45-70 case life

[crest117]

I have been reloading reduced 45-70 loads for my 1873 Trapdoor Springfield rifle. I am using 35 grains of H4895 and lead bullets of 405 grains. These give about 1250 FPS and seem quite safe in this antique rifle. Since 45-70 brass is fairly expensive, I am wondering how many times I can expect to reload the brass. Also, how will I know when I should not reload a certain batch of brass again? Note, if it makes a difference, I am using one of the Lee Loader kits.

 

[GooseGestapo]

You'll start seeing split necks. I've got some that are 20+ yrs old and going strong.
Try #2400. Same performance, less powder. Less $$.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Agreed, not much to worry about with low pressure straight cased ammo.

 

[Don McDowell]

Better chance of you wrecking one during the reloading process than wearing one out shooting loads at the original ballistics.
I have some cases that have been reloaded dozens and dozens of times that are still good enough to shoot with national match accuracy.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

IMR3031 is an excellent powder for the 45-70.

 

[dh1633pm]

I have been shooting 45-70 for a while. Case failure hasn't been an issue.

 

[highlander 5]

I'very been loading 45/70 for 30+years,everything from black powder equivalent loads to border line 458 mag loads and I've never lost a case due to a case failure.

 

[Wis-Harpo]

45-70 Brass

I to have been reloading the 45-70 for quite some time. Actually from 1984. I just got worried about case life, and about 1 month ago I bought 50 new Star Line brass at a Gun Show for $39. I never kept track of how many times my brass was reloaded, but has to be dozens of times. As soon as I reload the 50+ old brass I have primed, I will start loading my new brass. As was stated before, I never had a case failure, and I use the hotter loads for the modern rifles. I just decided to just use the suggested loads for the lever rifles, and save my old shoulder.

 

[eldon519]

You will get plenty of life out of them, but if your batch starts getting split necks, you could anneal the remainder and that should extend their life further still. Also if you are crimping, take it easy on the crimp as excessive crimping is hard on case life. Same with excessive case belling before seating.

 

[cpt-t]

crest117: My Son and I shoot several 45-70`s and have shot them a lot for several years. We use a reduced load of 35grs of IMR3031 with Hardcast 405gr LRNFP bullets. At some where between 1250 FPS & 1350 FPS we are told, we don`t have a crony. This is a very accurate and comfortable load for us out of any of our 47-70`s. And this is the load we shoot 95% of the time with most all of lour 45-70. Whether we are Cowboy Action Shooting, Hunting Pigs or Deer, or just Plinking on the range, this is our go to load 95% of the time. As far as Case Life goes, neither of us has ever had a case split or crack case. And some of our cases have been reloaded 20+ times or more, with out any problems. When hunting with this load we have always had full penetration on any thing we have shoot with it.
ken

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I was loading my 45-70 rounds with SR4759 and now with AA5744 and I have yet to have a case split yet. They last a good long time. buy a hundred or two hundred cases and you probably will never buy another.

 

[ilmonster]

I'm also new to the 45-70, having bought a new 22" 1895 three months ago. I also started reloading it as I didn't need bear loads for dinging steel and punching paper. I've only reloaded some of the factory Rem. cases (that started out as 405 gr. JSP green box rounds) four times so far and they look like new. In addition, I also bought 100 Starline cases I've begun to load. As others have said, being a straight walled case and loading powder puff loads (300 fr. RNFP at 1,175 fps), I'm guessing they'll last as long as the .38 Spcl, .45 ACP, 9mm handgun cases that I've reloaded for years last - i.e. I've not worn one out yet!

 

[stoky]

IMR3031 is an excellent powder for the 45-70.

+1
I've tried a bunch of different powders, once upon a time shooting in a 200yd competition. I've had much better luck with 3031 than various pistol powders. The cases will last a long (long) time, if you don't get carried away with pressure or crimping, which isn't really needed for fine accuracy. Star cases are good stuff.

 

[theleo]

If you use something similar to a lyman "M" die it can help the brass life. It's easier on the brass than the standard flaring/belling and will prevent lead shavings if you ever have that problem.