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November 7, 2015
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Kirk Durston said
tim tomlinson said
Kirk, I haven’t shot a .45-90 but suppose I could with toilet paper to take up space. Cheers, Kirk! Tim
Yes, that huge long case leaves a lot of empty space with smokeless powder, so I always used a single-ply, single sheet of TP loosely rolled and folded to fill the space, which greatly reduced the extreme spread in velocity. My favourite powders were IMR 4198 and 5744. Stay away from IMR 3031—it is ridiculously position-sensitive. I really enjoyed my old ’86 in that caliber … those huge long rounds made me feel I was levering something serious into the chamber.
I’m also a fan of the 45-90, Kirk. In the Winchester repeaters it is an Express cartridge. I enjoy it in an 1874 C.Sharps with a full case of Holy Black nudging a large 20-1 lead bullet from a “modern” mould dropping a bullet of over 400 grains. With today’s smokeless powders a 45-90 has few advantages over the 45 Guvmint unless one wishes to push the limits of the Express loadings with a Gould bullet or a modern J-word bullet. It’s a grand old cartridge and an 1886 chambered for it is a grand old rifle. Someday I hope to have one, maybe I’ll try some smokeless powder in it. I like the 5744 but Bert has been effectively preaching the gospel of 4198 and I happen to have it in both IMR and Hodgdon. In spite of a recent scare I also have an adequate supply of toilet paper. I hope you’ll share your reloading adventures with us, Kirk.
Mike
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