Trimming .45/70

[RCE1]

I'm pleased and a little surprised how well it worked out. I trimmed .060" off the length of some RP .45/70 brass I'd had lying around to accommodate the Hornady 325 gr FTX bullets. Prior to trimming with a Wilson trimmer, I decided to anneal all my cases first. Wow. What a difference. All the trimmed brass I measured was within .0005, which for a case that's now 2.040", that's pretty good. The AMP annealer continues to impress.

 

[quest450]

I do anneal 45/70 brass too but only because of my OCD and I was wondering if it is necessary since it is a straight wall cartrige and you're not working the neck like a bottle neck case......I'm pretty sure you ain't gonna hurt anything.

 

[Charlie-NY]

I'm pleased and a little surprised how well it worked out. I trimmed .060" off the length of some RP .45/70 brass I'd had lying around to accommodate the Hornady 325 gr FTX bullets. Prior to trimming with a Wilson trimmer, I decided to anneal all my cases first. Wow. What a difference. All the trimmed brass I measured was within .0005, which for a case that's now 2.040", that's pretty good. The AMP annealer continues to impress.

Try some Hornady 250gr MonoFlex bullets in those shorty cases. They shoot well, fly fast and dispatch critters reliably. IIRC, I'm getting 2,330fps from my 18.5" Marlin.

 

[RCE1]

I do anneal 45/70 brass too but only because of my OCD and I was wondering if it is necessary since it is a straight wall cartrige and you're not working the neck like a bottle neck case......I'm pretty sure you ain't gonna hurt anything.

I started annealing the straight wall cases when I was shooting black powder cartridge. It seemed to promote a more consistent neck tension, which is what I was looking for. I would notice that when shooting unsized fired brass and supposedly slip fit bullets, I would occasionally come on cases that still felt tight, that seemed to be springing back more than the others. I think its pretty common in that discipline, hoping to control vertical deviation at 500m plus.

 

[BigBolt]

I have been reloading for 40+ years and have never annealed any straight walled cartridges.

 

[BigBolt]

I'm pleased and a little surprised how well it worked out. I trimmed .060" off the length of some RP .45/70 brass I'd had lying around to accommodate the Hornady 325 gr FTX bullets. Prior to trimming with a Wilson trimmer, I decided to anneal all my cases first. Wow. What a difference. All the trimmed brass I measured was within .0005, which for a case that's now 2.040", that's pretty good. The AMP annealer continues to impress.

I noticed some time back the Hornady Factory loads with 325FTX rounds that the cases were 2.040". When reloading 300/350 gr rounds the cases are trimmed to 2.100" only Hornady rounds require shorter cases.

 

[Minshooter]

My solution was to never buy another box of 325FX bullets.
I do like and shoot their 300gr Interlock.
I did trim some brass and try the 325FTX , just to see if there was some magic in that idea.
Not really, unless I count a fouling ring in the chamber that made normal length brass harder to cycle in a lever gun, much like .38 specials in a .357 mag chamber.

I can only guess the 45-70, being such a new cartridge, is still in the development stage at Hornady.

 

[RCE1]

My solution was to never buy another box of 325FX bullets.
I do like and shoot their 300gr Interlock.
I did trim some brass and try the 325FTX , just to see if there was some magic in that idea.
Not really, unless I count a fouling ring in the chamber that made normal length brass harder to cycle in a lever gun, much like .38 specials in a .357 mag chamber.

I can only guess the 45-70, being such a new cartridge, is still in the development stage at Hornady.

I only trimmed 50, just to see how they work. The shortened cases are clearly marked, so it's not going to get mixed up with the rest of my .45/70 brass. I've had the RP nickel brass for over 30 years with no rifles to shoot it. I moved on to .40/65, .38/50 and .45/90. My mentor always trained me to get a bunch of brass when I got a new rifle, so I have 500 sticks.