Loading Data for the 45-60 WCF

[King Medallion]

Sent the seat die to RCBS today.

[Black River Smith]

King,
It has been about 2 months.  Did you ever get your die back and have a chance to test it out?

[King Medallion]

Yes, got it back, No haven't done anything with it yet. No empty brass and too cold to shoot.. RCBS guy said I was over flaring the brass. I call BS on that. I've been reloading since 1978, I'm no beginner. I know what over flaring looks like. I'm hoping to get out next week as it's supposed to be in the 50's, and I also have a pair of Uberti Remington 1890's to try out too.

[DrummerBoy]

To All,
Absolutely fascinating, informative set of posts. Founded on Silver Rings pioneering work of course but greatly amplified by contributions from many dedicated and enthusiastic 45-60 shooters. Invaluable to a neophyte such as I.
Bravo Zulu All,
Drummer Boy
PS that Steinel ammo is some good stuff!!! 45-60 AND 50-95 as well!!

[King Medallion]

Got the Short Rifle out for a few batches of test loads. The two most promising so far are these.


I did a little sight adjusting between the loads, These were all shot with the new Fiber Optic front sight. I'm thinking IMR 4198 is gonna be my go-to powder for smokeless loads.

[King Medallion]

Shorty got shot the other day, Fiber optic front sight, marbles Bullseye rear. First load is with 30.0 Rx7 powder.

2nd load is Swiss FF, nice big boom!

3rd load is Goex FF, liking this one.


Found that the front sight was still a little loose, move a bit. Today I put some foil under it, nice and tight now. Had a video of shooting, will post that too. Really like that Bullseye rear sight.

[QueensHorseman]

King,

What brand of fibre optic front sight are you using?

Thanks

[King Medallion]

Marbles, 41W I believe.

[King Medallion]

Cast up a new batch of 305gr bullets today. Learned a thing or two also. Must not pour slowly, but fast. Better fill and shiny bullets. I'm learnin!

[QueensHorseman]

I cast my first ever bullets recently to better feed my Uberti '76 SRC in .45-60.  I used Accurate moulds 46-305C which weighs 303 grains when sized to .459 and lubed with SPG.  Cases were shortened Winchester .45-70.  I tried two loads;

1.  60 grains by volume of Old E 3F as I was out of 2F  .  My new Garmin Chrony indicated an average velocity of 1478 fps which seemed to really be cooking from the SRC barrel!  Deviation was 37 fps but accuracy was not great.  I'll do some more experimenting with 2F when I get some because I will see if a slightly lower velocity treats the soft bullets better on their way to the target.  Temps today were -3 Celsius, overcast with a bit of snow on the ground.  A good winter day for shooting.

2.  12 grain Unique, the old stuff.  I really like Unique and have used it for years.  This load was pushing a commercial 315 grain FPGC bullet.  Average velocity was 1173 fps and it shot amazing!  I had previously started at 10 grains and worked up.  This is a very soft shooting, economical load and I'll try it nex time with the accurate 46-305C and may try 12.5 grains to break 1200 fps.

I've had the SRC for a few years and previously worked over the action some as people have described here so the trigger and action are quite acceptable now.  Next is to try a different rear sight and I plan to order a bullseye rear to try based on King Medallian's posts.  Most of my open sighted rifles wear receiver peeps which isn't an option on the '76 and I'm not really wanting to use a tang mounted peep purely out of personal preference.  All bullets hit quite high so if anyone has modified their SRC front sight please let me know.  Otherwise I may have to build it up with JB Weld or similar as an experiment.  I also had my '73 out and will update that thread as well.  Thanks for all of the info you guys have shared on this forum.  It's been a great help to me.

[DrummerBoy]

DeeBee here, trying to get loading sorted out in my mind and on the bench..
Most of my inspiration and guidance comes from all the great minds on this site, but occasionally I refer to Mike Venturino's "Lever Guns"
Soooo, under the 45-60 chapter he mentions using shortened 45-70 dies...
Well, will a similar arrangement of shortening 40-65 dies work for the 40-60?
Thanks ALL!!

[DrummerBoy]

Whoooops!!!

[King Medallion]

Wouldn't think so, different  caliber.

[King Medallion]

Cast up a couple hundred 305 gr FN bullets today, and made up around 15 test loads, ready for warm weather.

[QueensHorseman]

The Uberti SRC .45-60 went to the range again today.  It was a mild (for Canada) 4 degrees Celsius today.

Loads today were 60 grains by volume of 2F with the Accurate 46-305C bullets, SPG lube.

60 grains Goex 2F: Ave velocity was 1282 fps.  This was the last of my standard Goex.

60 grains Old E 2 F: Ave velocity was 1318 fps.

60 grain Old E 2 F but with an Ox-yoke wad added: Ave velocity was 1360.

The load with the added wad was the most consistent and accurate and is in the velocity window that I was looking for.  My case bullets are pretty soft so perhaps the wads protected the bullet bases, aiding in accuracy.  For now, that is my load while I work on refining the sights to better suit my eyes.  I did anneal my brass since the last outing and the cases sealed the chambers really well.  Cleanup of the rifle was a breeze.

I also had my '86, .33 Winchester out but will post those results in the 86 group.

[matt45]

Have you run a comparison with the Swiss?

[QueensHorseman]

Matt,

I've never found Swiss in my area so it's been a choice between standard Goex, Old E, and lately Schuetzen which I have not used yet.  I've been pretty happy with Old E in multiple cartridges and would happily stick with it but these days its a matter to getting the powder that is available.