[Gewehr98]

I "oopsed" when flaring the case mouths of my .45-70 brass when I was learning the cast bullet loading technique. I've since learned from my mistake, with fewer problems.

As a result, I've got a dozen or so pieces of .45-70 with very small splits in the case mouth, all less than 1/4".

If there's anybody online here at THR who reloads .40-60, .40-65, .45-65, or any other BP cartridge that requires shortened and reformed .45-70 brass, have I got a deal for you!

Shoot me a PM.

I'll send what I have, for free.

Better that it gets used for something else, than me throwing it away, right? :D

[bunnielab]

I dont need your brass but I would love to learn "the cast bullet loading technique" as I just bought a guide gun and will be reloading for it shortly.

[Gewehr98]

The only thing is that you want a very slight flare on the case mouth, to prevent shaving lead as you seat the bullet.

The trick is to put enough flare on the case mouth to prevent that, and not so much as to split the case from over-stressing.

That's where I ran into trouble.

I also used to crimp my .45-70 BP loads, thinking that they needed a firm crimp like my .45-70 jacketed smokeless loads for best ignition and combustion.

They don't. Just straighten out the case mouths after loading so they chamber easily, and that's it. Even with a seriously compressed load of 70.0gr of Goex Cartridge, my bullets haven't backed out of the cases yet. There's enough neck tension when seated to keep them in place.

[bunnielab]

Ah, thanks. I knew that I wanted to give a slight flair but I was worried that there was some other step that I didn't know about.

[GP100man]

bunnielab
let me add that the lyman "M" flaring die is made for cast boolits .
it actually expands the case & puts a flare on the mouth to prevent "shaving" lead, some swear by it especially on softer boolits so the case won`t "resize " the boolit when seating.


GP100man

[ArchAngelCD]

Gewehr98,
I don't reload for those calibers but I just wanted to say that's very nice of you Sir... It's good to know there are still some out there who think of others!