revolvers completely apart. It's amazing where the gunk ends up. Rifles don't seem to gunk up the action nearly as much.

[wyldwylliam]

I've found that cleaning a lever action is not really any worse than a ML or even a single shot with a non-removable breech.

The way I do it is to leave a fired cartridge with a cleaning patch in it in the barrel with the action closed, I then use a mixture of rubbing alcohol and Murphy's oil soap and just keep running a fresh, wet patch thru from the muzzle until one comes out reasonably clean. I then remove the cartridge, open the action and run a couple of dry patches thru, finishing with a patch saturated with jojoba oil down. Then I use the cleaning mixture on a slightly damp patch and fish around the action getting the few bits of gunk out, then oil a wee bit with the jojoba.

Whether a ML or a cartridge rifle I never let a petroleum product near a black powder gun as black powder and oil don't mix, as the combination makes for a heck of a mess.

You might well consider giving the Holy Black a try as for me at least, its a lot more fun with all the smoke, the BP "boom" and the fact that it fits with the nostalgia etc. of the old guns.

[Thomas (Tom) Horn aka James Hicks]

RM-

I Fire Lapped my 45-60 and it improved the accuracy quite abit... example: Before I fire lapped it at 200 yards a 5 round shot group was the size of a volley ball. Afgter I fire lapped the bore that 5 round shot group became the size of a baseball.  See my posting under Silver Rings post on Fire Lapping.