Lyman bullet

I have not posted here for a long while for reasons known to some of you. Totally irrelevant in context. My favourite load for the 45-70 was always 38grain of RE7 with a 500 grain gas check bullet ( lee mould) American powders are not readily available locally anymore, and when my supply of RE7 finished, I started using 35 grains of Vit N120 with the same bullet. Results were/are similar using all three oi my rifles. 2 inch groups offhand at 100 m.

I was reading in this post about loads using 12-15g of powder which is not available locally. Using charts, I found that Vectan, now Nobel A0 is actually a wee bit slower than those suggested here. And, wonder of wonders at HALF the price of rifle powder. Rifle powder costs tween 160 - 190  euros a kilo, whilst A0 is 80-85!

I have been experimenting with acrylic powder coating in my smaller bore rifles with very good results ( excluding the initial dismal disasters  ) 

Using the same 500g bullet, plastic coated sans gas check on top of 13 grains of AO with a dacron wad (1-1.3g) gave me the same groups off hand as the previous loads in both my Browning Hi Wall and Aydt. The same cannot  be said for my Sharps. Tweeking the load did not help either. More the pity, coz this rifle is more forgiving to my aged body. I should also mention that I reckon 15 grains of AO as being maximum as primers start flattening.

I would like to take the opportunity to wish All of you here a Prosperous 2026. May your aim be true, your shooting straight and your bulls shredded