Pedersoli's 86/71 45-70 rifle

[Gabriel Law]

I recently bought one from Marstar's in Ontario.  What a lovely rifle!  I did some preliminary measuring to determine how to feed it, and found that the bore is .450" and the groove depth is .457".  So I cast a bunch of 30:1 lead/tin Lyman 457193DW bullets that drop from the mould at .462" in that alloy.  I hand lubed them with SPG just pressing the grease into the grooves, seated a Remington 9 1/2 LR primer after full length sizing brand new Winchester brass, expanded with Hornady dies, and charged the cases with 45.7 gr. IMR 3031.  I simply wound out the seating die a bunch and seated a bullet.  Almost two full grease grooves are exposted, and the bell is ironed out but very little crimp.  The bullets, at that diameter are tight.
So out to the range this morning.  I had to run the rear sight up to the last notch in the elevator, and tap it a few thou to the left, but I'm shooting all those bullets into the black at 1200 meters, both from the bench and offhand.  I'm pretty happy with the rifle and the first load I've tried.
I cleaned it after twenty rounds, and there is no leading whatsoever.
Two things I might do to the front sight...it has such a large bead that it covers a 8" bull at 100 meters, and it shoots low with the sight in the bottom notch of the elevator.  So I might replace or file the front sight to improve that scenario.  but for now, I will leave well enough alone.  I'm taking the rifle to a CAS event In Quesnel this weekend for their long range stuff ( out to 300 meters.)  I'll think about sight improvement AFTER the event.
Incidentally, it's a really nicely made rifle, slick as heck right out of the box, and seems to have great accuracy potential.  The butt design, with the shotgun butt, pistol grip, and generous recoil pad make shooting a pleasure.

[Galloway]

How big is the black at 1200 meters?

[Gabriel Law]

Lord have mercy!!  I obviously didn't proof read that thread did I?  That is a typo....should read 100 meters.  Thanks for the editorial critique!!

But is still is a fine rifle.

[Mike]

I have one very accurate with 405grn and 4756. Doing test with a 300 lyman projectile as well.
I wish I had waited and bought the new 1886 modle they make with full magazine and octaganal barrel. I removed the rear sight from nine and fitted a Lyman tang sight, also had the front sight dove tailed so I now have windage as the origanal factory sight is fixed.

Plan for the future is to fit a full length magazine and remove the recall pad to reduce the pull length. Looking for either a horn or steel butt plate.