Loading Cast with Hornady 45/70 Brass

[BigRix]

I was gifted a couple hundred pieces of Hornady once fired 45/70 brass which some of you may know is shorter than standard length. I loaded boolits cast from my newly acquired Lyman 457643BV mold into both Starline and Hornady brass. Dummy rounds just to check feeding and die set up. I roll crimped the Starline then used the Lee Factory Crimp die on the Hornady. I'm not sure what the crimp should look like when using the FCD as I have never used one before. I can not push the boolit any further into the case so I assume it is crimped but I'm not sure if this will fly.

Any thoughts? Is this gonna work?

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss208/BigRix/Casting/6b4744a9.jpg

The choices as I see them are,

Run them as shown and use the same powder charges in both.

Seat the boolit deeper in the Hornady brass and work up smaller powder charges for them. Kinda like a .38 Special in a .357 Mag.

Only run Hornady flex tips in this brass.

These will be used in a Marlin 1895G

[MtGun44]

Given the GIANT powder volume in the .45-70, the effects of deeper seating will be far
less than in something like a 9mm. However, I'd back the charge off just a bit and see
how it goes. OTOH, if the load is well below max I probably wouldn't sweat it in this situation,
due to the very small percentage change in combustion chamber volume that you would
have.

Just curious - why in the world would Hornady make their brass shorter than normal?

Bill

[BigRix]

Its shorter to accommodate the bullet design in the LeverEvolution and keep overall length within specs.

[Jim]

I first learned of Hornaday's short brass the day after a friend gave me a couple dozen. They aren't long enough to reach the roll crimp stage of the seating die or the top of the collet on the FCD. I chucked 'em in the dumpster.

[MikeS]

How much 'other' brass do you have? If it's only another 100 or so, another option you could do would be to trim the other brass to the same length as the Hornady brass so all your brass is the same length, then work up your loads. Or yet another option (and the one I would probably use) is to use the Hornady brass as an excuse to buy another mould (probably with a lighter weight), and use those boolits only in the Hornady brass. That way if they have a similar nose, you can know what load it is by looking at what brass it's loaded in.

[mpmarty]

I buy Winchester unprimed brass for $38.00 for fifty. I'd toss those short ones in the recycle bin.

[BABore]

Take apart the Lee FCD and measure the length of the sleeve that closes the collet. Make a new one, or have it made, so that it's the stock Lee length minus the difference between normal 45-70 brass and the Hornady stuff. This will allow you to crimp the short stuff and the part changes out easily.

[WHITETAIL]

Thanks Guys for this answer,
Because I will be in the same boat soon.
A budy of mine did the same thing and got
some LeverEvolution boolets.
And he will be passing the brass to me.:holysheep

[mroliver77]

You could also use the Hornady brass for wimp loads and no need to crimp them.
J

[1Shirt]

If anybody wants to s***can Hornady 45-70 brass, I will be more than glad to take it for the postage it takes to get it to me.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[BigRix]

So I have discovered that I can crimp this brass by sitting the case on top of the shell holder. My only question now is will making "short" rounds by crimping in groove cause problems in the 1895G? Is that too much jump for the boolit?

And you took the words right out of my mouth. I'll take any of the crappy Hornady brass y'all want To get rid of as well.