which action to use for 40/65 wcf

[gunsofliberty]

hi guy need some help with this .
i have two single shot action and only one barrel.
1} remington rolling block made in 1870
2} martini acton made 1876
the barrel 40 cal 30" 400/408
i would like shoot both black power and smokeless out of this barrel ,the power is 5744and varget for smokeless and 2f &3f ,like some budy help with this thanks

[Red River Rick]

If your wanting to shoot "SMOKELESS" powder.............then the RB action is out of the question.

That leaves you with M-H action with perhaps light loads.

RRR

[RwBeV]

You can shoot smokeless in either action you just have to be aware of the Rolling Blocks limitations. If you plan to shoot black powder silhouette then the Martini is out of the question. I have had alot of 40-65's over the years its a fun cartridge to shoot and load for. Its going to be fun in either action as long as you understand there limitations. The Martini is much stronger than the RB and will have a faster lock time, but in order to shoot anything over black powder pressures you will have to have the firing pin bushed or you will have problems. I have a black powder RB in 40-65 with a Ron Long barrel that I shoot now it is a real shooter with or without black powder. Let us know what you decide

[curator]

I have a Greener Martini rebarreled to .40-65Win with a 1 in 14 twist barrel. The Martini action is not allowed in BPCR shoots since it doesn't have an exposed hammer even though it is historically correct. The Greener Martini block has a small firing pin and doesn't require bushing. I use smokeless powder but keep pressure to black powder levels, Nonetheless the short lock time and minimum disturbance when pulling the trigger makes good shooting a bit easier. Hammer fall with the Sharps and R/B action is substantial even with a good trigger. Besides, you can never have tea many Martunis.

[EOD3]

Sounds like there's some disagreement as to the best action for the job and I don't have any personal experience to offer.

IIRC (books are still packed for the move) the 40/65 is a 45/70 case tapered to accept the 40 caliber boolit so low pressure loads are definitely called for with either action. Under the circumstances, I'd leave the Varget in the wall locker and stick with the BP or discreet loads of the IMR.

[exblaster]

The Martini action was designed for a shorter cartridge than the 40/65 so you may have to learn the trick of pulling the lever down as you insert the cartridge. I have a smiler action chambered in 45/70 and that is the method I use.
The Martini action is plenty strong enough for reasonable smokeless loads but any action can be made to fail.

Exblaster

[Red River Rick]

The Martini action was designed for a shorter cartridge than the 40/65..........

Exblaster


The M - H action was designed for the 577-450 round which has a case length of 2.340". The 40-65 Winchester cartridge is only 2.100" in length. Doesn't seem shorter accourding to the numbers.

The only RB action that I would use for smokeless would be the last one's made, the #1 Smokeless action that was chambered for the 7mm Mauser. Any other RB actions, I'd use extreme caution loading smokeless.

RRR