40/60 Maynard what the....???????

[218bee]

Wow I thought I liked oddball stuff. Stopped at a gun shop and spotted in a corner a Rolling Block and Martini that were both customized with either new or refinished stocks and new barrels. I asked the gent to see them. They look pretty nice and I look at the tag on the trigger guard and they are both chambered for 40-60 Maynard. I ask the guy whats up with that. He didn't know much about them except for the fact that some old gent was having them built and the guy passed away, so a relative brought them in to this guy to sell.
They were almost finished except for sights, barrels were not even cut for front dovetail. Both had heavy long target barrels but don't know manufacturer. I thanked the guy for showing them to me and left. Now I am thinking about them.
WHY 40/60 MAYNARD???? Anyone know. Anyone shoot these. It definately seems to be an oddball. Looking at "Cartridges of the World" it is listed with not much info saying it couldn't do nothing a 40/65 Win or 40/70 Sharps couldn't do. I would like to see case dimensions and such. I wonder why this old guy was having these done. I may have to go back again when I'm out that way its about a 100mi from the house though. I'm thinking one could probably run a 40/70 Sharps Straight reamer through it, but not sure. I think they're worth another look.

[EDK]

THE SPG LUBRICANTS BP CARTRIDGE RELOADING PRIMER by Mike Venturino and Steve Garbe has some info. Garbe won the NRA Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette championship in 1990 with a gun in that chambering. "Can be formed from .303 British or 30-40 Krag cases."

You can probably get dies, etc. from Buffalo Arms. The 303 brass would probably be cheaper than the 40/70 Sharps Straight.

Maybe Duke aka Mike Venturino will chime in on this. The big guy has been a treasure trove of information for me over the years.

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[Buckshot]

............I was thinking of having a #1 RB action barreled and chambered to that after reading Garbe's article about it in"Rifle" magazine. Still have the action. Still isn't barreled :-) Talk about inexpensive brass!

................Buckshot

[218bee]

So maybe the guy was onto something

[Wayne Smith]

Is it simply the .303 or 30-40 brass blown out or is there more to the conversion?

[scb]

30-40 krag case length - 2.314
40-60 maynard case length 2.200 (according to SPG reloading primer)
so may require trimming

[STP22]

This is one of the problems associated with encountering Maynard chambered barrels not from the good doctor. There are 2 versions of most of the cartridges that were available post CW. The 1873 "thick head" versions for the 40-60 were dimensioned as follows...

Case length- 2.24
Neck diameter- .422
Rim diameter- .533
Base diameter- .455
Bullet diameter- .423

The second 1882 version differed a bit, often referred to as "thin rim"...

Case length- 2.20
Neck diameter- .448
Rim diameter- .533
Base diameter- .454
Bullet diameter- .417

The above is from George Layman`s revised 1998 edition of "A Guide to the Maynard Breechloader".

A chamber cast and slugging the bore is vital to determine just what that shop has.

As has been mentioned, wildcatting modern cases to fit the 40-60 is necessary. The first issue is to determine which version of the 40-60 the rifle is chambered for.

I have a cased set Maynard here but have a supply of cases for each barrel. The nostalgia of these old carbines is irresistable.

[The Double D]

Betch they are the modern version...since they are "customized with either new or refinished stocks and new barrels." Use .303 Brit or 34/40 Krag brass.

Which Martini action was used for the conversion?

[Bent Ramrod]

If I recall, the .40-60 Maynard was being explored a few years back as a possible reduced-recoil .40 caliber that would still have the oomph to knock down the 500-meter rams reliably. At that point in time, the .38-55 wasn't quite powerful enough, the .38-56 was too bottlenecked, and most other calibers in between required expensive custom cases. Don't know what advantage (if any) there was to the .40-60, but it obviously didn't make everybody trade in their .40-65's and .45-70's.

However, if you are starting out fresh in BPCR Silhouette, and want low recoil, it might be a good caliber. You could query Steve Garbe or Dan Theodore about the .40-60 Maynard. Dan, especially, does a lot of posts on the Shiloh site, and is one of the major experimenters in "cutting-edge" black powder technology.

[218bee]

Not sure what Martini action was used didn't really give either rifle a GOOD going over and am not really familiar with the Martini's. The Roller was a #1 pretty sure.

[Buckshot]

............I liked the old Maynards with real wide rims with a hole drilled close to the edge, and a string through the hole. Pull the string to extract. Simple! :-)

..............Buckshot

[Green Frog]

By serendipity more than anything else, I got my first Maynard which was a Model 1873 in .40-40 (with the "pie-pan" rim.) With even a salt and pepper bore, it shoots quite well with the cases I cobbled up from .30-40 brass I had on hand and some adapter rings made by the talented John Bly of Stephens City, VA. With this brass I am actually using about 60 gr of GOEX Cartridge to fill the case enough to get proper compression, even though it is dimensionally the length of the 40 grain case. I would think in a modern steel barrel with modern solid head cases, you could get some fine performance out of this round (in either length.)

Froggie

[Rimfire]

I have a shiloh sharps in 40-60 maynard. Fire form 30-40 brass, trim and it's ready to go.

[4060MAY]

At the time SPG used the 40-60 Maynard because the only way to get 40-70 SS was 9.3 x 74R Norma brass at 90cents apiece in 1992

No 405 Win, or Buffalo Arms stretched brass, so 40-60 Maynard is a compromise to be able to shoot a reasonable .40 cal in NRA Silhouette. blow out 303 Brit or 30-40 Krag, trim to length, the only die I ever used was a taper crimp to gently hold the bullet in the case. with compression and a little throating I am able to get 60gr Goex CTG with .200 compression, and a 400gr bullet.

At the time the 40-65 Ron Long chamber was almost available, original 40-65 was a straight taper case, some were still arguing if it was an original chambering.

My first Silhouette Rifle was a Swede RB, with a douglas barrel chambered in 40-60 Maynard 1882, case was 2.21 long.

When I started shooting NRA BPCR Silhouette in 1991, the rules were strictly adhered to, some people thinking they were the main interpreters of the rules, they have become less stringent since to allow some leeway for the shooters.


somewhere on this forum is a pcture of my 40-60 and paper patched bullets

[6pt-sika]

I've not had my hands on any original Maynard cartridges or rifles .

But I was up at Winchester Virginia this past fall and was able to check out the the products of Mr. Romano from New York who now makes a very nice replication of the Maynard rifle although I think he prefers to chamber them for 32-40 and 38-55 .

[Green Frog]

6pt, I had Larry Romano's .38-55 Model 1882 in for a product test about a year and a half ago and it was a ball to shoot. He will chamber it for whatever original caliber you want, if I understood him correctly, and although he hasn't made a Model 1873 (with the thick rim) he said he would be perfectly willing to do so if it were ordered. I'm not sure even the extreme cool value of having those unique cases would be worth the effort on a newly made rifle, especially since virtually the same cases with conventional rims would be available. My two original 1873s limit me to what I can do, but the 1882 can take about any barrel you wish. :-D

Froggie

[6pt-sika]

6pt, I had Larry Romano's .38-55 Model 1882 in for a product test about a year and a half ago and it was a ball to shoot. He will chamber it for whatever original caliber you want, if I understood him correctly, and although he hasn't made a Model 1873 (with the thick rim) he said he would be perfectly willing to do so if it were ordered. I'm not sure even the extreme cool value of having those unique cases would be worth the effort on a newly made rifle, especially since virtually the same cases with conventional rims would be available. My two original 1873s limit me to what I can do, but the 1882 can take about any barrel you wish. :-D

Froggie

You need to slide up to the C'ville area and shoot with us sometime !

I remmember reading your article in ASSRA mag a couple years ago . And later we either emailed or spoke on the phone can't remmember which .

[sailor]

I have two barrels in .40-40 1882 chambers. The bores are .400 and groove is .429 so I have been shooting .44x240gr w/o gas check. Very pleasant to shoot now but I have a 310 gr mold on order which will be a little more stout. I extended the groove for the extractor up to the chamber mouth to make it easier using .30-40 brass. I cut the brass off at the shoulder, and expand. This requires neck thinning, but you should be good expanding the neck.
Anybody have good load data?

[Boz330]

I have two barrels in .40-40 1882 chambers. The bores are .400 and groove is .429 so I have been shooting .44x240gr w/o gas check. Very pleasant to shoot now but I have a 310 gr mold on order which will be a little more stout. I extended the groove for the extractor up to the chamber mouth to make it easier using .30-40 brass. I cut the brass off at the shoulder, and expand. This requires neck thinning, but you should be good expanding the neck.
Anybody have good load data?

Fill it up with BP and go up or down from there.

Bob