Thread: Help. Fun things you can build on readily available 45-70 and 45-90 brass

There are lots of very nice British cartridges I would love to build or rebuild rifles in.
But going British is a real struggle because
1- Random bore and groove sizes
2- Seriously expensive brass or parent brass ... even if you could find some
3- Chamber reamers are custom only and expensive to buy or very time consuming to make
4- Reloading dies ... as per 3 above

So the obvious ( boring ) and sensible ( boring ) thing to do is make a 45-70 or 45-90
Both very good calibers.
I have several 45-70s and love them.
I have a barrel, chamber reamer and brass for a 45-90 and will build one as soon as I find a suitable action.

But what I have also been doing is making a rough list of less common cartridges that might be interesting and fun to think about building a rifle for based on 45-70 and 45-90 brass.
These two cartridges seem to have bucked the trend lately and generally been in stock or only out of stock briefly.

This is my very rough list from the 45-70 case
236 Remington Lee
38s there have to be some ?
40-60
40-65
40-70
40-72
40-75
44-70
45-60
45-75

And my list for the 45-90 case
38-83* My own wildcat that i have dies and chamber reamer for
40-82
40-90
44-77

So who can add some more calibers to this list ?
I'm certain there are plenty more

And any decent wildcats based on those cases also.
Especially is an existing reamer can be used in conjunction with a smaller or larger pilot to make an exotic chamber.

But bearing in mind that its just about as hard to ream a sizing die as it is to ream a chamber

33 WCF? Plenty of .338 proji's available too...

There is the 45 silhouette, which is a 45-70 shortened down . And I believe there is a 475-70, which is a 45-70 case full blown and parallel to accept the 475 calibre projectiles ( if my memory serves me well).

It is still my intention to get a 318 westley richard or accelerated express reamer at some stage… I let you know when it happens.

Originally Posted by makka

33 WCF? Plenty of .338 proji's available too...

33 Winchester sure fills a gap between 30 cal and 38 nicely

Originally Posted by Friwi

There is the 45 silhouette, which is a 45-70 shortened down . And I believe there is a 475-70, which is a 45-70 case full blown and parallel to accept the 475 calibre projectiles ( if my memory serves me well).

It is still my intention to get a 318 westley richard or accelerated express reamer at some stage… I let you know when it happens.

@Friwi I decided to try the 45 Silhouette case
Formed one from 45-70 brass
Shortened to 1 1/2"
Sized in shortened for
There was a small base doughnut to remove from the base

Case is basically a 45-45
Not much different from 45 Long Colt but the 45-70 parent brass is good for a lot of pressure

R- 45 silhouette
M- 45-60
L- 45-70

And you can still shoot .458 projectiles instead of only the .452 selection . Would go well in subsonic with a smaller case capacity. How much powder can you stash into it?

Oh I forgot 8x58R is made from 45-70

That's an easy one to do

Not a caliber but a cool rifle is a 45-70 lee enfield. there are a few floating about in South Africa. think you can fit 5 or 6 in the mag

And the Siamese Mauser ;-)