Bullet crimping of 45-60 cases w/o 45/60 dies? Use a 310 tool 45-70 seat/crimp die!

[Noah Zark]

Recently got some fresh 45-60 cases that a vendor trimmed from Starline 45-70 cases to load for my 28" Cimarron/Uberti 1876 Centennial Winchester clone. I have used my 7/8" Lee 45-70 die set in the past to reload 45-60, except for crimping because the 45-60 case is ~ 0.20-some inch shorter and the 45-60 case is too short for the Lee 45-70 seat/crimp die.

Previously I used a home-built case cannelure tool similar to the C-H boolit cannelure tool and would seat the boolit to the case cannelure ring. While it stopped the boolits from seating deeper in the case when loaded in the 1876's magazine during firing, the pull on the boolits was variable without a crimp.

Enter the set of Lyman 310 dies in 45-70 that I've had since the late 70s. The 310 boolit seating and crimp die can be adjusted sufficiently deep to crimp a 45-60 case exactly where I wanted / needed in the cast boolit crimp groove and how deeply. Now I don't have to use the cannelure tool, and I can stop searching for expensive, unobtanium 45-60 dies.

The load is 12 gr of Unique under a 300 gr commercial cast boolit, itself over a dental wax wad cut by the case mouth by manually starting the boolit on a wax sheet placed over the powder-charged case mouth. The wax wads have worked well for me for over 40 years to reduce or eliminate leading.

Noah

[missionary5155]

That worked out well for you !
We also shoot a couple 45-60 rifles and latched on to an extra 45-70 crimper. A short time at a bench grinder and the crimper will easily crimp 45-60 brass.
Have done the same for other old calibers. All sorts of orphan dies come up for sale cheep here and there that are well worth buying to have for projects.

[eastbank]

i had my friendly gunsmith take .30 off the bottom of my 45-70 seat-crimp die and now it seats-crimps both my 1876 winchester 45-60 and my marlin 1895 in 45-70. with a little adjusting.

[Abert Rim]

Noah, whose boolit are you using? I have a Uberti 1876 in .45-60 inbound, and was looking at the Lee 340, but the nose may be too long.

[pworley1]

A shortened 45 70 crimp die will still seat and crimp the 45 70 just as well and will also crimp your 45 60. If it shortened with a lathe it will still look like a factory die.

[Noah Zark]

Noah, whose boolit are you using? I have a Uberti 1876 in .45-60 inbound, and was looking at the Lee 340, but the nose may be too long.

Abert:

I don't cast myself anymore for a number of reasons, so I purchase cast boolits. The one I use for the .45-60 in my Uberti 1876 clone is Meister MB-45-300, 45/70 300GR .458 FP. They are kinda spendy, at ~$50/100, but I don't shoot the 1876 all that often, and when I do it's NMT 20 rds at a time. The MB-45-300 is perfectly short enough for slick feeding in the '76.

The photo's tiny, borrowed from the Meister website:



The top groove is a healthy deep crimp groove; that's the one I crimp in.

They recently had a death in the family, so, stock, order taking and fulfillment may be affected.

Noah

[hockeynick39]

I have a set of 45-60 dies that I purchased from Lee back about 2010. I'm sure if you contact them, they will be able to make up a set. Good luck and stay safe!!

[Abert Rim]

Thanks Noah. I swear I have seen that Meister nose profile loaded in commercial ammo -- maybe some of the Ten-X cartridges?
I like to cast, so I am looking at two molds that Tom at Accurate Molds offers: His 46-305C and his 46-325C. They are on Page 22 of his catalog. Both designs have a crimp groove in the right place and lube grooves that appear ample enough to work with both black and smokeless lubes. I am leaning toward the 325 as a do-all bullet for both target work and hunting. If anyone here is using either of these molds, please pipe up.