40-70 Ballard

[Wincacher]

Seriously considering acquiring an antique High Wall in 40-70 Ballard. Question is, reloading for this obsolete cartridge. Bullet molds and reloading dies are available for the 40-70 Ballard, but there is no correct brass. The "Handloader's Manual Of Cartridge Conversions" has some suggestions, but none that I like. I found an old post from several years ago on another forum, that suggests using the .405 Winchester cases, and these seem to have the closest rim diameter to the original 40-70 Ballard, .543 vs. .555. Load data is no problem as there is plenty of info out there on the 40-70 S.S.

Anyone heard of any 40-70 Ballard brass being available out there in cyberspace?

[John Boy]

Rocky Mountain Ctg Co - Everlasting 40-70 Ballard lathe turned - $68.75 box of 20
http://www.rockymountaincartridge.co...ice%20List.pdf

[Randy Bohannon]

You can't buy better brass, send them a fired case and they will make them to fit your chamber perfectly.

[Reverend Al]

I used once fired Norma 9.3x74R brass to reform into .40-90 Ballard 3" for my No. 5 Pacific. The rifle came with 20 rounds of Bertram brass when I bought it, but within 2 firings three of them had split. (I've never been a huge fan of Bertram brass due to it's poor quality plus it is WAY too expensive in comparison to reforming the 9.3 cases.) The 9.3x74R cases could be shortened to reform into .40-70 Ballard. In my particular Ballard my reformed cases extract without any issues even though the rims are slightly undersized, but I might have just been lucky in that regard. Just another option you could consider.

[Reverend Al]

If you can find a few 9.3x74R cases to play with I still think they'd likely work OK for you to reform into .40-70 Ballard at a much lower cost than buying expensive commercially made .40-70 brass.

I put together some more test loads for my .40-90 Ballard today using some of my reformed full length Norma 9.3x74R brass. I neck size the fire-formed cases using my .40-82 WCF dies and then seat the bullets using the .40-82 seating die turned up in the press. (Better than buying $200 US worth of dies from CH4D.) I tried loading them down a little bit this time since the very first load I tried was rather punishing to the shoulder. My first attempt was with a "kicker" charge of 7.5 grains of SR4759, and 80 grains of BP and the RCBS 400 grain Silhouette bullet. This time I used a smokeless "kicker" charge of 10 grains of IMR4198 (not trying to enhance performance, just trying to keep the cases and the bore a bit cleaner), an 8th of a sheet of toilet tissue pressed in with a wooden dowel to keep the powders separated, 50.5 grains of BP, a stiff .410 card and a .410 fibre wad seated under the 400 grain RCBS Silhouette bullets that I still had left on hand. That still gives the BP about a 1/4" of "crush" when the bullet is seated, but with nearly 30 grains less BP. The original loading was with a 330 grain paper patched bullet and 90 grains of BP, but I haven't bought my paper patch mould yet although that is the eventual plan. I did buy a used RCBS 350 grain Silhouette mould, but I haven't had a chance to cast any to try yet. They might work a bit better than the 400 grainers since they are closer to the original 330 grain weight. A friend and I are heading up to our local range tomorrow for a day of rifle shooting so I'll try these new loads out on paper and see what they will do in my Ballard.

[Wincacher]

Thanks for the good information, guys. I was planning to use my 40-65/40-82 RCBS bullet mold, which is 260 grains. Hadn't though about using one of those reloading dies for neck sizing, will have to check it out.

[Reverend Al]

Shot some of my test loads shown above at the range today with OK results. The 400 grain bullets are likely a bit too heavy as there is some evidence of tipping or "key-holing" at 100 yards, but I can live with a 1 1/2" wide x 6" high 5 shot group at 100 yards with a 140 year old rifle with buckhorn sights and 64 year old eyes! I'll have to cast a few 350 grain RCBS bullets to try and see if they work a bit better. The original load was a 330 grain paper patched bullet. I guess I should really run a rod down the bore and check the rate of twist sometime ...