45-70 NEF Handi-Rifle lmild recoil deer load needed ASAP!

[Clayt]

I use AA for doves, as in anti-aircraft!

I put so much shot in the air that something must fly into it!!

[Mike in tx]

Clayton
I have a 340 gr 457 mold coming. I will cast some and try a couple of other loads.

[versifier]

Do you have a push-through or a conventional sizer?

I wouldn't think you'd need or want a very hard alloy for a hunting bullet, though with .45cal expansion isn't critical. Just enough tin for good fillout, 2-3%, I cast rb's, minnies, and Maxi's for the muzzle loaders from it, soft enough to load easily in them and soft enough to obturate well in a .45 barrel with very light to heavy loads over 1500 fps without leading if they are correctly sized. WW's will work fine, too, or #2 alloy for longer range shooting, but you're not pushing those slugs to hyperspeed and the heavy .45cal bullets don't develop the rotational energy to strip a soft mostly lead bullet within the cartridge's working velocity range, nor do they need GC's for any but the very hottest lightest fastest loads.
Nice to be able to check the drop diameter with a couple of alloys because you would want something a lot harder if the barrel was accurate enough to shoot at longer ranges. And depending on the mould if you experiment you might find an alloy you don't have to size unless it needs GC's, just tumble lube, dry, and load. I love getting a new mould.

It's an easier process when you have only one or two rifles a mould can be used in. I'll be testing my dozens of .30cal (and 6.5 and 7.7 and 8mm) moulds and rifles for decades.

[Mike in tx]

V I have both, a Lyman 4200 and Lee push through. I prefer the Lees as I use them most often

[versifier]

No nose distortion with a nose first sizer. And it's easy to open a Lee up a few thou and save the expense of another sizer. You don't need to modify an individual sizer to fill specific lube grooves or readjust it for different bullets. The tradeoff is of course time lag, a longer wait for the lube to dry on the bullets before sizing them, sometimes several days, where you can run a conventional setup right away as soon as the bullets are cool enough to handle.

If you are not pressed for time, the tumble lube is a more effective and versatile system. I have yet to find its limit on a .30cal bullet, have gone to 2700fps with a 120grFNGC bullet (best accuracy around 22-2300) no leading, linotype alloy, around 2500 with 150-180gr RN&FNGC and a softer expanding hunting alloy like WW's (best accuracy around 2000-2200). Part of the accuracy is the undistorted noses of the bullets from the nose first push through sizing and consistent straight square GC's on their bases, but the Liquid Alox lube has not approached a limit of its working range in any of my tests over the last twenty years. By exceeding them I have found the rotational limits of different alloys and how that effects relative and comparative bullet diameters and in the process created a few lead mines in perfectly good barrels, but I have never once in thirty plus years of casting had a lube failure with LLA.

The lube is good stuff, summer, winter. After loading you can wipe the bullet noses of hunting loads clean of excess lube with some mineral spirits on a cloth so they won't gather lint in your pocket, the lube they need is inside the neck of the case, crimped in. I will dip lube a few dozen hunting bullets just up to the crimp groove and stand them on their bases to dry for a few days before fitting the GC's and sizing them so there's never any lube on their noses at all, but I don't take the time to do that for test or target bullets. Not every nose shape lends itself to easy dip lubing. Not every set of fingers does, either. I can only grab hold and dip long stumpy bullets, not short round nosed ones.

[Clayt]

She has decided not to hunt this year.
Geesh, kids!

[versifier]

Don't make a big deal out of it and keep a positive attitude. You got her out shooting and that's a good start. And it doesn't mean she can't come out and sit on stand with you and a camera for a few hours here and there.

[Clayt]

Yeah, I told her it's supposed to be fun and she clearly wasn't having any fun at the range for many reasons.
Oh well....................

[versifier]

So give her a 10/22 and a bunch of reactive targets at different ranges, include a few exploders too, and maybe a few suspended eggs. And then take her out for ice cream/pizza afterward. If you get creative, she'll have fun. If she has fun, she'll be asking YOU to bring her next time. Do any of her friends come from hunting/shooting families? Peer pressure can work in your favor here if you plan it right.

[Clayt]

I haven't given up totally, just for this hunting season. No luck on the peers hunting.