Will We Finally Have Reliable Smokless Loads for the 40-82 W

[southfork]

I recently asked the Jamison Brass company (now named something else like Captech) about their planned production of 40-82 WCF Brass. They intend to have that in production within the next few months. When this brass is finally readily available, maybe we can get more of the many Winchester 1886 lever action rifles in this caliber back in business.

In preparation for that day, I need a reliable smokeless load for the 40-82, with or without filler. Anybody got one down pat?

[Griff]

Contact Hodgdon Powder. Lyman's 49th Reloading Manual has loads listed for the 40-70 Straight... I don't know why you couldn't use those for a starting point...

[vancelw]

Wouldn't any smokeless .40-65 load work? I know the case capacity of the .40-82 is bigger, but won't you be limited to the same pressures, whether it's a-65 or-82?

From Accurate Arms #2 manual
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bZ3O ... sp=sharing

After posting this, I realize they came up with their pressure max by firing 65 gr of BP and using that as a max, so I guess a .40-82 would have more pressure. I was thinking of the same era of steel being the same strength.
That being said, the .40-82 loads I find online are slower than the .40-65 loads. I've shot a lot of 5744 through my .40-65.
Contact someone in the Forsyth MT gun club. (they host the Quigley every year) I bet they can get you in touch with someone who shoots smokeless in a .40-82

[southfork]

I dunno. Hopefully somebody has worked thru all of the potential smokeless recipes and found a pretty much fail safe load that's accurate and got a decent level of knock-down power in the range of the original black powder loads. I talked to a guy a while back who has reloaded the 40-82 with black powder and he said accuracy was poor. He used 4198 smokeless (I think that is what he said) with some case filler and got lots better accuracy, but i don't know anything more about that load.

[vancelw]

I can't tell you much about accuracy....all I've ever shot at is steel, not paper.

But on some loads we cut small squares of cotton facial wipes (like the kind women remove makeup with) and poke the squares down in the case to hold the powder against the primer before seating the bullet. It reduces the standard deviation and extreme spread, so one might infer it is improving accuracy with the consistency. I've never used any poly or meal fillers....don't have enough experience to not mess up my guns or my hands/eyes.

[earlmck]

I don't have one of those to play with, dang it. But I asked my friend QuickLoad what we should try if I were to get us one of these. He thinks a nice light load would be 212 grain Lyman with 15 grains of TrailBoss for 1350 fps at 70% load density. Or for more power we might try the 215 grain Lyman GC with 32 grains 5744 for 1900 fps, 55% load density but with a powder that is known to be fairly unsensitive to load position. And a Speer TMJ SIL bullet with a case plumb full (58 grains) of Accurate 4064 for 2200 fps at the 100% load density. Those are just software generated guesses about loads but indicates to me that you shouldn't have a whole lot of trouble finding some nice shooting smokeless loads for your baby.

[vancelw]

The 4th edition of Cartridges of the World lists a sole load of 4198 (28 gr) and a 260 gr Lyman 403169

I thought I had a manual with .40-82 loads in it but I can't locate it

[vancelw]

I don't have one of those to play with, dang it. But I asked my friend QuickLoad what we should try if I were to get us one of these. He thinks a nice light load would be 212 grain Lyman with 15 grains of TrailBoss for 1350 fps at 70% load density. Or for more power we might try the 215 grain Lyman GC with 32 grains 5744 for 1900 fps, 55% load density but with a powder that is known to be fairly unsensitive to load position. And a Speer TMJ SIL bullet with a case plumb full (58 grains) of Accurate 4064 for 2200 fps at the 100% load density. Those are just software generated guesses about loads but indicates to me that you shouldn't have a whole lot of trouble finding some nice shooting smokeless loads for your baby.

I know I like the results 4064 give me in my .348. Entirely different animal, I know, but consistent.

[southfork]

I'm really surprised by how little reloading experience there seems to be out there with this 1886 Winchester cartridge! The 1886 was/is a very strong lever action rifle, and I understand that many, many of them were made in 40-82 WCF. Maybe not as many as were chambered in 45-70 or maybe not even 45-90, but I think about as many as in 45-90 WCF. So where are all these 40-82 rifles and their users? Did these rifles all get converted to some other caliber? If not, why so little hands-on expertise out there in loading these cartridges???

I do appreciate the input received thus far!

[vancelw]

Everyone I know who shoots .40-82 uses black powder.
I'd start with .40-65 loads and work up, or reduce the load in Cartridges of the World and work up.

[Marlin32]

quick google search, found several loads, different bullets, mostly using 3031, 4895 powders.
Surprised to see them so wimpy. velocities with 245-260 bullets were 15-1700 fps.
I would think you could get better velocity than that.

[geobru]

quick google search, found several loads, different bullets, mostly using 3031, 4895 powders.
Surprised to see them so wimpy. velocities with 245-260 bullets were 15-1700 fps.
I would think you could get better velocity than that.

The original 86's in 40-82 shot a black powder load with a velocity of ~1500 fps. Those who have older 40-82's with mild steel barrels don't want to risk blowing up a classic firearm by pushing hot loads through it. If you are lucky enough to have an 86 40-82 with a nickel steel barrel, you can push the velocity up to ~2000 fps.

This link is a discussion on the 40-82
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=53922

I recently asked the Jamison Brass company (now named something else like Captech) about their planned production of 40-82 WCF Brass. They intend to have that in production within the next few months. When this brass is finally readily available, maybe we can get more of the many Winchester 1886 lever action rifles in this caliber back in business.

In preparation for that day, I need a reliable smokeless load for the 40-82, with or without filler. Anybody got one down pat?

My favorite loads are with 5744, 3031, and RL7 powders depending on the bullet that I am using. 25 grains of 5744 was my favorite with the first cast bullet I used. I couldn't find that bullet any more and went with an NOE 277 grain bullet that would not shoot consistently with 5744, no matter what the load was. I switched to 30gr RL7 and shot a 3.25" group at 200 yards and a 2.5" group at 100. If you take off one flyer, the group was 1.5"

There are several guys on this board that shoot smokeless 40-82 loads that have more experience than I do. I've learned a heck of a lot shooting mine, and had a blast doing it.