40-60 Winchester

[DANCESWITHEMPTIES]

Looks like a W.K. rifle in 40-60 Winchester will be headed my way shortly. Looking at my reloading options & I see that Lyman has a 240 grain flat nose bullet mold in .406 diameter. If the barrel isn't a complete sewer pipe this should be the correct diameter. I will have the barrel slugged before I commit to a mold though. Was there ever a load with a bullet that weighed that much in 40-60? I see Lyman use to have a 212 grain mold, but it looks discontinued? See some loads using 4198, but a bit nervous about using smokeless in this old girl. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. -Dances

 

[Janeau]

That caliber was designed for BP.
In an old gun, I would not think using anything else. In a modern build gun, I would use smokeless.
I researched this quite a bit, because I reload 45/75 and 45/60 but in a modern gun. I found no writing - web site- forum- that support using smokeless in old gun. In modern gun, there is some infos with a lots of warnings about smokeless for those calibers.

 

[DANCESWITHEMPTIES]

Pretty much in agreement with you regarding smokeless. There were some nickel steel barrels, but not sure about Whitney's and really not worth the risk. The only loads I could dig up revolve around a 200-212 grain bullet. One book stated the average twist in a 40-60 barrel is around 1 in 40 inches? Where a 45-60 shows 1 in 20... Weight appears to make a difference LOL!