45-75 Rim Thickness

[pinto beans]

Greetings All,

Like many proud new owners of an 1876 replica, I have a question or to.  Bear with me, I am not much of a poster, much more of a reader so here goes.  

I picked up the new Uberti from Dixie Gun Works here in Tennessee yesterday and it is exactly what I was hoping for!  Got the rifle home, cleaned it up and spent what was left of the day looking it over and tyring things out.  I posted the other day here of purchasing 45-75 WCF cases from Rocky Mountain Cartridges and how well made they are.  Don't have all the reloading components in place yet but I did try several of the cases by slipping them part way into the chamber and closing the bolt over them.  

First off the cartridges fit the extractor like a glove, smooth as glass.  Now comes the question, I am an old hand at bolt rifles and reloading but this is my first lever action, the only other I have worked with much is the M94 Winchester.  The action closes on the cartridge case VERY smoothly but I notice that you can feel the toggle link locking up in the last of the action cycle.  Sort of a "snug"fit.  There is no excessive force to close the lever, I can do it with two fingers with same effort as closing you hand but can feel the action taking up on the case.  In a bolt rifle I would consider this normal, but I am a complete green horn to the toggle link action.  Are the case rims a bit to think do ya think or good to go?  

I am going to wear some of them out just putting them in the chamber and ejecting them, now that is fun for an old man with a new toy!!

Thanks to all for any feedback, and it is Great to finally own a '76!!  As things progress I will try to post up pics if anyone is interested.

PB

An Update - After messing with the rifle and brass I decided that things were as they should be, espically as the mail came and brought the shell holder and .45 cal trimmer pilot for the Lyman universal case trimmer.  I went ahead with my normal ritual on new cases, and lubed 40 rounds, ran them through the full length resizer (RCBS legacy die set) then into the case trimmer to true the mouth and set the length - the cases were a little long to allow for fitting.  Things went without a hitch, so proceeded to run them through the flaring die and prime with Winchester standard large rifle primers.  All I am waiting on now is the 5744 powder to arrive and the 330 grain Lyman .458 bullets - then load developements starts!

Hope I ain't boring no one, having fun getting the ammo ready for the new rifle and wanted to share!!   

PB

[Grizzly Adams]

Your rifle is performing as designed, and it sounds like you are having a ball.  It only get better, Amigo.  Enjoy!

[pinto beans]

Thanks Mr. Griz!!  Yes I confess to having a blast with this new rifle!!  Lyman 330 gr bullets are here, and with a bit of good luck I will have IRM 4198 tomorrow with AA 5744 arriving soon, then starts the load developement!!  Will try and keep the updates coming as they come along!  

[pinto beans]

Success!!  Loaded 45-75WCF cartridges!!  20 rounds setup at max overall length of 2.240", works through the new rifle like a charm!!

I am trying the Pufflon ballistic filler to take up the airspace and have built a load developement work up of 2 rounds at each powder charge in the min. to max. range,  then increase by .5 grain until top end loads are reached as specified in the Lyman 49th edition reloading handbook.  If anyone has used this stuff (Pufflon), and you don't mind my asking, what kinds of results did you see?  The powder being loaded is Accurate 5744.

Now if the un-sociable weather will cooperate, will take new rifle, loads and chronograph to the farm to see if things will work as advertised.

[Jubal Wilson]

Pinto Beans,
You may find that 5744 without a filler will leave unburned power kernels in the barrel that sometimes gets into the action. When I load 5744 in my 45-60 I use Puff-Lon and it eliminates this problem. The Puff-Lon will tend to increase the pressure some and therefore the velocity but the way you are doing your load development, increasing by .5 grains at a time, you should be fine even with the max loads in the Lyman 49th. Best of luck in your search for the perfect load.
Jubal

[pinto beans]

Mr. Jubal, many thanks for the response!  Soon as I get a chance to run the test loads through their paces I will report back here the results.