Its been a while and I have a question about 45-60..

[morgan in nm]

A friend of mine bought some Jamison(not sure of the spelling) brass and some RCBS "Legacy" dies for it. The rims on the brass were too large in diameter which was an easy fix with the lathe. The potential problem is that the dies are bottle-necking the brass and he is worried about splitting the cases. I really don't know what to tell him about that as my dies are C-H and they don't do that. I have never heard of Legacy dies before. Is the 45-60 supposed to be bottle-necked? Is it enough to worry about as the bullet will likely push some of it out when he seats them? I told him to load one to length and see how it fits in the chamber but with the way the dies are pushing the brass in, he is going to have to put one heck of a crimp to hold the bullets as he is using the Lyman mold.

[Hobie]

Tell him to anneal the cases. I don't think they should be bottlenecked. Can you post a photo of formed and fired cases? I should think you would want to come close to the shape of the fired cases but, I don't load the cartridge. This post could also serve as a bump until KirkD sees it OR you could email KirkD yourself.

[Ysabel Kid]

The .45-60 WCF is a slightly tapered straight walled case. For all practical purposes it is a shorter version, with a slightly thinner rim, of the .45-70 Government. Kirk is our resident expert on the cartridge, so I will defer to him for further advice. Good luck!

[morgan in nm]

I load quite a bit of 45-60 using turned-down 45-70 brass but in those C-H dies I have, I have never had a problem like that. I suggested that he needs to send the dies back or get ahold of a reamer. I don't have a example of a sized case right now but I should see him this weekend as I am going to try and help him cast a few hundred. I will post a picture then. As an example, they look a lot like 45-75 brass but the dies are marked 45-60. I haven't seen the dies as of yet so I am going off his word. It does sound that they are possible mismarked now that I think of it. I ran one through my sizer and they sized a bit more at the web which makes me think they are mis-marked. Who knows. I have been so tired lately teaching young kids how to perform basic welding with every type of machine that the school has and they are doing well for the most part even though I cant remember how many times I have been burned with a piece of metal. I come home and I can smell the burnt hair. Its all worth it though when you can take a kid who has never welded before and within a couple of days, they are getting good enough to perform basic tasks.

Well, I will try and post some pictures this weekend.

[KirkD]

The .45-60 should have a very slight bottleneck, almost not noticeable. If your loaded cartriges will slide nicely into the chamber without resistance, I'd have no problem firing them. They will fireform to your chamber, which should also have a very slight bottleneck to it.