"Lever actions stretch pistol brass"

[Johnz]

...The .45 Colt on the other hand was designed as an untapered straight wall case to maximize case capacity, and it originally had a very small rim....

If I'm not mistaken, the modern .45 Colt cartridge case is dimensionally the same, around the rim area, as the original one was with the "small rim." Some think modern cases have a bigger diameter rim because, I believe, newer ones have a relief cut in front of the rim giving it the appearance of having a bigger diameter rim when in truth they're the same.

[ironhead7544]

The change in the 45 Colt case is fairly recent. It was around the 1970ties that the case rim was made larger and the brass beefed up some in the base. People had started loading the 45 Colt to much higher pressure. The original brass had a very small rim. If you look in the old manuals for reloading you will see a mention of small rims that were easy to slip off, leaving the brass in the sizing die. Note that the 45 Scofield brass had a larger rim for the auto extractor of the break top design. And later the 1909 cartridge had an even bigger rim.

Concerning the "stretch the brass in a lever gun" thing, a worn chamber on a bottle neck round will have excessive headspace and will stretch cases. The shorter pistol sized cartridges dont have that problem.

[pricedo]

I own a lot of leverguns and the only thing they've stretched is my budget.