Starline brass

[BIGRED]

All,
quick question..... is starline brass typically thicker walled less case capacity then alot of other brands. this is the 1st time i have used their brass. it is brand new 45-70.
I took a published Hodgdon load of 54-58 gr of IMR 4895 and started on the low side with 54 gr.
there was not enough room for the 405gr boolit, so just like some jacketed loadings i used the press to push/compress powder.
yes it compressed powder slightly but more important it reformed my boolit nose. because i am running about 10bhn it turned the nose into a squatty RNFP. I have compressed powders for my magnums before but this was not supposed to be compressed load. I ended up with 50gr and i had no more issues.
So i am thinking this brass has less case capacity than some other types?

Ultimately it doesn't matter because the load i intend to hunt with is a 1300 fps 18gr load.

another observation / question, this is my 1st straight walled case rifle. (1895GBL) Recoil feels totally different than any other type rifle / caliber even the 30-30 & 35 rem Marlin. Is it something to do with straight walled case vs bottle neck?
BTW it was alot of fun to shoot, Smiled the whole time...

[BK7saum]

BIGRED, I don't have an answer. I do have a new lot of starline that I will be loading. If I was home I could take some measurements.

Tag for later.

Brad

[XxWoodsHunterxX]

All,
quick question..... is starline brass typically thicker walled less case capacity then alot of other brands. this is the 1st time i have used their brass. it is brand new 45-70.
I took a published Hodgdon load of 54-58 gr of IMR 4895 and started on the low side with 54 gr.
there was not enough room for the 405gr boolit, so just like some jacketed loadings i used the press to push/compress powder.
yes it compressed powder slightly but more important it reformed my boolit nose. because i am running about 10bhn it turned the nose into a squatty RNFP. I have compressed powders for my magnums before but this was not supposed to be compressed load. I ended up with 50gr and i had no more issues.
So i am thinking this brass has less case capacity than some other types?

Ultimately it doesn't matter because the load i intend to hunt with is a 1300 fps 18gr load.

another observation / question, this is my 1st straight walled case rifle. (1895GBL) Recoil feels totally different than any other type rifle / caliber even the 30-30 & 35 rem Marlin. Is it something to do with straight walled case vs bottle neck?
BTW it was alot of fun to shoot, Smiled the whole time...

Head over to marlin owners forum. There is a sticky that shows wall thickness and case capacities of win rem star fed for 45-70. I thought I had it saved on my phone but couldn't find it. They explain how much to lower you initial loads depending on cases.

54gr is hot. I run 38 gr 4198 with 405 rnfp. Heavy bullets less powder = slightly less hurt shoulder. Lighter bullet heavier load = my should is done after 10rnds.

[BIGRED]

The load i am favoring right now is 18 gr of blue dot, 1300 fps with a 405gr FN. for a 100 yard deer/pig/moose/whatever gun it will work very well.
I just wanted to see what was conceived / perceived as a shoulder buster load, just to appreciate what this caliber can/could do. I am using IMR4895 and 54 gr is within the pressure limits of this bullet weight. 50 grains was a little stiff but not as bad on shoulder as i expected. i believe the straight case wall and type of load acts more like a soft muzzleloader / 20 gauge recoil than it does a regular bottleneck rifle cartridge.

[country gent]

Another thing with starline brass is for black powder loads they say to anneal it as it is harder than it needsto be. My ast couple orders of 45-70, 45-90 and 40-65 all had a little slip in with the cases stating this. Check the neck tension on your rounds along with thecompression as it will affect seating force also

[DR Owl Creek]

I can't tell you about the case wall thickness or case capacity of Starline 45-70 brass, but I did weigh and sort 200 pieces that I bought new about 2 years ago. I didn't check case capacity because I don't like using water with my digital scales.

25 pieces randomly picked from the same lot of 200 pieces weighed an average of 193.8 gr., with a ES of 2.0 gr. The entire 200 pieces also weighed an average of 193.8 gr, but with an ES of 3.0 gr.

From my experience, weighing small quantities, like 10 to 20 pieces doesn't give reliable data. Using larger samples, like at least 100 pieces provides much more accurate data.

For comparison, I checked my data books for info I had from Federal, Remington, and Winchester 45-70 brass from about 15 years ago. At that time, I only checked 10 piece samples, so this data isn't as reliable, but it's all I have:

Federal: average weight 195.9 gr, with ES of 4.7 gr.
Remington: average weight of 190.8 gr, with and ES of 4.3 gr.
Winchester: average weight of 166.4 gr, with an ES of 2.7 gr.

Using a larger sample size would probably have doubled or tripled the variation on these small sized samples.

The bottom line is Starline is usually the most consistent brass that I've checked, regardless of manufacturer. Winchester is usually the lightest and would have the most case capacity of the major manufacturers.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Isaiah 27: 1-13