45-70 brass

[Marlin Junky]

I'm looking at 45-70 rifles to purchase and thought I'd get the brass and molds first. What brand of brass do you guys recommend or is it a toss-up with regard to case life? I don't care about squeezing the absolute last .2 grain of powder into the case but do want good velocities with 400-425 grain boolits. I'm thinking about going with one of those new CVA Apex (http://www.cva.com/rifles-apex.html) rifles.

MJ

[R.C. Hatter]

:violin:I have used both Remington and Winchester .45/70 brass over a number of year sand wouldn't make much difference in either one. That said, you will find longer brass life with milder loads. A 405 grain bullet at 15-1750 ft./secs. is not going to be easy on your shoulder either.

[ph4570]

I have used Rem and Starline with success. Some say the Starline is harder, I do not know.

If you get the Starline I suggest you order direct from them as price is less than Midway and the direct price includes shipping.

[Marlin Junky]

I kinda had it narrowed down to either Winchester or Remington but I suppose Starline is an option. Uniform neck wall thickness is also an issue because I'm looking for ultimate accuracy as well as long case life.

MJ

[XWrench3]

i bought a hundred starline cases a while ago. they seem just fine. but i bought the nickel plated versions. i did so, thinking it would be an easy way to keep my actual hunting rounds seperate from practice / plinking rounds. which it does a fine job of that. it is just the nickel brass is harder to work with, supposedly, when you trim them, the nickel also starts chipping off the edge. i have not experienced that yet, but i will not buy nickel plated brass again. i also have hornady and remington brass from loaded ammo. i much preffer the hornady.

[JRW]

If you are going to shoot white powder, it won't make much difference which brand. However, should you decide to shoot the holy black, you may want to go with winchester, as they have a bit more case capacity than any of the others. about 5-6 grains more than the others. to make you cases last for like almost forever, neck size only, and anneal no less than every 2nd loading. most of us in the BPCR group are annealing each time we load.

Hope this helps,

[Marlin Junky]

Annealing after every load does not float my boat. I think I'll buy 50 Win and 50 Rem cases and shoot 'em side by side.

MJ

[rob45]

Annealing after every load does not float my boat. I think I'll buy 50 Win and 50 Rem cases and shoot 'em side by side.

MJ

I would try a little bit of EACH brand when you obtain the rifle and develop loads; that will tell you what works best for YOUR application.

[EDK]

Seller over on gunbroker called nuts4bolts has 45/70 brass on a regular basis, as well as other calibers. One of the pictures with his ad is a grain bin full of 45/70, complete with grain scoop...fellow country boys can remember those old wooden barns at grandpa's place back home.

:redneck::castmine::Fire:

[BrianB]

I've used Remington and Winchester 45-70 brass for about 15 years and have had no issues. They shoot exactly the same in my High Wall and in our Handi's. I may have some Federal's thrown in there also. They shoot exactly the same in my friend's 1886 Browning that I reload for as well. One note, you may want to avoid Hornady brass as their 45-70 cases are quite a bit shorter than all others I have seen. I have never annealed them (it would seem the heat from shooting them would do the same thing) and I have not had one crack or split in all these years, and some of the cases are the original ones I purchased with the gun about 15 years ago.

[montana_charlie]

I'm looking for ultimate accuracy as well as long case life.
Do you care much about the length of the case?
Rifle chambers, even in expensive guns, are often deeper than you expect.


most of us in the BPCR group are annealing each time we load.
Annealing after every load does not float my boat.
Those who do it are after that 'ultimate accuracy' you mentioned.

The other side of that coin is to shoot fireformed cases...where brass 'hardness' and precise 'neck tension' are not factors.
But fireformed brass is 'shorter' brass.


I'm looking at 45-70 rifles to purchase and thought I'd get the brass and molds first.
Almost everybody says to slug your barrel before picking your bullet/mould.
I'm going to advise you to hold off on buying brass until you measure the depth of your chamber.
It makes more sense to buy 45/90 brass and trim it back...than to buy 45/70, and need to stretch it later.

Both require you to have the gun in hand before jumping on june bugs.

If you do buy brass that turns out to be too short for the chamber, Winchester is already too thin to be stretched.

CM

[leftiye]

Plus the 45-90 brass may have a thicker neck. Most 45-70 chambers ar SAAMI std. which same is rather loose in the neck area (also known as sloppy, overall). A thicker neck takes some of the stretch out of this situation. There are thick cases made for BPCR that you fireform, then neck turn to fit your boolit (for single shots). As necks can expand .008", this is a factor.