Reloading advice for 577/450 Martini-Henry

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sequoia4100

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Hello,
I'm looking for advice on shooting and reloading for a 577/450 Martini-Henry MK III. My dad has this rifle sitting in his safe and he hasn't fired it since Diefenbaker was in office. Apparently Canadian Tire doesn't have this ammo available right now ;(
I see that Ten-X makes that calibre but I don't know if it's available in Canada. I've also seen ancient NOS Kynoch ammo for sale in the US but again I don't know if I can get it here or if I'd even fire it. I have a couple boxes of fired Kynoch brass and thought reloading that would be the best way to go. I've reloaded for .303, 8 mm Mauser and .280 Ross so I have some experience. Are there dies available? Do you even use regular loading dies for this kind of soft brass? Does anyone manufacture new brass?
I've also heard of an adapter that can be used in the chamber that converts it to 45/70. Just wondering what other people are doing to shoot their Martini-Henrys.
Thanks,
Greg
 
There is no factory ammo readily available in Canada that wont cost you an arm and a leg.
Brass is incredibly difficult to find. Most people convert brass 24ga shotshells which works but even they are difficult to find at times. If you already have some brass, hold onto it like it was made from gold.
Dies are available but are large-format, like 50BMG and some elephant cartridges, so you need a press that will take the larger 1 1/4" - 12 thread rather than the standard 7/8" - 14.
Almost everyone reloads it with black powder or a black powder substitute. Some have luck with reduced smokeless loads but others advise that the different pressure curve could be dangerous for an action designed for black powder.
I don't recall reading or hearing from anyone about reloading them with jacketed bullets. It's all cast if memory serves. You may also want to slug the bore to find out the true groove diameter so you can get bullets sized properly. Since it's a black powder cartridge I'd go with a soft lead alloy rather than the common hard-cast bullets most places sell.
If loading cast for the first time there are a bunch of perculiarities about them compared to jacketed bullets. I recommend the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. If you are reloading black powder that is touched on in the same book but there are also various books around with excellent information for reloading for BPCR (black powder cartridge rifle).
 
I just got around to reloading and shooting some 577 450 this weekend.If you read up about reloading for this cartridge from some of the old hands at this it seems quite daunting,what with Grease cookies,wads,fillers,paper patched bullets,black powder only,slugging the bore to get the right diameter bullet etc etc. I cast some bullets from a mold I bought for my 45 70 they mic ed to .464 so I greased them up and put them on top of 35 grains of imr 4198 and half a square of toilet paper,easy.they seemed to shoot more or lees where I pointed them.I used lee dies($100 or so) and brass I got from Rustywoods( not cheap)
 
iraqveteran8888 just put out a youtube video on reloading this round. The lgs has one of these martinis that I was looking at.
 
There is a youtube channel called something like "Britishmuzzleloaders", he has a very detailed video about reloading the round
 
I've modified 24ga brass for myself. If I were to sell it, what should I ask for it? $3-$4-$5 per casing?
I use 15gr of 700X under 2 square's of toilet paper
 
Very funny to Reload
Find brass in France 10 years ago .....
Use of PB powder and cast bullet
Set of dies was From a BC retailer
 
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