Making 480 Ruger brass from 45-70

axehandle

I also read that some need thinning, I think I read it in a Taffin article, I'll check when I get around to trying some loads (if ever).

I have 480 brass and loaded ammo, I'm just puttering around with the 45-70 brass for education and experience. I got bored (and that is rarely a good, or safe, thing).

It took me a while to make the one piece but I was in no hurry. I could find a faster, and maybe better, way to cut the brass to length and I can turn the heads fast enough with the little lathe. I suspect that if I ever need to use 45-70 brass I could convert a bag of it in a few hours.

Thanks.

Merry Christmas to you.

5 or 6 shot... won't the relationship between the center of the cylinder and the center of the chambers stay the same? The barrel has to move if the chambers move. The same will be true for the size of the ratchet without a major reengineering of the cylinder frame and action to move the pawl/hand.

axehandle

I did some measurements today as I loaded the ammo, it appears the brass is fine unreamed. Thanks for the cautionary advice.

C.R.

It looks like your question has been addressed, good thing too as I don't know a thing about the 5 shot models.

Aggie01 (John)

This was a pleasurable experience and I pleased that others have found it of some value.

I appreciate your offer but I have some 480 Ruger (Starline) on order and I don't anticipate needing any more brass soon. The conversion was just to give me something to do and also give me some experience with an option should I ever need it.




Here's the rest of the report:

I dug around and read some more info on-line, mainly about primers and how to cope with the deeper primer pocket of the 45-70 (rifle) brass. It seems folks just use pistol primers and I couldn't find where the case head was "shaved" so I loaded some rounds and gave it a go. I got the loading data for this test from the Hodgdon site as I was using 355grain cast bullets and my books lacked info on cast bullets.

I should add/state that the loads I used were full power loads using Winchester 296. The converted brass extracted easily, no sticking. I didn't shoot these over a chronograph but from the recoil I'd say they didn't suffer any loss of power due to the little extra case volume these 45-70 convert cases offer.

I made 5 more cases this morning, it only took a few minutes as I used the lathe to cut the cases to nearly trim length.





























All-in-all this adventure was fun and offered a few unexpected concerns, brass volume and primer pocket depth, but I still have all my fingers so it appears I'm no worse for the experience. I am pleased to know I can easily make brass for my 480 Ruger from 45-70 Govt brass (W-W is the only brand I tried). I don't anticipate a shortage of 480 Ruger brass but I like to have an option open to me as I like the 480 Super Redhawk.

Nice write up. My 475l came with a pile of brass convert for 45/70. I have not seen a difference in performance when compared to factory brass.

jwp475, That good to know, I have only loaded light with HS6.