Deer Bullets for the .45-70

Contrary to the prevailing preference for large cartridges that fire bullets fast enough to shoot at dots of deer on the far horizon, in recent years I’ve leaned toward deer hunting cartridges that require a closer approach, which helps retain my enthusiasm for deer hunting.

The .45-70 is one such cartridge that has sustained the excitement of the hunt. In searching for the ideal .45-caliber deer bullet, I’ve tried 400-grain cast bullets and 300- to 350-grain jacketed bullets. At the appropriate velocity, heavy cast bullets create excessive recoil from my Marlin Model 1895 Guide Gun. Jacketed bullets are expensive, and recoil is cruel at the speeds required for them to expand on deer.

A few years ago my dilemma was solved by a cast bullet designed well over a century ago. Lyman sells its mould number 457122 for the bullet commonly known as the Gould’s 45-330 Express. A.C. Gould was the editor of Shooting and Fishing magazine in the late 1800s and set about to determine the best combination of bullet weight, velocity, trajectory, accuracy, manageable recoil and bullet expansion on game for the .45-70. In his book Modern American Rifles, published in 1892, Gould states:

I wrote the Ideal Manufacturing Co., of New Haven, Conn., to make me several moulds for bullets weighing 350, 330, and 300 grains, all with hollow points, and in due time received them. I found the tools were very carefully made, and the bullets, when cast, were apparently perfect. All of these bullets were tested in Winchester rifles, chambered for the .45-70 government

cartridge. I shot them in five different repeating rifles and one single shot rifle, the testing being done at 200 yards with target sights, and at rest; when I had finished shooting one rifle I would wait several weeks, or perhaps a month or two, then repeat the experiments with another rifle. I would then invite some reliable shot to shoot, comparing his results with my own. Various kinds of powder were tried, and charges from 55 to 77 grains, and from slow burning to ducking powder. . . . The most satisfactory results, considering accuracy, range, and penetration, were secured with the 330-grain Ideal bullet, hollow pointed, and 75 grains of Hazard’s FG powder. The charge has been tried on game and found very killing. The charge may be reduced to 55 grains of powder with this bullet, and very accurate and pleasant target practice secured. One can also shoot 75 grains of Hazard’s ducking powder with this bullet, and have a cartridge equal in power to the .45-90 factory cartridge, with nearly equal trajectory and greater accuracy.

John Barlow, founder of Ideal Manufacturing, is credited with designing the Gould’s bullet. In his first Ideal Hand Book, Barlow states, “This bullet has given universal satisfaction as an accurate flyer and great killer of game. It has been used with equal success when shot from the various .45 calibre, 45-60, 45-70, 45-75, 45-85, 45-90 and 45-120.”

Only a few cycles of casting were required to bring the Lyman 457122 mould up to the proper temperature to create fully formed bullets. I slid out the hollowpoint pin, opened the mould and a bullet fell out of the mould. The Lyman Reloading Handbook 46th Edition (1982) and Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook (1999) lists a weight of 322 grains for the bullet cast of Lyman No. 2 lead alloy. However, the Lyman 50th Edition

Reloading Handbook (2016) lists its original weight of 330 grains as cast of No. 2 alloy. From my mould, bullets weighed 336 grains cast of wheelweights with 2 percent tin added, and the weight of 100 bullets varied only 1.4 grains. The bullets measured .4585 inch in diameter, and just the seams of the bullets were slightly swaged, with lubricant added into the two bottom lubrication grooves when the bullets were pushed in and out of a .459-inch sizing die. Finished bullets cost but a few pennies apiece.

The bullets could have been cast of a hard lead alloy, like Linotype, to better withstand higher pressure and velocity and produce better accuracy than wheelweight bullets, but the nose of the harder bullets might not expand on contact with game. If the Gould’s hollow nose did expand, the harder alloy would crack and break off, and only the shank of the bullet would remain. Wheelweight bullets are ductile, and as the hollow nose rolls back, it will remain attached to produce a wide diameter.

I fired wheelweight Gould’s bullets, with a striking velocity of 1,300 fps, into ballistic wax. The bullet’s deep, hollow nose really expanded, and recovered bullets were nearly mashed flat with a diameter of .622 inch. The bullets retained an average of 54 percent of their original weight. Penetration was relatively shallow at 7 inches, about half that of 407-grain flatnose bullets with an impact speed of 1,500 fps. The ballistic wax, however, is much denser than the ribs and lungs of a deer.

The next step was to find a level of pressure and velocity to produce acceptable accuracy and an adequately flat trajectory to

shoot out to 150 yards. I’m estimating the 75 grains of Fg black powder Gould loaded fired his 330-grain bullets at about 1,450 fps. That is a nearly perfect velocity for a plain-base bullet, like the Gould’s, but I planned to load smokeless powder with the bullet. The Lyman 50th Edition Reloading Handbook lists velocities for the bullet with various smokeless powders at up to 1,700 fps as appropriate for the 1873 Springfield, and 2,000 fps being suitable for Marlin 1895 and Winchester 1886 lever actions. The Lyman handbook also notes a velocity of 1,338 fps as the most accurate for the bullet used in Springfield loads and 1,994 fps for lever actions. Previous Lyman handbooks list the bullet’s best accuracy at slightly over 1,100 fps to nearly 1,500 fps for the Springfield and somewhat over 1,500 and 1,600 fps for lever actions.

Preventing distortion of the plain base of the Gould’s bullet is an important step in attaining the best accuracy. Soft gas checks and case fillers were tried to protect the base of the bullets, but accuracy was poor compared to plain loads of the same powders. The Lyman handbooks fortunately list pressures with the various powders for the bullet. Choosing a powder that produces the desired velocity at a relatively low pressure should help avert deforming the base of the bullet. For example, the Lyman 50th Edition Re- loading Handbook lists the bullet’s velocity at 1,665 fps with 50.0 grains of IMR-3031 and 16,900 copper units of pressure (CUP). Conversely, about the same velocity was reached with 49.0 grains of H-322 at roughly 21,200 CUP.

Going over the numbers recorded from shooting the loads listed in the accompanying table, extreme velocity spreads dropped significantly as powder weights of Varget and H-4198 increased. For instance, 32.0 grains of H-4198 had an extreme spread of 152 fps, but it shrank to 43 fps with 36.0 grains of powder. Accurate 5744, IMR-3031 and Reloder 7 produced spreads of 19 to 50 fps with their varying powder weights.

I brushed the Marlin’s bore after shooting the loads with each powder. Patches pushed through the bore to wipe out fouling contained none to a very few flecks of lead. I looked into the Marlin’s bore with a Lyman borescope after shooting 10 bullets, some at over 1,800 fps. One spot at the start of the rifling had a slight wash of lead. The only other lead was two streaks on the lands near the muzzle.

Leading near the muzzle, according to the RCBS Cast Bullet Manual, “. . . appears to be consistent with alloy melting from frictional heat of high velocity. Remedial action is to decrease velocity or use a better grade lubricant.” So lead smears in the bore had nothing to do with the larger groups the Marlin rifle shot. Higher pressures that deformed the rather soft wheelweight bullets is what caused the wider groups.

For a deer hunting load, it was a toss up between 48.0 grains of IMR-3031 or 54.0 grains of Varget with the Gould’s bullet. I chose IMR-3031 for its even velocities. With a muzzle velocity of 1,465 fps, the bullet’s trajectory was 2 inches above aim at 50 yards, one inch high at 100 yards and 6 inches below aim at 150 yards. Recoil was a mild 15 foot-pounds in the 8-pound Marlin. That’s nearly one-third less than a .270 Winchester shooting 130-grain bullets from the same weight rifle.

I had a doe license in my pocket during the first season I hunted deer with the Marlin Guide Gun loaded with the Gould’s bullet. I peeked over a slight rise and saw a doe standing below about 50 yards away. The deer browsed along, facing away. I stepped over to a tree and leaned against it to steady myself and the rifle. When the deer turned slightly and showed its shoulder, I shot it behind the shoulder. The deer jumped at the shot and made a mad dash for 30 yards and fell over. Dressing the deer showed the bullet had hit at the rear of the lungs, plowed forward and exited the front of its far shoulder. The bullet had expanded well, with an entrance hole about the size of a 25¢ piece, and the exit hole was about the diameter of a 50¢ piece.

This past hunting season I sat on a stump for about an hour watching a timbered flat. A whitetail doe finally trotted out of a swamp, with a 10-point buck right behind it. The range was about 250 yards. If I had been carrying my .25-06 Remington, I could have taken a steady rest and shot the buck where it stood, but that shot for the .45-70 was too far.

The buck chased the doe back and forth for half an hour. The doe had enough and bedded down. The buck also bedded down. There was my chance. Marking the buck’s location by a big stump, I crawled into a shallow draw that led close to the deer then hurried along in a crouch and inched out of the draw behind a tree. The buck saw the movement and stood up at about 80 yards. It was too late; it collapsed at the shot. The bullet hit in the front of the near shoulder, punched the front of the lungs and plowed out behind the far shoulder. The in-and-out holes were neat with only some slight bloodshot meat under the far shoulder.

The Gould’s 45-330 Express bullet had been easy and inexpensive to make and had expanded perfectly. The .45-70’s recoil had been mild enough that I watched through the scope as the buck fell. The bullet’s trajectory was a rainbow when compared to bullets shot from modern cartridges, and the shot required the close approach that keeps me enthusiastic about deer hunting.