Man, some days are like that

[earlmck]

I have a buffalo silhouette match coming up this weekend for which I need a bit over a hundred rounds of ammo. I did not have that many cases in cal 40/65 so knew I needed to make some out of 45/70 but kinda' put it off until I "got around tuit". You know how that is. Grandson had found a box of 50 Hornady 45/70 at a garage sale last year which we had not yet incorporated into our 45/70 case inventory because we didn't need them and also because I "knew" that Hornady made their brass short for loading their "gummy tips". Decided to use these Hornadys for making into 40/65 because they will grow a little in the forming and the different head stamp would be nice because it is amazingly easy to mix up 40/65 vs 45/70 when you are washing a bunch of each after a black powder shoot.

Turns out the Hornady brass you buy for reloading is not made short but is the standard 2.1" length. So no problem! And proceeded to try running one into my 40/65 FL size die. No go -- What the heck? I mean I have an old RCBS A2 press that doesn't take "no" for the answer. But "no" it was. Got to looking and the danged F.L. die (Lyman) had not been finish polished in the manufacturing process, except for the neck area. All fine as long as a fellow was using already formed 40/65 cases and not running them all the way in to the die, which is what I had been doing and apparently the fellow who owned the gun before me (I bought it (Pedersoli Sharps) last year at my local gun store as a consignment). Now I am kinda' getting short on time and 40/65's are not common items in these parts. But Midway had 40/65 in the RCBS cowboy style in stock and they are good at rapid shipping so -- off goes the order.

Dies arrive a couple days ago. Nice looking dies! Run one of the Hornady 45/70's in and Voila! -- looks like a 40/65. But doesn't quite fit in my rifle. Sheesh! Obviously these nice looking RCBS dies are not squeezing them down quite far enough, even with a healthy "bump" against the shell holder. Now I could grind a bit off the bottom of the size die so I can run it in a bit farther. But I also have an extra shell holder so I opt to grind down the shell holder instead. End up thinning the top off the shell holder by about .007 before we finally got the cases squozed enough to go in the gun. And then the brass "grew" by from .05 to .07" in the process which is waay too much. So they all had to go through the trim process which is the only part of reloading that I do not enjoy. Oh Well! But I can report that the RCBS cowboy dies are a joy to use, once you get around their failure to quite squeeze things down to "factory specs". Expander die does a nice two-step expansion so you don't need a huge "bell" and the seat die had an extra nose piece that is a perfect fit for my bullet and the crimp easily adjusts right how you like it.

So last night about 10pm I finally finished loading out about 135 rounds of 40/65 which will give me a few extras for sighting in the new sight system I also had the bright idea of installing. But all worth it for a week-end full of buffalo bashing.

[GunnyMack]

Ah the trials and tribulations!
I've always liked the 40-65, only shot one once. Sumthin about the 'odd' dash cartridges just ring right to me.
Good luck at the buffalo shoot !

[AJMD429]

.
These are the kinds of things that make people who don’t reload wonder why we are so crazy as to do that sort of thing….

[Bearskinner]

I have a set of RCBS .410/40-65 dies that work perfectly making 40-65 from all the odd 45-70’s I had.
I picked up a beautiful Browning 1885 BPCR, half octagon, half round barrel. With the weight, even the heavy 420 grain bullets are light on your shoulder.

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[Griff]

I've often thought of rebarreling my .40-90SBN to .40-65, especially after shooting at the NRA BPCRS Nationals one year. Even the light "Express" bullets @ 350 grains bruise the shoulder after 180 rounds, I was sore for days after. But, since I really bought the rifle for hunting, I'm loath to do so. I guess if I found one of those Browning BPCRs at the right price, I'd probably splurge and get it. Another Shiloh would be nice tho'!

Glad you got it all to come together. so you can go ding those buffalo!

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, I wish you great success whanging those bison silhouettes at the COSSA range. I managed to ding them a few times with a Trapdoor Springfield way back when. You've got delicious early fall weather for it. We are looking for 110-111 here in the Rolling Plains for the next couple of days and your highs will be cooler than our lows!
Bearskinner, that is one mighty handsome Browning you have there.

[black river smith]

I have the RCBS Cowboy 410 - .40/65 die set, also. So I have a question to anyone with these specific RCBS Cowboy Dies.

What is the diameter of your expander stem?

The question is because, my set was bought off of Ebay and the expander measures only 0.406". I call RCBS, when they still honored the life time warranty no-matter who owned them, and asked for the proper Cowboy expander stem for the 410 bullet set. They did send me a replacement --- but it still only measured 0.406".
In 35+ years of reloading, it has been my understanding that the expander should be no greater than 0.002" below the bullet diameter, for proper bullet tension. So, a 0.408" stem for the 0.410" bullet. My RCBS 41Mag set measures out that way.

What do you all have in your die set? Or What am I missing?

[black river smith]

While looking for a 32-20 form/trim die for myself, over on Ebay, I found this 40-65 Redding Form and Trim die. If anyone is interested in forming the 40-65 brass a little easier, see link below.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/176534434182

[Scott Tschirhart]

Makes for a great story!

[earlmck]

I have the RCBS Cowboy 410 - .40/65 die set, also. So I have a question to anyone with these specific RCBS Cowboy Dies.

What is the diameter of your expander stem?

Well smith, since they are right handy I went out and got out the micrometer. My RCBS Cowboy dies use the same .406 expander as your set. And my old Lyman set also uses .406. I guess both RCBS and Lyman think .406 is a good diameter and my .410 greasy bullets slide in there firmly but seemed to me "about right". "Track of the Wolf" used to carry expanders in a selection of sizes and you might be able to get what you want from them.

[earlmck]

I have a little addition to the 40/65 story. Last week a fellow on "Castboolits" advertised a nice batch of once-fired 45/70's for sale. I jumped on them and they showed up yesterday. Amongst the batch were 24 Hornady brand and sure enough, they were quite a bit short of regular; 2.03" vs the standard 2.1". So I squozed 'em down to 40/65 and they grew almost all the way out. I think 16 made it to 2.09", 3 were more like 2.085" and one came in at 2.08". A few firings and sizings and they'll grow all the way up.

But if you note my count, there were 4 that got such nasty neck wrinkles they were unusable. And that despite my running them over the expander button to make sure the neck mouths were round. I even ran them clear up to the "step" on the expander to be sure they got rounded and still lost those 4 in the forming. I had lost one round out of the original 50 that I first wrote about but figured that was just my fault for forgetting to start the process by rounding all the necks. But these "once fireds" sure gave me problems even with my "rounding" procedure. I think if I do any more of the "once fireds" I will start by Full Length sizing to 45/70 and then head for 40/65. Unless somebody has a better idea as to why I lost those 4?

I know about the "neck rounding" thing because I have made 38/40's from 44/40's many times and can tell you that the slightest neck dent of the 44/40 will result in a nasty neck wrinkle, but you virtually eliminate the wrinkles with one pass of the 44 neck expander to get 'em rounded up.

Oh yeah, another part of my "sad story" I forgot to mention: Trimming. Did I ever mention that I really do not like the trimming part of reloading? Anyway, I mostly use the Lee power trim dies. I don't have a 40/65 trim die but the 45/70 is the correct length. The Lee dies hold the case in some plastic fingers so of course the tapered 40/65 case is not held worth beans in the 45/70 die and the trim head wants to spin the case in the shell holder when you try to cut down the length. So... I ended up having to put a little fold of paper towel on the bottom of the shell holder and make the shell a "force fit" in the shell holder to keep it from spinning. So the trim process that I dislike took about twice as long as it should have. Sheesh!

But I am ready to load up my stuff tomorrow, and will apparently have one of the grandsons join me who has never shot this buffalo thing before. Us gpa's like to have the grandboys join in of course. Other grandson who has been shooting with me will miss it because his hunting group got into elk (early cow just started for some units) and they are going to be cutting up elk this week-end.

[GunnyMack]

Since you aren't doing hundreds of the 40-65s would you be better served with a file trim die?
Good to hear the grandson is going to see the buffalo shoot, be a great experience for him. And congrats to your other grandson for getting after the elk!

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, any chance those four were twice- or thrice-fireds that had work-hardened at the mouths? I wonder if annealing would have helped.
Really pleased that you'll have one of your grandsons along! It's a healthy addiction for a young man to acquire.

[earlmck]

Earl, any chance those four were twice- or thrice-fireds that had work-hardened at the mouths? I wonder if annealing would have helped.
Really pleased that you'll have one of your grandsons along! It's a healthy addiction for a young man to acquire.

Hmmm... Hadn't thought of that ... yes, that's a possibility Bill. The cases had all been tumbled to a nice and shiny look so any wear indications were long gone.

My grandson accompanying me is my oldest grandson, early 40's. He'll shoot my old 45/70 Pedersoli Sharps rifle. Very first time for him (at the blackpowder thing anyway). As the whole family's "go-to" guy he is normally too overcommitted to get away for such a frivolous week-end.

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, early 40s is not too late for a serious BPCR infection to develop.

[black river smith]

While looking for a 32-20 form/trim die for myself, over on Ebay, I found this 40-65 Redding Form and Trim die. If anyone is interested in forming the 40-65 brass a little easier, see link below.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/176534434182

Just bringing this back up to see in anyone on here won this 40-65 Redding Trim die. I noticed that it was no longer listed but I stopped watching it early.

Did one of you guys get it, I hope?

I won the same sellers Redding 38Spec trim die. But still looking for a used 32-20 trim rather than buying new.