Ruger No. 1 in 45-70 with commercial hard cast bullets?

oregon45 · Post by **oregon45** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:39 am

Hi guys, this is my first post on the new forum but I did alot of posting about a year back; haven't been able to find an answer to this question anywhere else, but since the Ruger No. 1 is a "levergun" of sorts, I figured I'd ask here.

I'm looking at a Ruger No. 1 stainless 45-70 now that I've sold my 458 Winchester magnum (too much of a good thing, with that much recoil I might as well shoot my 505 Gibbs). I am wondering how the Ruger will work with commercial cast bullets, specifically Oregon Trail's Laser-Cast 405gr LFP, of which I have 2000 on hand (I stocked up at '06 prices

). Does anyone have experience with these bullets in a Ruger No. 1? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Post by **Hobie** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:44 am

Should work fine as long as the bullets are sized appropriately for the bore and the specific bullet works as loaded in your specific rifle... Not much help, huh? Seriously, though, I don't see why they wouldn't work.

oregon45 · Post by **oregon45** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:47 am

Thanks Hobie; I haven't had a chance to measure the bore of this rifle yet (I haven't bought it yet

); the reason for my concern is that I used to own a Ruger 77 (tang safety) in 458 Win Mag that would key- hole these bullets at 50 yards.

My Interarms Mark X 458, on the other hand, shot very well with them.

Post by **Hobie** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:09 am

Yeah, that is that every gun is different thing again. Some has to do with bore dimensions generally and some has to do with the throat/leade. Factor in the type of rifling and rate of twist and manufacturing variations and you can get all sorts of results. That 405 gr. LFP should be ideal for the .45-70.

rjohns94 · Post by **rjohns94** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:33 am

welcome to the fire

TomD · Post by **TomD** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:28 am

How about these Crater 2s? Designed for your rifle, though a little on the heavy side!

http://www.competitor-pistol.com/jb%20home.html

DPris · Post by **DPris** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:13 pm

I couldn't get mine to shoot well with any of the lead I tried in it, gave up.
It's a jacketed bullet gun, which is fine.
Denis

Lefty Dude · Post by **Lefty Dude** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:12 pm

The load we use for an 1895 Marlin 45-70CB with a 24" octagon barrel we use the Lasercast 350 grain gas checked lead bullet with 45 grains of H4350.

This is a very nice, low recoil accurate load and shoots tight groups at 200 yards.

Be sure you start with a clean bore, no jacketed fouling. Also slug you bore our Marlin has a tight one .426. We shoot .427-.428 bullets.

Post by **Hobie** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:45 pm

DPris wrote:I couldn't get mine to shoot well with any of the lead I tried in it, gave up.
It's a jacketed bullet gun, which is fine.
Denis

Denis,

Why do you think that is? Is it the rifling form, the throat, or what? No reason you can hang your hat on? This is interesting. Even an impression/SWAG would be interesting. You certainly have enough experience to SWAG it!

Lefty Dude · Post by **Lefty Dude** » Sun May 11, 2008 12:28 am

Hobie wrote:
DPris wrote:I couldn't get mine to shoot well with any of the lead I tried in it, gave up.
It's a jacketed bullet gun, which is fine.
Denis
Denis,

Why do you think that is? Is it the rifling form, the throat, or what? No reason you can hang your hat on? This is interesting. Even an impression/SWAG would be interesting. You certainly have enough experience to SWAG it!

Most shooters do not take the time to prep a bore before shooting Lead.

A good friend of mine almost sold a Winny 94 26" 30-30 made in 1900, he tried to shoot lead and gave up. Said it would not shoot lead. We cleaned the barrel of 100 years of crud. Bottom line: He has won the Michigan State Championship long range rifle three years in a row.

Charles · Post by **Charles** » Sun May 11, 2008 7:54 am

I don't know about a Ruger No.1, but I have a No. 3 and have excellent results with cast bullets. Ruger makes these rifles with a very long throat so they can accomidate variety of bullet lengths.

I start a bullet in the case and then try the case in the chamber and seaat it deeper by stages until the block will close with just a slight drag on the case head. That way, the bullet will be seated to touch the lands for sure and for certain.

As already stated, it is necessary to clean all the metal fouling from the barrel. Sweets 7.62 is what I use for this t ask.

I use mostly 2400, 4759 and 3031 for cast loads in the 45-70.

I get mixed reports about the quality of Ruger rifle barrels.

DPris · Post by **DPris** » Sun May 11, 2008 1:51 pm

I have no idea, but I honestly did not try to fine tune with the lead I used for testing. The lead loads were seated & crimped to the depth indicated by each bullet's crimping groove.
That project was one of the most extensive I've done on a gun & if a load didn't at least show some promise, it wasn't pursued.
The testing ran on for several weeks, I wore out one friend who started out helping with some of the shooting, temporarily wore out one shoulder, and killed one watch.
I'd initially hoped for a good lead load, but some of the jacketed bullets shot so well I didn't see much point in pursuing lead any farther in that gun.

My Shiloh Saddle Gun, on the other hand, will never see copper as long as I own it.

Denis