First try at reloading

[Pismire]

Quite a while ago I bought some reloading supplies with the idea I'd do some reloading, but never had any pressing need, so the stuff just collected dust.
Then I bought a rifle in 45-70, and with the price and difficulty of getting ammo for it, I decided now was the time to give it a go.
Used a lee loader with a mallet, titegroup, Starline Brass, Berrys 350gn plated bullets, and CCI 34 primers.

Reloading supplies used:





Finished 45-70 round:





Used 8gns of titegroup for the first one- came out at a sizzling 559 fps!
While that should be enough to knock grizzly bears over with ease, I wasn't quite satisfied. I figured I could handle a little more, and worked it up to 10.5gns, which moved along at 1047 fps. Then I did a few experiments with tilting the barrel down to see if titegroup was position insensitive as claimed.
Not much variance, so that checked out. I also measured a batch of bullets before loading the rifle, then checked the OAL after firing a few. They didn't change measurably, so I seem to have crimped them enough.

Have to say I was pleased with the results. Made for a pleasant round to shoot, and I enjoyed the process. I will have to get some sort of press if I want to get serious, but this works really well for me right now.

[pacrat]

A job well done.

That is exactly how I started reloading. That was in 1968.

[tabascoz28]

Isn't that crazy, it used to be packed with 70 grains of black powder.

[Jeepergeo]

Isn't that crazy, it used to be packed with 70 grains of black powder.

...and 405 grain boolets!

[baranski]

I would not expect that use for TG, but looks like it works.

Interesting what can be done with so many different combinations.

[Imageview]

Not a combination I would have ever thought of, but glad it worked out. I?m a bit cautious with fast powders like titegroup that could be double or even triple charged in cases like 357, I don?t even want to think of how many charges could be packed into a 45-70 case. Would be curious to see the quickloads results for that one. I have a ton of 350gr berrys and titegroup, but I think I?ll stick with 3031. Still awesome outside the box thinking.

I?m looking to upgrade my primitive reloading set up to include a lyman ideal 310 tool, for when whacking with a mallet isn?t ideal. I figure between it, lee loaders, a hand primer and decapper, and several vintage shotgun priming tools I have a fairly robust reloading set up that packs down into a easy to carry bag for almost all the cartridges I regularly shoot.

[Cowboy T]

Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed Titegroup for that case, but let's remember that Titegroup was designed to be pretty darn position-insensitive in cases for consistent ignition. That's why it works well in the .45 Colt and .44 Special revolver cases, also.

Maybe the OP is onto something here....

[Pismire]

Titegroup works well for what I needed- shooting steel and the like. Also, I really wanted to try out the Winchester 1886 I bought, and that motivated me to finally try reloading. I have other powder that would work for more typical loads, but I don't need that much bang for what I'm doing. I'm not sure I'd want to do this in a turret press though. With the lee loader I'm doing one round complete at a time, and can be careful about how much powder each round gets. Titegroup seems to ramp up quickly, and so I'm sticking to a middle ground load to avoid an unpleasant surprise if things a little off. I bought the Titegroup thinking I'd use it for a different sort of 45- 45acp. Still have a lot of factory ammo for that, so haven't tried 45acp, but I think that will be next.

[beerman]

Good
For you OP.. embrace the bruised shoulder! I really don’t know why most shooters don’t reload.. they’re missing a whole other half of the sport.

[Cowboy T]

Titegroup works well for what I needed- shooting steel and the like. Also, I really wanted to try out the Winchester 1886 I bought, and that motivated me to finally try reloading. I have other powder that would work for more typical loads, but I don't need that much bang for what I'm doing. I'm not sure I'd want to do this in a turret press though. With the lee loader I'm doing one round complete at a time, and can be careful about how much powder each round gets. Titegroup seems to ramp up quickly, and so I'm sticking to a middle ground load to avoid an unpleasant surprise if things a little off. I bought the Titegroup thinking I'd use it for a different sort of 45- 45acp. Still have a lot of factory ammo for that, so haven't tried 45acp, but I think that will be next.

I use Titegroup as my primary .45 ACP powder, with Bullseye as my secondary. Both powders work very well, indeed, in .45 ACP.

Glad you've gotten into reloading; that's the main thing. Doesn't it feel good to shoot rounds that you made yourself? :-)

[dragon7]

I agree with most that Titegroup wouldn’t be my first choice in powder but I appreciate OPs deliberate and careful approach to reloading. Lots of good load data available but a lot of caution is still needed especially with the amount of pressure the 45-70 develops.

[Imageview]

Evidently Oregon trail bullets had titegroup load data in their old reloading manual, but it doesn?t seem to be available anymore. ~10gr seems to be a pretty common load based on google search, which surprises the heck out of me. Still interesting, I?m tempted to try it. Wish I could find the published data available somewhere.

[kcstott]

Back in the day... there used to be a popular thing of making very reduced loads just to go out an have fun.

Someone back in the 50's or 60's figured out you could use 13 grains of redot in just about any common rifle round of the time. .223, .243, .257, .260, .270, 7x57, 8x57, 308, and 30-06
just be sure you double check your data before you try it.

[Imageview]

A slightly better than nothing reference I was able to find after doing some research:

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

They have titegroup from 8-12 gr using a 405 gr bullet. Stated velocities at 900-1150fps.

It?s internet data, but at least it?s internet data someone has put a ton of work into. Fascinating to see all the powders they have tested.

[Pismire]

That's the big takeaway for me. Firing off your own rounds is awfully satisfying.
Just needed something to get me to take the first stab at reloading. Price/availability pf 45/70 was the kick in the rear I needed. I enjoyed the process so its a big win all the way around.

I use Titegroup as my primary .45 ACP powder, with Bullseye as my secondary. Both powders work very well, indeed, in .45 ACP.

Glad you've gotten into reloading; that's the main thing. Doesn't it feel good to shoot rounds that you made yourself? :-)