What makes a .45-90, not a .70?

Anything to do with Lever Action Guns

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Brent
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Re: What makes a .45-90, not a .70?

Post by Brent »

Yes, of course. I have some loaded just to try. But it is possible to load a cartridge that can be chambered but not extracted. So, in the end, even for single loading, it will behoove me to pay attention to max OAL. I like long bullets and I prefer them well out of the case. But that is not the way lever guns are made to be shot, and it is me, not it, that needs to adapt.
JD Juelson
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Re: What makes a .45-90, not a .70?

Post by JD Juelson »

Hmmm, learn something new every day! I thought the second number (perhaps professing my ignorance, but oh well!) was for the grains of powder in the load, ie 45-70 was .45 caliber with 70 grains of black powder and .45-90 had 90 grains......sorry for the stupid question but usually the only stupid question is the one you DON'T ask!
Regnier (gunrunner)
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Re: What makes a .45-90, not a .70?

Post by Regnier (gunrunner) »

JD Juelson;

In most cases this would be correct. The second number indicates the powder charge for a black powder cartridge. The thing here is that the .45-70 case is not as long as the .45-90 cartridge case, so they really do not interchange in the way one might think. You can shoot the .45-70 cartridge in the .45-90 chamber, not the other way around.
Some cartridges, like the .30-30 does not mean 30 grains of powder as the .30-30 was never a black powder round. There are other smokeless powder cartridges that got the same type of designation.
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