Shooting 50-70's In A 50-95?

[Joe Lansing]

    If you compare 50-70 with 50-95 cases, you will find only two significant differences: case length(50-70= 1.75"and 1.94" for the 45-95), and the rim diameter difference of 0.033" greater for the 50-70. The over al length of the two cartridges are virtually the same (2.25" vs. 2.26") which should allow 50-70's to function in the '76 cartridge carrier.
    My question is then, can 50-70's be safely and efficiently fired in a '76/50-95? Is it the heavier bullet of the 50-70 that is the problem?
Is it perhaps the difference in twist that renders this impractical?

[Buck Stinson]

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you're asking if .50-70 Gov't ammo can be fired in an 1876 Winchester in .50-95 caliber.  You mean like shooting a .45-70 cartridge in a .45-90?  If this is your question, the answer is NO.  The .50-70 may appear to be the same as a .50 Express round but they are entirely different.  The .50-70 is a straight case, no shoulder.  The .50 Express is a tapered case, with a shoulder.  The Gov't cartridge will not chamber in an 1876 .50 Express.  Hope this will help.

Adios,
Buck

[Joe Lansing]

    If you compare dimensional drawings, it says they will:

    CARTRIDGE:             50-70              50-95

    case length:              1.75"               1.94"
    cart. length:              2.25"               2.26"
    rim diam.:                 .660"               .627"
    base diam.:               .565"               .562"
    Neck diam.:               .535"               .533"
    bullet diam.:              .515"               .513

    Has anyone tried chambering a 50-70 in a 50-95? The slight differences between the two cartridges shouldn't make a difference. Safety and performance should be the only real issues.. If there are functional differences, perhaps nothing a full length sizer can't handle.

[Buck Stinson]

Well, I know I'm going to sound like Hillary Clinton, when she recently said "I mis-spoke" but when it comes to this post, I have to say, I mis-spoke.  The fact is, the .50-70 will fit in the chamber of an 1876 Winchester .50 Express.  I dropped a factory loaded .50-70 cartridge in the chamber of a couple of my original .50-95's and it went right in.  However, this still doesn't mean they can be used is such a manner.   Besides the fact that the .50-70 round is 1/8" shorter, it will not fit the face of the breech bolt on the '76, thereby making it impossible to fire or extract from the chamber, because the rim is too large and too thick.

Adios,
Buck   

[Joe Lansing]

    What this all seems to boil down to is you can't simply load your 50 cal. '76 with 50-70's and happily shoot away, but you can turn down rims on 50-70 cases and load them with an appropriate bullet seated to give your the correct overall length. This may by very useful  for economy or if scarcity of correct brass is an issue.
    I also discovered that an original UMC 50-70 cartridge will slide through a Chaparral magazine tube in spite of the larger diam. of the 50-70 rim, but this is academic if you must turn down the rims to fit your bolt face and/or extractor.
    The whole question is academic for me. I don't own a 50 cal. '76. One day while tinkering around, I happened to notice that an original UMC 50-70 cartridge fit perfectly in the cartridge carrier port in my '76, cal. 45-60 Chaparral receiver. The quest for an answer seemed to snowball after that.

[J.D.Cayhill]

I have not experienced it myself, but have read about 45-90 chambers becoming ringed by shooting shorter 45-70 in them. On the single shot rifle forums it is considered a big time no-no to do.

It may work with 38's in a 357, but rifle chambers, especially loaded with BP are a different beast it seems. It would be cheaper in the long run to get the 50-95 brass than a new barrel. The brass would be expensive. But that seems to come with the territory when playing with the bigger boomers.

[Hobie]

IME the modern .50-70 and .50-90 brass have rims too large to function in the Chapparal mag tubes.  One can turn them down.  The bolt is not a consideration on my gun although it might be stressing the extractor.