Need help with new barrel conversion

[reload1tn]

I currently own a Savage MLII ini 50 cal and love it. Not sure why but I want to add a 45 cal option. So I am looking at getting a 45/70 barrel and having a breech plug installed. Today it hit me I have a 20" Encore Pro Hunter barrel in 460 S&W. So I got to wondering could I get this barrel converted and use sabotless .452 bullets. So I'm looking for someone who might have already gone down this road. While I hate to mess with this barrel I already own it so that would save me around $300 for a 45/70 barrel.

Also interested in recommendations for which style breech plug to use and who to get it installed.

I never even heard of sabotless till this year when a friend was showing me his but it was a .458 bore. So curious if anyone has any experience going this route. The 20" barrel would sure be handy in a shooting house. I rarely get a shot over 200 yards and most are 100 or less. So I don't think the lower velocity would hurt me that much. I don't want to make a mistake though and end up with a subpar option over saving $300.

So any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Bill

[71yella]

I wanted to build a 45sml barrel for a HR handi rifle, mistakenly bought a .452 barrel. Was told by some on the other board that IF you could smooth size the bullets down to fit it will compromise the core/jacket bond.this would require around .442-.443 final size. I will say this ,i used a scrap piece of my barrel to make a die for full sizing some 452 XTPs and there is no way you could push one down 20+ inches of barrel. Hell i could barely get it thru the die in a rockchucker press!. So i chambered mine in 454 casull. Lesson learned.

[dannoboone]

To go this route, you would need a full form die which is made
from drop of your existing barrel which is already very short.
Possible, but you would end up with 18-19" of barrel.

Prior to their devastating fire, PacNor was making drop in barrels
for the Sav10MLII. I ordered a .451 barrel for the purpose of
going full form bullets which engraved the lands into the
bullet. The .451 and .452 bullets would then fill out the bore
and so very little gas would escape ahead of the bullet. When
requested, they would send barrel drop which gets cut off each
barrel after hand lapping. The drop was then sent to Swinglock
for use in an adjustable die. I believe Jeff Hankins will do
the same, however, you will end up with not much more than a
ML pistol. Your barrel will also need to be re-crowned.

[reload1tn]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm thinking that rather than being on the cutting edge I will find a 45/70 Encore barrel.

The only bright spot I saw was the CVA 280 gr ELD bullet that is actually a little under 45 caliber if you remove the plastic base. My concern here is that the only loads I saw were all using bighorn 209 at around 2200 fps. With smokeless powder I was hoping for more like 2500 to 2600 fps. Now with the shorter barrel the 2200 maybe more realistic.

Trying not to get in too big of a hurry and make a good decision. Still open to more ideas if anyone else wants to chime in.

Bill