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Uberti 1885 High Wall

10K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  Blademaker 
#1 ·
I got a wild hair a while back and ordered a couple guns made by Uberti for Cimarron Arms in Fredericksburg, TX. The big one is an 1885 High Wall in 45-70. It looks to be of excellent quality.

I've never owned a 45-70 before but from what I understand it will knock you on your backside when you start loading for long range. Bullets range all the way up to 600 grains. Imagine a 12 ga. slug loaded hotter than usual. Ouch!



I'll be using this gun in the long range silhouette league at my local club, so I replaced the factory buckhorn sights with a tunnel front sight and a Soule rear tang setup.





The front sight will accept many different profiles (post, circles, etc - kind of like a scope with replaceable reticles). They slip into that little slit you see on top. It is also adjustable for windage but I figure that adjustment will just be used to make sure the the gun is centered when the rear sight windage adjustment is set at center zero.





I ordered the double set trigger version so I could be cool like Tom Selleck. Man, talk about a hair trigger! The receiver and lever are case hardened.



I was afraid this old-school gun might feel out of place next to all the modern guns in my safe, so I also brought home this new friend to keep him company - an 1866 Yellow Boy carbine also made by Uberti for Cimarron Arms. This will probably be the wife's gun. It's in .38 Special.

 
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#3 ·
When I shot 45-70 rifles, I used a light load for shooting steel out to 300 yards. I shot a 405g lead bullet with 12.0-13.0 grains of Unique powder and the recoil was not bad. It was a very accurate load. When loading small powder charges some people use filler, such as Cream of Wheat to fill up the remaining space between the powder charge and base of the bullet. I used a small piece of pillow ticking, roughly 5/8"x5/8", tamped down over the powder charge before seating the bullet. The pillow ticking burns up when you fire the round.

Have fun with your High Wall. Shooting them can be addictive.
 
#4 ·
I had better luck with fast rifle powders than with the miniscule pistol powder charges in the cavernous case.
I had a 405gr load with 4198 and a vegetable fiber (28ga shotgun) wad that shot okay, but it was a PIA to load, and smelled like burning hair when fired.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the load tips. The old codgers at the gun club keep telling me to go with a 600gr bullet but I think they're just jerking my chain. I've got some 405 Cast Performance bullets on hand and some 300gr on the way.

If I could get a load that smelled like Federal paper shotgun shells, I'd be in hog heaven.
 
#6 ·
Just recently travelled to Ottawa, Canada to participate in the Canadian National Matches and while there a group was shooting their black powder/cartridge rifles at the 1000yd range as we were w/ 308 and 223. Favorrite round was the 45/90. Fascinating to watch them and after the smoke cleared, you could see the targets!! Most were using the old Remngton rolling blocks and preferred the Swedish version, but some were using the rifle you have as well.
Prone position using cross sticks and the seemingly preferred bullet was cast lead of 535grs. in weight. Gentleman present was not only a competitor but also had built several of the rifles used in the matches. Workmanship and overall quality of these guns was definitely first rate. Our quarters on the military base had sizeable wash room and you could hear the black powder shooters in the sink area rattling their brass in a metal coffee can w/ soap and water to stop the corrosion of the black powder on the cases.
The rear tang sights seemed to reach to the heavens in order to hit the targets at 1000yds, but they did very well.
 
#7 ·
I have a Shiloh sharps in 45-90, I have 500 lyman postell 535 gr lead bullets that Im gonna start reloading. Ive had good results with trail boss in a 45-60, 1876. Im gonna mess with that a little. I also have 2 cans of swiss black, just because, you gotta try it the way it was originally loaded. The old black powder guns get very addicting. My wife has a 1873 in 357 mag, special sporting, its acually more accurate with a 38 special load than the 357 loads. Congrats on the 2 .
 
#8 ·
Beautiful color case hardening! With a rig like that you need to practice shooting from the Creedmoor (sp) position. Those weapons can compete at 1000 yards just fine.
 
#9 ·
I started loading the 45/70 in the late 80's for a Browning 1886 SRC. I settled on a load of 54 gns. of IMR 3031 with a hornady 350 gn rnfp bullet around 1900 fps. In my rifle it will shoot about 2 1/2 moa off a rest but is moa of big game to 200. Lol. There is so much reloading data that it will make your head spin.Look up some of the stuff Mike Verrinno? Spelling,has written over the years on black powder rifle cartridges ,good stuff. As far as I'm concerned the isn't a finer woods caliber than the 45/70, oh yea,if I was going to really get into shooting long range with your highwall( which is a fine rifle ) I'd change that butt stock to a shotgun butt,it will help out with recoil considerably. Dan
 
#10 ·
Got a Uberti Highwall as well, beautiful rifle, and very accurate and fun to shoot.

My current load is 69 grains of 1.5 F Swiss black powder and a cast 510 grain slug. This load will reach a 1000 meter target with no problem and plenty of energy as well. And it's a blast to shoot. I've got a new big lube mould on order and will be seeing what it's capable of.

One of the first things I did was get a kick killer pad for it, the steel crescent butt plate can hurt shooting from a bench.
 
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