Modoc Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 I just inherited an 1886 Extralight in 45-70 and found some 40-65 cases with the proper head stamp. I have about 100 45-70 cases that were sized down for the 40-65 and am considering fire forming them back to 45-70, partially to avoid having cartridge mix-ups. My current 40-65 brass has only been fired one to two times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Damned Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 They’re likely going to be 0.25” short; maybe slightly less of you get enough stretch back when running through the 45-70FL die. They’ll chamber fine but you may loose a little capacity if you intend to shoot BP in them. If not, you’ll likely not notice the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Rich Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 Don't use a die to get them back to 45-70. Anneal them and get the mouth of the case expanded so it will take a 300g bullet or even a .457 rb. Put in about 40gs of 2f or3f and whatever filler is needed and shoot them. If you have a good crimp they should be pretty close on the first firing. I have done it with as little as 32gs of 2f and they are very close. kR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitterroot Jake, SASS #9532 Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 There is no need to bullets in the case to fire form them back to 45-70. A charge of 35-40 hrs of either 2F or 3F and a heavy wax plug in the case ,(if softened beeswax works great, or use candle wax). Worked great for me . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish ike, SASS #43615 Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 As was said, I re-sized 45-70 to 40-65 and had to cut the cases to get them to the correct OAL. Going the other way back they will be short. The OAL is only important if you're wanting to shoot precise loads with good chamber matching fit for better accuracy. They make case stretchers but they are either expensive, or don't work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 So, you have .40-65 brass marked ".40-65" and you want to turn it into .45-70 brass? Seems to me to be more trouble than it's worth. You might even be able to sell the .40-65 stuff to someone who owns a gun in that caliber and needs brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modoc Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 2 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said: So, you have .40-65 brass marked ".40-65" and you want to turn it into .45-70 brass? Seems to me to be more trouble than it's worth. You might even be able to sell the .40-65 stuff to someone who owns a gun in that caliber and needs brass. Actually I have a Remington Rolling Block in 40-65 and an 1886 xtra light in 45-70. My original brass for the 40-65 is headstamped 45-70 and I have 100 cases coming with the proper 40-65 head stamp. I’m looking at shooting one of the loaded 40-65 wrong stamp and measuring to compare with one of my Un-modified 45-70’s to see if the effort is worth it. Right now I only have 20 unmodified 45-70 and 100+ modified (sized down). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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