.45-70, Does Dick's Carry This?

[Principal Skinr]

I've got a $10 Dicks gift card and a brand new Marlin 1895. Does Dicks carry any .45-70 ammo? Gander does, but it is $54 a box. I can buy premium Underwood or Buffalo Bore for that price, so I'm looking for something less expensive with which to practice, but not too slow, either. I found some decent deals online, but I've got this gift card to spend and want something decent.

Thanks!

 

[BoomstickBuff]

I don't believe I've seen 45-70 at Dicks; however, I have found some reasonable prices on good 45-75 at Cabelas. Not sure if there is one near you, but if there is I'd give them a try.

 

[Leadeye]

Start reloading and bullet casting if you want to shoot 45-70 much. Cuts WAY back on the cost.

 

[Tactically Fat]

Probably your best bet would be to just spend that GC on something small.

 

[jstory]

Start reloading and bullet casting if you want to shoot 45-70 much. Cuts WAY back on the cost.

This...I don't think I have found a jacketed bullet for less than $1 each. Even cast run close to 75 cents each when you buy them.

 

[phatgemi]

This...I don't think I have found a jacketed bullet for less than $1 each. Even cast run close to 75 cents each when you buy them.

I buy 405 gr cast bullets for .21 each from Missouri Bullet Co. With shipping it bumps it to a quarter per round. Not bad at all and a nice piece of lead.

 

[Leadeye]

I buy 405 gr cast bullets for .21 each from Missouri Bullet Co. With shipping it bumps it to a quarter per round. Not bad at all and a nice piece of lead.

That's not bad for 405 grain.

 

[oldpink]

I have to chime in with the other guys recommending that now would be as good a time as any to see this as an excuse to get into reloading for the first time.
Factory .45-70 ammo is expensive enough that the cost savings returns realized by reloading will justify the initial cost of getting your equipment much more palatable.
As others said, using cast will save the most, but if you find cast on sale, you'll still be able to load for roughly half or less what factory ammo costs.
On top of that, you'll be able to tailor the load to the rifle, and you can use the data in the loading manuals fro quite a bit more power if you want it for hunting in the future.
I mention that last because of the five-year trial of .243 and .308 bore diameter rifles passed earlier this year for deer hunting.
After those five years, once none of the mayhem predicted by the fudds materializes, it seems highly likely that all calibers in between those two and up through .50 caliber will be legalized, obviously legalizing your 1895 at that time.

 

[Michigan Slim]

I reload my own using Varget and my cast bullets. Around 0.22/round. The initial cost of brass, etc not included. I paid for my Dillon with just 45-70 savings.

 

[Principal Skinr]

I found Hornady LeverRevolution 325gr at Dicks for 35 bucks, so 25 after the gift card. I'm looking at the Lee Loader kit to possibly reload these. I took the gun out yesterday and put about 14 rounds of the LeverRevolution through it, and WOW, this thing is a sledgehammer! My shoulder wasn't interested in anymore than 14 rounds, so I think the Lee Loader would be an easy and inexpensive way to reload for this thing. I could do 20 rounds in relatively little time.

I was considering not trying to reload when I saw the bullet prices on Midwayusa.com, but the info on the Missouri Bullet Company made me reconsider. It will be more for a fun hobby kind of thing, though, instead of a big money saver. I won't shoot this rifle enough to get too bent out of shape over the money, but if it saves some, then that's great. I plan on one day maybe taking this on a hog hunt or ultimately, a bear hunt. We'll see. In the mean time, its fun to put a few rounds down range every now and then with a big, classic, powerful lever gun. Its as fun sitting around talking about it after a few rounds as shooting it!

Thanks for all the info, guys!

 

[Principal Skinr]

I reload my own using Varget and my cast bullets. Around 0.22/round. The initial cost of brass, etc not included. I paid for my Dillon with just 45-70 savings.

Wow! .22 a round? That's incredible!

 

[Leadeye]

Once you get set up reloading and casting 45-70 is a very versatile caliber, of course you'll end up in the ranks of us lead scroungers.

 

[oldpink]

I found Hornady LeverRevolution 325gr at Dicks for 35 bucks, so 25 after the gift card. I'm looking at the Lee Loader kit to possibly reload these. I took the gun out yesterday and put about 14 rounds of the LeverRevolution through it, and WOW, this thing is a sledgehammer! My shoulder wasn't interested in anymore than 14 rounds, so I think the Lee Loader would be an easy and inexpensive way to reload for this thing. I could do 20 rounds in relatively little time.

I was considering not trying to reload when I saw the bullet prices on Midwayusa.com, but the info on the Missouri Bullet Company made me reconsider. It will be more for a fun hobby kind of thing, though, instead of a big money saver. I won't shoot this rifle enough to get too bent out of shape over the money, but if it saves some, then that's great. I plan on one day maybe taking this on a hog hunt or ultimately, a bear hunt. We'll see. In the mean time, its fun to put a few rounds down range every now and then with a big, classic, powerful lever gun. Its as fun sitting around talking about it after a few rounds as shooting it!

Thanks for all the info, guys!

Just as another idea, if you have a friend in your area who already has a full press and reloading setup, you could probably work out a deal whereby you buy the dies and components, then he makes up some loads for you in return for a favor or a nice lunch.
I've never bothered with the Lee Loader, but I suspect that it will take quite a bit of effort to turn out even 20 rounds of .45-70 due to the long brass, but someone who has used that system with .45-70 may say otherwise.
As a side note, are carbide dies available for .45-70?

 

[Leadeye]

Solid info from oldpink, find a friend who reloads.

 

[Michigan Slim]

Wow! .22 a round? That's incredible!

0.03/primer, 019/round for powder. Yep. 0.22/round. Cast my own. Come on over and sit a while. Just don't look at your tires when you leave...... My driveway is a wheel weight black hole.

 

[Principal Skinr]

My volume would be really low, and I've seen a couple guys use Lee Classic Loaders and they can do 20 rounds in a fairly reasonable amount of time. I'm not even sure I'd do that many in a sitting. Low volume rules the day with this lever action battering ram. It is great fun for about 10 rounds. After that, the shoulder starts to complain.

 

[oldpink]

My volume would be really low, and I've seen a couple guys use Lee Classic Loaders and they can do 20 rounds in a fairly reasonable amount of time. I'm not even sure I'd do that many in a sitting. Low volume rules the day with this lever action battering ram. It is great fun for about 10 rounds. After that, the shoulder starts to complain.

Get yourself one of these and you'll be more than happy to shoot several times that many.
http://www.midwayusa.com/s?targetLo...&Ns=p_metric_sales_velocity%7C1&Ntpc=1&Ntpr=1

 

[Michigan Slim]

I load 200 at a time. A great round. Can be made a *****cat or a lion. Your choice.

 

[two70]

This...I don't think I have found a jacketed bullet for less than $1 each. Even cast run close to 75 cents each when you buy them.

If you watch Midway USA you can find blemished jacketed .45-70 bullets for as low as $0.50 each from time to time. Sometimes they even have monometal flex tips for $0.75 each.

My volume would be really low, and I've seen a couple guys use Lee Classic Loaders and they can do 20 rounds in a fairly reasonable amount of time. I'm not even sure I'd do that many in a sitting. Low volume rules the day with this lever action battering ram. It is great fun for about 10 rounds. After that, the shoulder starts to complain.

The Lee Hand Press would work well for low volume .45-70 loading. It wouldn't be too hard to knock out 20-30 rounds in an hour.

 

[npwinder]

I have a lee single stage press for my 30-30. One of these days I'll probably still end up with the lee loader just because it looks fun. You can also add in a cheap scale and have everything you need to work up loads at the range.

Another thing to keep in mind is that by reloading you can work up some lighter loads which would allow you to shoot more before you shoulder says no more. Trailboss is a fine powder for that application if you can find it.