RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Ranch Dog »

What specific length are you trimming your brass?

Also, what bullet size?
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Archer »

So now you are making me worried.
I know Starline specifically warns their .45-70 brass is hardened and may require annealing for light loads but I haven't seen any comments regarding case mouth thickness being bumped up. In my experience Winchester and Remington .45-70 brass is very soft at the case mouth, to the point that it must be carefully handled between sizing and seating operations lest it be knocked out of round simply slipping it into a box.
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Ranch Dog »

Here are Starline's comments concerning their 45-70 Govt brass:

"Our .45-70 brass has been tested at elevated pressures suitable for Magnum Heavy Hunting Loads in adequate gun systems. When loading with black powder, annealing of mouth may be necessary to allow case to properly seal chamber due to lower pressures generated by these loads. Our case is produced very strong to withstand high pressure loads associated with smokeless hunting loads and since the only way to make brass harder is to work the material our only option is to leave them stiffer so the customers can anneal for specific application."

With smokeless loads, there should be no need to anneal. Working with oversized cast bullets, even with smokeless powders can create the need to anneal. Softer case mouths make the case mouths much more accepting of large bullets.
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Arroyoshark »

Ranch Dog wrote:What specific length are you trimming your brass?

Also, what bullet size?

I have brass & Bullets that were acquired before getting the Rossi, that had worked with limited insight as to case length or bullet size in an old handi-rifle.

I am loading both R-P, PMC and Starline brass. New, unsized Starline brass runs 2.106 to 2.109 on my caliper.

The 405 gr. Bullets are from the now defunct Cast Bullets Direct, obtained perhaps 10 years ago. They look like this design.
image.jpeg

They were sold as .458 sized but most are measuring closer to .460". The length of the bullet nose is .426", shoulder measures approx. .105" and the meplat is approx. .32". The bullets are not particularly hard cast.

In order to chamber rounds loaded with Starline brass and this bullet, I am trimming current batch of cases to 2.68" - 2.070". That may have been a little overkill, and warrants some incremental adjustment.

I purchased the Starline brass a few years ago and believed I recalled them saying both thicker and harder. I do observe the neck walls seem thicker than comparable R-P and PMC brass I have.

I realize from others experience here that the Cast Bullets Direct promos are sized large for the Rossi, but with loading adjustments, the seem to be squeezed down in size on travel down the barrel, and have produced accurate results.
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Ranch Dog »

It might be worth buying a Lee .458" sizing die to run the bullets through to see if you gain enough length so that you can stop trimming the brass beyond the SAAMI spec.
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Arroyoshark »

Good advice. I'm not a caster, so this hadn't entered my thoughts.

I checked Lee website and discovered they offer a std. .457 sizer. I found a Lee .458 sizer kit at Track of the Wolf website. Will order .458 die and recommended Alox lube com them.

My 405 gr. Boolitz have lube in the groove already. Will it cause any adverse effect to subsequently roll the boolit around in Alox and let it dry ?
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Ranch Dog »

All sounds good, but I wouldn’t add the Alox in that the bullets are already lubed. Take a little petroleum jelly on your fingers and wipe the ogive of the bullet as you set it on the sizer punch. You don't want to the PJ to be noticeable, just a sheen on the bullets to help get them in the die.
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Archer »

RD,
Yeah those were the comments I was anticipating.
I typically run my .45-70 loads at about Lyman level II so far without problems but I've just picked up a couple hundred Starline cases for the first time several months ago so I haven't ragged them out yet. I had no intent to anneal them.
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Re: RG45-70 fail to fire/light hammer strike/no strike

Post by Arroyoshark »

Ranch Dog wrote:All sounds good, but I wouldn’t add the Alox in that the bullets are already lubed. Take a little petroleum jelly on your fingers and wipe the ogive of the bullet as you set it on the sizer punch. You don't want to the PJ to be noticeable, just a sheen on the bullets to help get them in the die.
Thanks !
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