this one cost more than a few levers and I even had to dig in my buddys collection and do some trading with him to get enough 'Ponys' to bring this one home
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when this got sendt here I was just going to look and send back! well I didn't follow through on the send back thing. So i started digging and selling two months later i got it paid off

rafter-7
ooohhh its a 40/70 2 1/4  I am going to order brass from buffalo arms is there any place better or cheaper these guys are about 1.25 a case?

Nice looking gun.  Now, you need to get some pictures without all the distractions in the background.

Personally, I like BA's stretched .45-100 and .45-90 brass.

Brent

Well done Rafter 7. 

Original sights as well. If you ever replace them let me know, it'll save me making my own. Dagnabit, thirty years I've been looking for a Borchardt, and some folks just fall over them. lol.

Harry

Rafter, nice Mid-range. It is a later Model with that pistol grip cap. The earier ones had an "S" curve on the bottom of the grip. Mine is like that with a 4 didgit serial #. As to brass. Consider trying to find some of the new .405 brass now available. It is the right shape and is either the right length or a little long. RCBS makes dies for the 40-70 SS . When I bought mine it came with a smogasbord of brass. Some original UMC, some .405, and 40-72 winchester. The guy I bought it from had bought it when he was 19 and I bought it from him when he was 84. He was not shooting much in the last 4 years of his life but he shot it heavily for 60+ years. The bore is still bright and sharp. The serial numbers on the Rifle are also on the sights. Check yours. They are stamped very small. On the side of the bottom pivot on the rear. And on the base for the front windgage. It has been a very accurate Rifle. I have many groups shot by the old timer from rest at 100 yds that can be covered with a quarter. Congradulations on a fine aquisition. Regards, FITZ. P.S. Check the rim thickness. The rim counterbore on original sharps rifles tends to be deep or thick, but it has a rounded corner. 30-40 Krag brass tends to be thin. Look closely at yours and you will see what I mean. FITZ.

You have a shaper, you lucky dog. It'll be a piece of cake.  I'm going away for a couple months, so wont be able to harasse Martini owners. I think I probly got caught up on that the last couple of days. I have a lot of fun reading all the posts. take care.     Joe.

thanks guys

to answer some questions 

no I have not chamber cast the barrel it is marked 2 1/4 on the left side and you can see the bottle neck taper in the chamber

fitz. thanks for the good advise and you are right its a 16,xxx so yes its a later one and i will take under advisement the counter bore thing i know what you are talking about there is quite a ledge in there

but what confuses me you guys talk about 405 win. is a case that would work but byron and i ruled aginst it if it was a strait 40/70 that is what you need but I have a 40/70 BN. am I mistaken??is the info we read wrong??? the bore slugs at .406

if 405 does work i will still opt. for a headstamp if possible because i have a 405/1895 win. and with all the "we'll just make it" cases we have floating around down there. well need less to say I am going to try and find a headstamp if poss.

as far as the dies we are going to try to use my 40/65 win. dies to get by  is this possible?? we think it should work or do i need to step up and get the high dollar dies??

rafter-7
PS Byron and I liked the hammerless will never catch on comment we both had a good laugh at that one!

Sorry guys, but if the man has a 40-70 BN, he won't be able to use any of those - all those options are for 40-70 straight.  Nice round though...

Rafter,

Take it from someone with a soft spot for BN BP cases, you aren't giving up anything...  The round had a serious rep for accuracy, and the rifle will be capable of it - just don't use straight-case reloading logic, and you'll be fine.  Nothing wrong with reforming 45-90 either - just a simple pass i nthe sizeer.  I know, I reformed 24-gauge shotgun brass to 577-450 in a single pass...  Just anneal well, that's all!

Brent,

the single most important element is: forget about compression - you will never be able to compress the powder column uniformly in a BN case.  Also, forget about the faster granulations.  BN cases do tend to promote faster burning because of configuration, so, the slower end granulations will do just fine.  Enough bullet resistance is important too, but that is also the case with straight cases.  If need be, see that you have some neck tension - but seating the (hard enough) bullet well into the rifling will also work.
A good 'gas barrier' between bullet and powder is also rather more important than with straight cases.
Bottom line, if you start working up loads by compressing powder, you will be disappointed...
Not sure if the 38-72 qualifies as a real BN round though - a bit like a crossbreed between tapered and BN...
I learned the lesson the hard way, trying to work up loads for 577-450 and #2 Musket - especially 577-450 was tough, as I kept on trying to use a slip-fit bullet.  Once I started using neck tension, group size decreased dramatically...  But then, it is very hard to seat out a bullet into the rifling on a 577-450.  They just aren't long enough...   Next one up is 8x60R Kropatschek, this one is a rather delicate one, but it is showing promise...

OK,

thanks Martini

has anyone reloaded the 40/70 BN or any classified bottleneck case "smokeless"with the new super slow powders keep the pressure down and mic. the cases on the way up to keep the pressures in check.

Arjunkie and I had a break through years back with a .33 winchester in a old 86 I believe it was 54grains of reloader 22 and a magnum primer and 200 grain hornaday fp the gun shot just under an inch at 80 yards with iron sights and we could not believe what we saw so three more and came out of the reloader and put down range it too was under an inch and in a perfect trinangle
The bore in the 86 was not bad but it was not good either

any thoughts on this???

rafter-7