Reloading 45-70

[B1g al]

Well here's is my issues. Reloading 45-70 for a marlin. I am ready to give up here. I am trying to load 350 acme solids. I resize the case and I will get wrinkles or divots. Using all kinds of lube. If I get as far as seating a bullet I almost get it in there before it wrinkles the case. I have tried really opening the cases up. I am 1 for 15 on these. And running out of brass

[shell70634]

Lightly lube the case for sizing. Use instructions for your brand of dies for expanding mouth, seating bullet, and crimping case. 45-70 cases wrinkle easy. Mike the cases and the bullet to insure you have it in spec before and after loading.

[B1g al]

Yeah. Lubing the snot out of them with lee lube. Are there any better lubes out there.

[shell70634]

Lightly lube. I use rcbs with a pad or hornady case lube with my fingers.

[country gent]

Lube is the problem with dings and dimples when sizing clean the dies very well and look on the outside of the body for a very small hole ( its usually in the thread relief cut) and make sure its clear, this is a bleed hole for trapped air and lube. Lube case very lightly it doesnt take a lot. just a hint of lube.

As to wrinkling when seating. this is more than likely a to small cae mouth for the bullets. Measure the bullets and then the stem on the expander and last the case mouth. you only need .001-.002 interference to hold good. Dome dies size small and expand back up to accommodate different case thicknesses.

Make sure rhe dies are set correctly for your case length. crimp in a separate operation. and work slow and easy

[B1g al]

So I have Hornady dies. I am new to them is it possible to seat and then crimp?

[rancher1913]

you might have a bad set of dies or because you have over lubed, your dies could be full of excess lube and causing capacity issues, clean the dies really well and inspect them.

[B1g al]

Yeah I am pretty sure I am over lubed. I will get some one shot spray or the rcbs spray is one better than the other?

[Soundguy]

I reload 45-70 and have never had an issue with commercial cast.. my own cast.. or jacketed.

I use a vafriety of lubes.. hornady 1 shot.. rcbs and frankford arselal spritz lubes.. including lanolin and alcohol home mix. just a little.. even an rcbs lube pad taht you moisten and add a few drops too. the lee case lube works fine too.

lube.. not excessively.. resize.. bell neck so you can drop the projectile in an 1/8" or so.. then seat then crimp.. or seat and crimp if you do 1 step.. I've never wrinkled a case.. or dimpled one. sounds like you are lubing too much and not belling enough

[ryanmattes]

Yeah I am pretty sure I am over lubed. I will get some one shot spray or the rcbs spray is one better than the other?

Technique is more important than the lube, especially in thin-walled cases.

I put several cases on a paper shop towel, one quick shot of the lube from 8" or so away, roll them all a half turn, and another quick shot. Then roll the cases back and forth a couple times on the paper to eliminate any droplets. The more you do, the less lube you'll need. The paper towel will start to have excess lube on it and the cases will pick it up when you roll them.

You just want a super-thin layer of lube. Excess lube causes hydraulic pressure on the case walls, since the lube has nowhere to go. Lighter is better.

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[rockrat]

I use Hornady Unique lube. A little dab will do ya. That tube of Lee lube would probably do over 1000 45-70 cases. You only need a light film and I mean light. I bell my cases so the base of the slug will go in the case an 1/8" or so and lightly crimp when seating but all my 45-70's are single shot.

[rbuck351]

Also make sure you are not over crimping and mashing your cases and back off the lube a bunch. I like Unique case lube but most lubes will work fine. Just touch the lube with a finger tip and smear on the case as thin as you can and get full coverage.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Are you chamfering the the case mouth? Maybe you are just trying to go too fast or over-muscling your equipment. It is hard to 'over lube' a 45-70 for sizing, rbuck351 uses the same process as I do. Shoulder dents can happen frequently on bottle neck cases with too much lube. Size slowly, giving the brass time to reshape. Make sure your case is properly aligned and entering the sizing die without catching an edge. Is your sizing die marked for 45-70? Are you expanding the case neck in separate die? The 45-70 normally is loaded with 3 or 4 dies. A sizing die, a neck expanding die, and the seating/crimping die. The neck expanding die works best if a slightly wider 'step' or 'bell' lets the bullet start into the case without sitting on the mouth of the case.

[country gent]

You can seat and crimp separately with any seater die. when seating set it high so the crimp ring dosnt touch the case. and lower the seater to get the overall length desired. once bullets are seated then lower die to crimp and raise the seater stem.

One of the washers for 38 to 357 is handy here as the die can be set to crimp and locked then the washer put under the lock ring to raise it, this means the only adjustment needed is the seater stem.

I dont crimp 45-50 ammo and use a very light neck tension but all my 45-70 rifles are single shots. I load black powder and the powder stack up wads hold the overall length in the box.My neck tension is such that I can set and pull bullets by hand. Dies are rcbs, redding, and homemade. The expanders are made up to what I need. My favorite sizing die is a Meacham bushing die, with this die I can load 45-70 45-90 40-65 with a change of bushings.

Not sure on the hornady dies but some dies sets have actual expanders and some just bell the cases mouths. I prefer the expanders and make them up to replace the ones that bell. I make a expnder so it opens the neck to below the base of the bullet and the shoulder flares the mouth similar to a m die. I also load heavier bullets in the 500-550 grn range.

Measure a sized cases mouth dia inside and see how the dia compares to your bullets dia. you only need .001-.002 interference, raise the die to where you have this sizing the cases to size. then expand to allow easy seating on the bullet half the driving band to full band is plenty here. this is to ease starting and aid straight seating. adjust seater to seat and seat the bullets to desired overall length, then set seater die to lightly crimp and raise seater stem.

I believe most of you problems is coming from a die sizing to small and an expander thats more belling than expander.

[Winger Ed.]

Without seeing a picture at each stage of the process--

If a sized case looks OK, and a flared case looks OK:
it sounds like the seating die is set too low and the almost completed round is hitting the crimp
part of the seating die before the boolit is fully seated. That will crush the case.

If that's what is happening, run a case to the top, screw the die down until it hits.
Then raise it back up 1/8-1/4 turn.

Do the seating stem adjustment, run 'em all through, then raise up the stem, lower the die back down to crimp sepparately.

[pelikan800]

Also use Hornady One Shot lube and have not had issues. Using a RCBS 3 die Cowboy die set I've not had any issues with crumpling cases having reloaded over 600 45-70 rounds. What brand of cases are you using?