winchester .348 brass 2f capacity

[Black River Johnny]

For those of you that load the 45-75 using .348 winchester brass, what's the most 2f goex you have been able to get in there?
Thanks

[Ranch 13]

Never heard of anybody making 45-70's from 348
But when you reform 348 to things like 44-77, 43 egyptian etc you can get about 75 -80 grs depending on how much you want to compress.

[Black River Johnny]

Oops, typo. I ment 45-75

[Ranch 13]

 

[Buck Stinson]

I learned how to make .45-75 brass out of .348 almost 50 years ago.  Even at that time, old timers had been making brass for all of the 1876 calibers, out of .348 brass.  I use it for the .40-60, .45-75 and .50 Express.  It has never failed me in any of the original 1876 Winchesters I've used it in.   In the .45-75 WCF I use 72 grains of 2F black with the original 350 grain bullet.  This of course, a compressed load, but then the original 75 grain ammunition was also a compressed load.

[Black River Johnny]

When I drop 70grns into my case it is right to the top- so my question is, that is like 3/8ths or more of compression. is that ok ?

[larryo_1]

Are you guys full length resizing to original specs or are you using fire-formed and neck-sized cases?  I am using fire-formed and neck-sized cases and am putting in 76 grains of Swiss 1½ under a cardboard wad and then my Hoch 350 grain bullet.  There is a little compression but not much.  By using just fire-formed cases, I am getting about 5 grains more of capacity.  Works for me!  Also by tapping the cases, one can get more in.

[Ranch 13]

 Pour the powder slowly and it'll compress itself more than if you just dump it into the funnel.

[Buck Stinson]

In order to get even powder density in each case when using black powder, you'll get much better results if you dump your powder charges through a drop tube.  This will pack every case evenly and you'll get far more powder in each case and end up with much better accuracy.  I made a 30" copper drop tube and use it for ALL of my larger rifle cases, from .38-55 to .50-95 Express.   In my .45-75's I use a 350 grain lead bullet 16 to 1 lead/tin, cast from original Winchester bullet molds.  With 72 grains of 2F Goex or Elephant through a drop tube and a card wad, my bullets are only slightly compress when seating the bullet to the proper depth.

[Hoof Hearted]

Larry

Granulation for granulation, you'll get more Swiss in a case than Goex or Elephant. Wanna really thumping load? Try 3fg Swiss.....
It cracks like smokeless and leaves the bore just as clean!

HH

Are you guys full length resizing to original specs or are you using fire-formed and neck-sized cases?  I am using fire-formed and neck-sized cases and am putting in 76 grains of Swiss 1½ under a cardboard wad and then my Hoch 350 grain bullet.  There is a little compression but not much.  By using just fire-formed cases, I am getting about 5 grains more of capacity.  Works for me!  Also by tapping the cases, one can get more in.

[Ranch 13]

 Hoof hearted that's mostly because the Europeans stuff is smaller grained than the Goex. 2f Swiss is closer in kernel size to goex 3f, and 3f is almost 4f Goex.

[Hoof Hearted]

Hoof hearted that's mostly because the Europeans stuff is smaller grained than the Goex. 2f Swiss is closer in kernel size to goex 3f, and 3f is almost 4f Goex.

I thought that part would have been obvious....now yer assuming that I had assumed
I will point out that uniformity plays a big part also in how it settles in the case when a drop tube is used, it is also cleaner burning (may or may not be related to it's uniformity and/or density) and it costs more (just rying to cover all of the bases).

Regards
HH

[Ranch 13]

  ;)Well like I said you can achieve the same amount of settling by using a slow pour as dumping thru a drop tube.
The supposed cleaner burn of Swiss is certainly debatable, I haven't experienced it, but rather found that swiss leave a hard red crap sort of like clay.

[larryo_1]

Hoof Hearted:
Thanks for that info.  I'll have to give that a try.  That load I am using does pretty good from the "thumping" standpoint.

[concho]

Hodgdon Trip 7 Is my favorite 2 F or 3F burns clean and more power !