I have been reading around the net about useing 3 round balls in a 45-70 case, has anyone tried this with black powder?

Yes, but not for rifled barrels. This was a smoothbore load (buck and ball) used up through the Civil war. It's been reserected by a company for use in shotguns, called the Tri-ball.

If I'm wrong about not using rifled barrels, please someone enlighten me.

Hi
I have been shooting both black powder cartridge and muzzleloaders for a while round balls were ment to be shot with a patch the round ball never touchs the barrel the patch engraves the rifeling and the rifling on round ball barrels is slow I have a .50 lyman that has a 1in 60 in. rifleing and it is a tackdriver with hand cast .490 round balls I belive the hand cast round balls are more accurate than the factory swedged ones because you load them with the sprue up every time that means you are loading cast ammo exactly the same each time and it makes a difference If I do my part right it will shoot one ragged hole at fifty yds.
Regards
Bob

P.S. That is off a bench rest
Bob

How are the balls loaded into the shell? Do all three balls engage the rifling, or are they in some kind of sabot?
I have been reading around the net about useing 3 round balls in a 45-70 case, has anyone tried this with black powder?

Found this on the internet, and if it can be done with smokeless then it can be done with black powder, but it seems quite complicated for what you get in the end. Hope this helps;

http://www.castpics.net/memberarticles/Round%20Ball%20Loads...Final%20edit.htm

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Summary<O:p</O:p
Round balls in single or multiple loads have good applications for the woods loafer or in varmint/pest control as well as small game hunting. The straight walled pistol cases do well with multiple loads and single ball loads can be loaded in almost any caliber that you have a RB mould for. Being a caster, I’d rather shoot a good cast bullet design as long as I’m expending a primer or powder but your needs may dictate that you use these loads. Get a mould as close to bore diameter as you can find and develop a load. These are only a starting place based on my experiences. Perhaps, your results will be better.<O:p</O:p<O:p</O:p
Good loading.
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John Goins/akabeagle

Hummm, sounds like this might be a fun load to try-out! thanks for the good article!

I've shot muzzle loaders with un patch'd round balls with great results, I also use them in all my black powder revolvers.....Light weight cast .45ACP's in the BP revolvers also works real good.

I have been searching for weeks on RB loads for the 45-70.........THANKS!!! like you said if it can be done with smokeless then it can be done with the black stuff, and man I like to shoot the black stuff

You are welcome, glad I could help. Please post your results and happy shooting!

You might have some challenges in getting enough black powder with three round balls. Depends on what you want to do with it and what kind of velocity you need, or want. At least with black powder the bottom ball will be well supported on the powder, as it might be loose in the case that far down.

Refer the book " Loading Cartridges for the Original 45-70 Springfield Rifle And Carbine " by J.S. & Pat Wolf . Instructions for this Black Powder load are shown under " Three Ball Guard Load ( Multi Ball ) " on page 140 of the 2nd edition of the book .

I ran across a references to a US Army twin ball load in the 45/70 for foraging they while in the field in the west. I experimented with this load in a No.1 Ruger 45/70. I loaded it with black powder placed trimmed fiber shotgun wad over the powder a round ball, a wad, another ball, and a wad on top of that to hold everything in. It shot OK and could be used for deer sized animals out to maybe 30 yards. After working up this load I can't for the life of me understand why it was even considered to begin with. At least I satisfied my curiosity about this load. .

45 cal Hornady and Speer round balls are available for us non-casters. I wonder if one of the various sabots could be used? How about a "Quadball", "Pentaball" or "Sexaball" (6 balls not the other kind...where is your mind? LOL) load for 45-100 and 45-120's.... BAAAddddd to the bone for sure in any case. I gotta try this thing.

I have tried three .457" balls in smokeless loads from the 45/70 and had to move in to 20 yards to keep all three on an 18x24" paper target, none of them close to the point of aim. After thinking about it I realized that even if I could get much better accuracy the three balls would do nothing that couldn't be done better with a single accurate bullet.
As "al_sway" said, seating 2 1/2 balls into a 45/70 case doesn't leave much room for black powder. I guess I can see it as a "guard load", lethal at short range and less likely to penetrate walls than the 405-500 grain slugs, but I don't see much sporting application.

In the above-mentioned book , Spencer Wolfe gives the loading particulars and procedures , and states that the load was designed for use against Infantry and Cavalry to an effective range of 200 yards at Battle Sight setting ( 260 yards ) . Please note that this was the load for the 45/70 Springfield Ttrapdoor Rifle and , presumably , Carbine , but how it might perform in other rifles / carbines he doesn't say .
Look fwd to reading about your future successes with this load .
Good Luck .