45-70 brass - what is your choice?

[Gunlaker]

That is pretty low. I'm using 60.6gr of OE 1.5 in my .40-65 using Remington .45-70 brass formed to the chamber in my Shiloh. I don't find a lot of difference in powder capacity between Remington and Starline brass though. Are you using Starline .40-65, or .45-70 formed to fit?

I know of another shooter using 62gr of Swiss 1.5 in a Shiloh .40-65.

I mostly use Starline as it's way cheaper and probably more consistent than other brands to boot. The main exception is for my .45-110's where I use Norma.

Chris.

[Harter66]

I'm new to the 45 70 but I have 120 Privi Partizan that were purchased as loaded ammo , only 100 in service today . Anyway with smokeless and a variety of loads from hot Colts levels to as much as I care for , the rifle doesn't seem to care what the load or bullet is , I'm on the 4th cycle with no failures or even a need to think I should anneal . 3 firings with PP shows no want for sizing either .

[Old-Win]

Wanted to be a little more fair on the capacity of the Starline brass. Went to the the range yesterday and expanded 60 rds and they hold about 4 grains more than they did before firing. The bullet is seated .545" in the case so it does take up a lot of room. Its the same Mos bullet that I use in my 40-70 SS which will hold 69 grs of Swiss. The rifle came with about 90 Remington cases that were sized but not trimmed to length so I trimmed a couple up and added powder til it came up to the same height as the Starline and it weighed 57 gr before expanding, so quite a difference. Bob

[Gunlaker]

Bob that's not too different than with my deep seated Saeco #740 bullet. It sits over .600" in the case and I use 58gr of Express FFFg. With the 60.6gr load I mentioned earlier I use the Baco 409400M4 bullet which sits out quite a bit. There isn't a whole lot of compression on that load though.

Chris.

[Lead pot]

I finally got my reamer I ordered Feb 17'th for my new .40-65 silhouette rifle. The rifle was ready for the reamer before I got the reamer
Today I loaded 60 pp ladder test loads from no compression 59 gr to 65 gr with 1.5 swiss. 67 gr is all I can get into this Starline case that is sized down to .425" that just fits the chamber. I hope. These are loads with no lube wads.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Starline.

[beltfed]

First, I have reloaded the same two-20rd boxes of Rem-UMC
45 Gov't new brass I got in 1963 "umpteen times" for my M86 Win 45-70
bought the same day. Still no problems with them.
Fast Forward.
Had been using reformed R-P brass for my 40-65, but, now have moved
to the lighter, higher capacity WW 45-70 brass formed to the 40-65:
74.5 gr Swiss 1.5 loaded into the WW cases under my PP bullet. So far so good. They are holding up
Have not tried Starline, for no particular reason other than I have lots of
R-P and now a good supply of WW
beltfed/arnie

[Strtspdlx]

I bought starline because of the cost and because it was easily found (everyone sells starline). I had thought it would be a good idea to anneal before loading for smokeless. I wish I had done more research as I didn't anneal. I bought 100 cases at $52 and I won't count shipping because I did a large purchase to make shipping worth it. They where all within .002 in oal and they where within the spec in the Lyman 4th edition cast book. When sizing they weren't bad and seating and crimping I didn't have an issue. I haven't shot them yet. I will note that in those 100 cases 2 cases had a line running down the length of the case. It's either a seam or a scratch from forming but it's deep enough to grab my finger nail. I loaded them to see if it fails. I couldn't see indication of an imperfection on the inside of the 2 mentioned cases. Aside from that I have no other experience with any other 45-70 brass.

[Big Mak]

Starline, W-W and Hornady however...A friend gave me 100 Hornady 45-70, dang things are like .05 short!
Anyone shot with hornady brass and does it affect your shot compared to other starline? I have not reloaded these yet.
I keep the brass seperated.

[Don McDowell]

Starline, W-W and Hornady however...A friend gave me 100 Hornady 45-70, dang things are like .05 short!
Anyone shot with hornady brass and does it affect your shot compared to other starline? I have not reloaded these yet.
I keep the brass seperated.

Is the brass your friend gave you once fired leverevoluiton brass? If you're shooting grease groove bullets that .05 short likely won't make any difference, except if you crimp your rounds.
I have shot the Hornady component brass, and the rifle and I like it quite a bit better than Winchester or Remington.

[iplaywithnoshoes]

Tried the following:
Winchester: Very consistent
R-P: VERY consistent
Hornady: Short but very robust and consistent even under abuse.
Starline: yet to try but excited to try based on what a few of you are saying.

shoe

[Big Mak]

Is the brass your friend gave you once fired leverevoluiton brass? If you're shooting grease groove bullets that .05 short likely won't make any difference, except if you crimp your rounds.
I have shot the Hornady component brass, and the rifle and I like it quite a bit better than Winchester or Remington.

Thanks for the reply!

[Big Mak]

Tried the following:
Winchester: Very consistent
R-P: VERY consistent
Hornady: Short but very robust and consistent even under abuse.
Starline: yet to try but excited to try based on what a few of you are saying.

shoe

When I bought my original new starline (200) I resized them all and then annealed them in this method. They are on their 5th refire life, so I annealed them again.
Quick redneck way.

[Chill Wills]

Annealing.

For what ever it is worth. I shoot about 35 Silhouette matches a year. I have the same 300 pieces of Winchester brass. I have been using them since about the year 2000. These same cases are used for load development. I don't keep records and I don't try to use them the same amount so some get fired more than others.

(got all that? )

Anyway. No failures. Zero.
I necksize and expand with flare.
I have never annealed.

I have one thousand Starline cases for my lever rifles (45-70) I shoot them a lot and never anneal them either.
No problems.

I did try annealing Starline 45-100 cases. I was hoping to see better accuracy. Accuracy was already very good. Annealing did not improve the accuracy.

I am sure annealing is what we should be doing, everyone says so, but since I am basically a contrarian, I keep it simple. My accuracy doesn't suffer.

Now watch, my old Winchester cases will be splitting like crazy this year!

[Big Mak]

ChillWills, I "accidently" discovered a way to artificially induce a color case chemically to my .45-70 brass. Basically with lemi shine, black powder, dawn detergent and vinegar.

This is how they turn out, which I really love the colors (4 shown, two on the inside are colored, the outside are normal cleaning)

[Lead pot]

Now if you want to enhance that color dry them in the oven

[texasmac]

The following is getting off the subject, but if for some reason you desire to make your brass cases look old (oxidized) use a firearm bluing solution. Scrub it with a q-tip or cotton ball soaked in the bluing. It will not darken as fast as steel but will turn dark after a bit of scrubbing. I've used Brownells Dicropan, Brownells Oxpho-Blue and Birchwood Casey Perma Blue. The Perma Blue works the fastest & results in a very dark finish. I use the technique when displaying cartridges since I prefer the "aged" look.

Wayne

[Big Mak]

texasmac, can you share a couple of pictures?
Here is one of my Winchester bullet key chains in .45-70. Aged look.