Leverevolution bullets available

[Thunder50]

Leverevolution bullets are now in stock at Midway. Ordered some this morning

[Pathfinder09]

You will need Hornady dies to get a crimp on the hornady brass. RCBS dies and Lee factory crimp will not work. The bullets may be too long to use with regualr .45-70 brass. Please keep us updated.

Good luck.

[JustaJeepGuy]

If you're going to load a lot of the Hornady cases and like the Lee Factory Crimp die, it might be worthwhile to grind a bit off the bottom of the sleeve that makes the crimp. That would shorten it enough to put the crimp in the proper location, but you couldn't use it for regular ammo.

[Leverluver]

The 45-70 bullet is all that I have worked with but you "can" use standard brass IF you use a load that the powder is compressed against the base of the bullet (not many to choose from). The crimp will be just over the ogive break. Of course, the crimp will only hold the bullet from coming out. The compressed load is what keeps it from going in (the most important of the two). This is not unlike what Buffalo Bore does with the Speer bullet in their factory load. Maybe not a good idea for a beginning loader. If not up to finding that compressed load, you will need to trim brass to the length of Hornady brass or just use Hornady brass.

[TedH]

I've got to get some for my 30-30 Ackley!

[iceman]

I was going to try them in my 356 but now I'm not sure. I use a lee factory crimp die. Would it still work with a 356 since Hornady never loaded for it and the crimp groove is of no importance with the Lee die? I load Hornady 200 grain now and don't use their crimp groove. Any comments?

[JohndeFresno]

Thanks for info.

Since Hornady uses a proprietary powder, it would be interesting to see who can work up a (safe!) levergun load that approaches theirs!

[JohndeFresno]

I called Doug Derner at Hornady and he immediately e-mailed me some reloading data for the .30-30 WCF using their component FTX Lever Evolution bullet that is now available.

It was neatly handwritten, but it was a bit uneven, so I transferred all of the information onto a spreadsheet to assure clarity. I double checked the numbers, and included the Hornady disclaimer, below.

Here is the claimed velocity for their factory loaded round:


And here is what Mr. Derner sent to me:

[Borregos]

Would love to see a photo of the 45-70 bullet compared to a normal one

[Thunder50]

Here you go. 300gr Remington on left.

[Borregos]

Thank you Thunder50 that is great, I had no idea what they looked like