Just starting reloading 45-70 . I was under the impression that trimming any straight wall cases wasn't necessary because they doesn't stretch like a bottle necked cases will . When I resized I am seeing the cases stretching well over the maximum case length .Before sizing the cases were 2.094" to 2.097" Also I received some 45-70 brass that is too short 2.025" Hornady Brass. This is even shorter than required for the Hornady FTX bullets. Is there a reason why someone would trim the cases this short?
Trimming 45/70
- Thread starter tinman905
- Start date
are you measuring them before they are sized? fired cases will be shorter then sized cases.........so long as your under the maximum case length your good to go, that is typically 10 thou longer then the trim to length so there is a little bit of wiggle room between trimming. I have yet to trim a straight walled case
I shoot a lot of pistol ammo and never have to trim . I am on my 3rd time shooting and reloading the same cases and have to trim every time. I have read the same as you have said "don't trim straight wall cases"
What rifle is the 45-70? What is the fired length, and sized length? A few things that can cause staight wall cases to stretch are oil in the chamber, too much crimp, cases too long for the chamber.
That Hornady brass was made that way for the lever rifles.
That Hornady brass was made that way for the lever rifles.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
I haven't noticed a lot of stretch in my 45-70 brass (some have been reloaded well over a couple dozen times) however I do run them through the trimmer periodically just to square up the necks for an even, uniform crimp. I don't sort my cases for "gun to gun" usage, they all get used in the single shots or levers as they come.
I guess I should add that none of my loads would be considered a stout loads( all 1100 to 1400 fps), if the OP is loading to mini-.458 mag standards, stretching may be a distinct possibility.
I guess I should add that none of my loads would be considered a stout loads( all 1100 to 1400 fps), if the OP is loading to mini-.458 mag standards, stretching may be a distinct possibility.
I have a Marlin SBL .Fired length was under the min case length as they were a few thou under
but after resizing well over max case length 10 to 13 thou over max length
Yes you are correct the FTX bullet would be loaded to long to feed so Hornady uses shorter brass ! RJ
If you want to get rid of that Hornady brass let me know.
As for why it's short... I don't have any other suggestions that aren't mentioned already.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
There are 3 reasons to trim a straight or tapered cartridge. First is to uniform the case length for more precise crimping. The second is to clean up any case mouth cracking which may occur, and prevents those cracks from becoming longer. Thirdly, if the nose section of the bullet you load is so long that a standard length case will not allow it to cycle through the action of your rifle, shortening the case will resolve the problem. But understand that but in doing so you have created a wildcat, and the load data intended for a full length cartridge no longer applies due to the reduced case capacity.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Or head spaces on a belt, (.458 Win & Lott, .500 Wyoming, etc) which is essentially a thin rim. Good point, and I should have included that.
Somewhat true, there is one caliber that Hornady says needs to be trimmed shorter to use the FTX bullet, I'm not near my manual right now so I can't say which one it is, but I believe it's 44 mag.
