45/70 brass ???

[Rockchuck]

Hey fellers need some info on the ave wall thickness of 45/70 gov brass. As you know some brass cases are rare as hens teeth right now. I found some in ppu . Problem is the can't be sized too hold the bullet .458 jacketed and .459 cast. I have tried rcbs sizer and Lyman sizer. The brass wall thickness is running on ave .0084 and some as thin as .0078. I think that's my problem????

Ed

 

[Mad_Charlie]

.010-.011 for my Starline, .250 down from the mouth.

 

[cptjack]

bell the case mouth

 

[Mad_Charlie]

It seems that his problem is a lack of neck "tensions", how would belling the case mouth increase his neck tension?

 

[jackson1]

Have you tried annealing the brass?

 

[Mad_Charlie]

If Rockchuck is using the expander, I wonder if it might be oversized, like the RCBS "cowboy" expanders are supposed to be. I made my own slightly oversized expander for my cast loads, because I didn't want to "size" my bullets while seating them. Worked out fine.

I would measure the O.D. of a sized case and compare it with the O.D. of a case with a bullet seated. If the cases have a lot of firings on them they could have enough springback after sizing to not hold the bullets tight enough, in which case, yes, annealing might help.

 

[Rockchuck]

When I size the cases not using the expander I can push the bullet in the case with my finger

 

[dellet]

Sounds like thin brass, any chance of exchange?

Depending what you are shooing it from, there are a couple ways to work it, as long as the bullet will seat and hold long enough to crimp.

This could be a good place for a Lee factory crimp die, basically a collet style crimp.

For a single shot, a roll crimp will be fine.

There are a couple bushing neck sizing dies out there, but are basically custom and pricey. The bigger blackpowder suppliers would be a good resource.

A 45 colt die can be used as a neck sizing die, but with thin brass may still be too big,

Then you could possibly use 444 Marlin, magnum or 308 or 7X57 based cartridge that have a base diameter of 470-473. The seating die would have a slightly larger base diameter.

Either of those would likely need the expander.

Depends on how much effort you want to put into using that brass or spending to make it work.

 

[DRNewcomb]

I have 17 .45-70 cases for the cost of postage if anyone wants them.

Edit: On closer inspection, it's 11 .45-70 and 6 444 Marlin cases.

 

[Rockchuck]

Ppu is working with me sent them some pics of the brass. The brass is so thin that I can squeeze into a oval with very little effort. Looks like I just got a bad batch. I can push the brass into my sizing die with my fingers. So it's very thin. I can size with no lube hahahaha. I believe they will make it right

 

[SSL]

Ppu is working with me sent them some pics of the brass. The brass is so thin that I can squeeze into a oval with very little effort. Looks like I just got a bad batch. I can push the brass into my sizing die with my fingers. So it's very thin. I can size with no lube hahahaha. I believe they will make it right

Good to hear, and I give you a lot of credit for reaching out to the manufacturer rather than just trashing them the way so many do when they have problems. See too much of that here. Best of luck to you.