1876 40-60 or 45-60 Repro

[jonp]

Saw both for sale recently in the $600 range. Im picking up a 45-70 so i can trim brass but which one would be better from a mould / die stand point? The only real boolit info i saw on the 40-60 was an article by B. Pierce where he resorted to a 41mag boolit and sized it down.

Any opinions?

[missionary5155]

Greetings
I have a cvaliber .45-60 and no regrets. Neither cartridge is a long range powerhouse. The caliber 40 would give some balistic advantage at 300 yards but it is slim.
The caliber .45 gives you easy capacity to shoot 400 grainers. You can get as light as 260 grains. The caliber .45 had a good reputation as a close bear gun. I have not read many accounts of the caliber .40 as fewer origonals were made buyers putting thier dollars down on the proven caliber .45.
Best going deal I have seen is at CDNN. If memory functions I think they are in the $580 area. If it was not for the cost of brass I would say go the caliber .45-75 but that brass and dies will put the OUCH to the budget. But 15 grains more BP is significant.

So it depends on the purpose.. The caliber .40 is a good caliber. The caliber .45 is a bigger good caliber. No corn cruncher, groundhog, coyotee, or attack squirrel would know the difference. But bear or even big pigs... the caliber .45 makes a bigger hole and is far easier to find heavier boolits.

Mike in Peru

[StrawHat]

Somewhere I read an article about the 1876 and the comment on the 40-60 was something like "...the smallest cartridge in the heaviest rifle... " Neither is a long range number.

[50target]

I have a close friend that bought one of the 1876models from CDNN in 45-60. Nice looking gun but needed some quality tweaking after he got it. Several small things mostly aggravating. He used cut down 45-70 brass and another friend made a jig and cut them with a square mouth and turned off about .008 off the rim so they would eject properly and no problems. He can get 3-4 rounds off a bench with factory sights, using smokeless and a 325 gr. cast boolit that will go 1-1.25". That thing shoots like a house afire. I was impressed with the overall quality. Nicely finished and apparently has a very good barrel or he just got extremely lucky.

[Bob Busetti]

I also got mine from CDNN. A 50/95 express rifle. Glad I didn't get the full length rifle. It also needed some tweaking to include taking the action apart to remove metal chips from machining. Replaced front & rear sights. Bought 60 Jameson cases & made 60 from 348 WCF.
Accurate with Lyman 340 gr cast boolit. RX7 , 5744 & Tripple Seven seem to be the best powders.
Bob

[kootne]

I am a card carrying 1876 fan, have had my .45/75 for over 20 years and shot quite a bit of game with it. Having said that, remember they are ballistically equivilant to the magnum pistols of today. I don't know if the repops have speeded up the rifling pitch but I can't imagine the original twist stabilizing a .45 caliber 400 grain bullet. My pick of the 2 calibers you mentioned would be the .45/60, I would only consider the .40/60 if it was a smokin' hot deal. Just my .02
kootne

[Bob Busetti]

My rifle's rifling pitch is 1-48. Lyman's old hand loading book states Colt used this pitch in their Lighting rifle, where as Winchester states 1-60. Of course either of these could be misstated.
Bob

[jonp]

I can't take it. I'll post a picture of my new 45-60 when it comes in. I'm a dedicated 1876 fan. It just screams old west more than the 92 and 94's to me.

This site has been hard on my bank account but very fun

[smokeywolf]

Good choice jonp. Brass availability and mold selection together taken into consideration makes 45-60 the easiest and probably the most economical to keep supplied.

I can tell you they're a pure joy to shoot.

To cut down 45-70 cases, I machined a .750 dia. bushing with I.D. bored and tapered to the dia. and taper of a 45-70 case. Insert 45-70 brass into bushing, insert bushing & brass into a 3/4" 5-C collet (w/collet stop) with base of brass case against collet stop. With very sharp 1/16 wide parting tool ground on angle, spindle speed IIRC at 710 RPM, with very light feed, part (.225 is what I take) off the end of your 45-70 case.

Although I machined my bushing from black delrin, I would suggest grey PVC as it has a higher coefficient of friction and will grip your brass better. Plastic must be used for the bushing to allow for the bushing to be squeezed by drawing in your 5C collet. Also, you have to strike a balance when compressing your bushing when drawing in your collet. Too loose and your brass spins, too tight and you could squeeze down the diameter of your brass.

Tried to include pics of the bushing and bushing in the 5C collet, but the cast boolits website has been throwing errors lately and does not seem to want my jpegs.


104039104040

Pic attachment is working now.

smokeywolf