45-70 Brass Stretchers

bandanaman

bandanaman

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Looking for input and possibly a source for a brass stretcher in Canada. I am thinking the Tim Smith-Lyons swage plug is an affordable option but can only find it in the US at the moment.
My Starline brass fire formed for my 45-70 runs between .012-017 short of max [2.088-2.093 ]After I do a chamber cast I hope to standardize the brass to .005 under max[2.100 v/s 2.105] plus or minus pending chamber specs.
Just one more step in the process.....The Kal-Max system looks efficient but more than what I want to spend as I am now a "covid retiree"
 
I wouldn’t worry about making them longer. Make them all the same even if they are all .020” short and call it a day.
 
Maynard is right for a 45-70 round, they headspace on the rim so as long as the case mouth still fits within the chamber length, you can set your "bullet to lands" spacing just by adjusting the seating depth.
 
45-70 is relatively thin brass to begin with. I'd not be concerned. In fact it means you'll likely never have to trim your cases. Not that that is a happening with 45-70. For mine anyway, I think it has the lowest case growth of anything I shoot.
 
bandanaman said:
looking for input and possibly a source for a brass stretcher in canada. I am thinking the tim smith-lyons swage plug is an affordable option but can only find it in the us at the moment.
My starline brass fire formed for my 45-70 runs between .012-017 short of max [2.088-2.093 ]after i do a chamber cast i hope to standardize the brass to .005 under max[2.100 v/s 2.105] plus or minus pending chamber specs.
Just one more step in the process.....the kal-max system looks efficient but more than what i want to spend as i am now a "covid retiree"
Click to expand...

why ? Rj
 
Just seat the bullet to where you want and go from there. Im sure the bullet will still have enough neck tension if the case is .020" shorter. As long as the round have even and enough neck tension the cases can be short without issue.
 
Why? Because on some rifle chambers, if the brass doesn't fit to the end, you get lead rings, which will make their way into the barrel and cause immense grief and anguish, leading to hours of lead mining.
Been there, and bought the Smith Lyons stretcher, and all is well.

The reason some chambers cut rings is because of the transition angle between the chamber and bore. If the brass is short, the bullet starts bumping up as soon as it leaves the brass, and then gets cut by the abrupt transition area, causing rings.
If the brass is long enough, that doesn't happen.
Now if you don't have that going on, no reason at all to stretch brass, as it wont matter.
 
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Early on when I first started loading for this rifle I had experimented seating bullets out almost to the max to try getting more powder capacity .After a few shots I had difficulty chambering the next rounds without swabbing the throat thinking my problem may be fouling. Shortened up the oal case length and had no problems. In retrospect also being a newbie I tried to skip a step and lightly compress the load with the bullet. Which of course is a BIG "no-no". So it may have been some nose deformation going on there. I want to experiment some more now with higher capacity loads again and thought to possibly eliminate one other factor should the shorter case length be contributing to the fouling at the throat. Maybe I will just load some longer and see how it goes as now I compress with a plug.
Thinking back now I recall having some lead issues as well which virtually went away when I relubed store bought hard cast bullets with SPG .Now I cast my own at 7.8 -8.0 BHN and use better lube. It is kind of hard to put my finger on exactly one thing as I was doing so much wrong at the time.
Thanks again fellas for your input....
 
ryan said:
Why? Because on some rifle chambers, if the brass doesn't fit to the end, you get lead rings, which will make their way into the barrel and cause immense grief and anguish, leading to hours of lead mining.
Been there, and bought the Smith Lyons stretcher, and all is well.

The reason some chambers cut rings is because of the transition angle between the chamber and bore. If the brass is short, the bullet starts bumping up as soon as it leaves the brass, and then gets cut by the abrupt transition area, causing rings.
If the brass is long enough, that doesn't happen.
Now if you don't have that going on, no reason at all to stretch brass, as it wont matter.
Click to expand...

Great INFO - Good Explanation ! I shot my 1895G for years with long brass and mostly 400 -540 gr cast with no problem - i used the short brass for the 250 gr and 325 gr hornady jacketed bullets so i guess thats why i never experienced the problem ! thxs RJ
 
That cheaper case stretcher ( $40 IIRC ) sold by Buffalo Arms works reasonably well. I think it is the one you are asking about. I played with it a little when I got it several years ago. It was able to stretch brass 0.010" - 0.015" or so, but since it only works the case mouth area, it thins the brass there by a thousandth or a little more depending on how much stretching you do.

In my opinion it's better to try and get away with putting a lube groove right at the case mouth to eliminate lead rings, or to use .45-90 brass and cut it to the chamber length.

Chris.
 
I'm not having issues as yet with "lead rings " so I assume all is well in that respect. I will take your advice and play with bullet seating and see what the rifle likes before I get excited about anything else. If I have any fouling problems at that point I'll address them then. Thanks again to you all....Really have missed our Heffley shoots these last two years.....

Michael
 
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