BP loading for the 45-70

[Chilly Waters]

I'm not a hand loader yet because one of my pards does all my .45 for me on his Dillon.  However, I want to load bp for my Sharps and wonder what's the best place to learn about it and what do I need to load say 50 rounds a month?  I don't wanta go nuts here, I just want to give it a go.  I have brass from my Black Hills smokeless stuff.

[Uncle Eph]

my advice for you would be shop ebay for your reloading gear but before you do that head for the library and checkout a book or two on reloading or get your pard that does your loading to help you make a shopping list.

I just put together a small outfit that could be mounted in the RV then stashed in a duffle bag under the seat when not in use for a appox $150.00 complete, including electronic scales and droptube,  I loaded several hundred 45-70 rounds this summer with that setup.

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho the fire,

This may be one of the best things going for your mission.  A good number of long range records are held by pards loading with the LEE Classic Loader.  Take a look here. .

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1097153348.4936=/html/catalog/dies-p4.html#LeeLoader

The whole rig costs less than most outfits charge for just the dies, and it WORKS great.

DD-DLoS

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[Ol Gabe]

D.D., Kind Sir,
Picked up a Lee Classic in 45-70 on a whim awhile back and have been trying to figure it out for BP loads, don't look like it'll work the same way, but I'm probably wrong and just looking at it in a different way. 
How does one get the BP safely through the loading die? As I understand the directions that come with it, the powder is trickled 'in' through the opening after the sizer/holder/die is tapped down on the cartridge, correct? If that is so, then it would be difficult to 'drop tube' BP in, right? How about extra compression, should we just 'hand-pack' it down? And what about our lubed bullets, they don't look like they'll go through the same opening per the instructions.
I'm concerned about the procedure and the directions that come with the Lee Classic as they are for Smokeless Powder. Have you come up with a method to vary the instructions for BP, I'm guessing you do and hope you'll share your vast knowledge with all of us who are looking for a portable unit like the Lee CLassic!
Best regards and good loading!
'Ol Gabe
P.S. Hope to shoot Long Range with you some day at an NCOWS event, I know I'll come away a lot smarter!

[Dick Dastardly]

Hello Gabe,

I'm lookin' at the PDF file from LEE and I don't see any problem with puttin' the drop tube rite up to the die mouth and trickelin' the powder in.  One thing tho, you would have to have a good idea of how much powder to put in so you didn't get an overflow.  Also, I'd give the whole rig a push with a wood dowel thru the die to compress the powder before seatin' the bullet.

I'm going to get myself one of these rigs for load workup at the shootin' bench.  Way it is, I spend too much time goin' from the loading lab to the bench, and back again.

Since they cost less than the price of a die set, and do all the reloadin' work, they look like the right rig for the job.  Also, since they only neck size, that's best for BPCR long range shootn' anyway.

I'll post again when I've learned more firsthand.

DD-DLoS

[Mule Clanton]

   Quite frankly, I would do some serious reading and asking questions about reloading BP in any cartridge. Standard powder funnels are not recommended for BP, cartridges are "filled" with BP after decapping and capping primers, then compressed with a wad---then the bullet seated. Even though I reload everything else with a Dillon 550B, the BP cartrdiges are reloaded using a Rock Chucker Press with Redding dies and compression die, the BP is filled using either a Lyman BP powder funnel (manufactured w/o steel parts to avoid possible sparks) and/or a drop tube. I have learned to use the drop tube to my satisfaction and my loads are darned good (even if I say so myself). Just use care as is usual in reloading and once again IMHO do a lot of reading.