tell us about the Ballard you bought.

OK, I ran out to see an old shooting buddy today and bought that 2nd Maynard 1873 model in .40-60.  It has a 30" heavy round barrel, straight checkered stock, shotgun butt, very good bore, original Maynard rack and pinion rear tang sight, Lyman 17A replacement front sight, and a fairly crude looking open rear sight.  It also appears that the firing pin assembly is a replacement.  It came with an RCBS 300 grain mould (which is great since I already have the 350 and 400 grain RCBS moulds, but didn't have the 300 grainer), a couple of sample bullets sized down to .400" for paper patching, and 4 cases formed from .30-40 Krag brass.  He couldn't find the thick rim brass washer adaptor that he had for shooting it, but I've already sent off a PM regarding getting some of the proper sized adaptor rings for these thick rim Maynard cartridges.  It also came with a 310 tong tool bullet seating die.  All in all I'm quite happy with it, although I will put a blank in the rear sight dovetail to replace the crude open sight, and replace the front sight with something a bit more period correct if I can locate one.

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OK, I took some measurements on this 2nd Maynard 1873 model today and it looks like my rifle is a .40-60 Maynard rather than a .40-70. Using the probe on my calipers the chamber measures about 2.163" from the back of the barrel to the front of the chamber where I can feel a definite ridge or shoulder at the end of the chamber, so with the 1873 model .135" thick rim (less about .064" for the thickness of the rims on the donor cases I'll use) the total case length comes out at about 2.234". The .40-60 Maynard has a nominal length of 2.200" so allowing for a bit of error on my part (or a somewhat long chamber or a slightly eroded throat?) it looks like it is chambered for .40-60 rather than the .2.400" long .40-70. I do still need to slug the barrel and see what the bore and groove dimensions are on this particular rifle and I'll check to see what the twist is too. I now have RCBS GG moulds in .410" for 300, 350, and 400 grain bullets and should be able to make something work with a bit of testing.
I measured some .303 British cases that I had previously fire-formed and blown out straight in my Ishapore Lee Enfield No. 1 MK III in .410 Musket and they measure out at about 2.165" to 2.185" before squaring up the case mouths so it looks like I'll be able to use some of my thousands of rounds of "on hand" .303 Brit brass rather than having to source some longer .30-40 Krag cases, so that's a bonus!

OK, I'm not finding too much info on loading for the .40-60 Maynard thick rim so does anyone on here have any experience with this cartridge?

I'm assuming to try to duplicate the original loading that it would be a paper patched bullet of about .400" diameter and about 330 grains patched up to match the bore diameter rather than the groove diameter?  Am I on the right track so far?  Load 60 grains compressed slightly and topped off with a card wad, and possibly a grease cookie or greased fibre wad under the PP bullet?  Should I breech seat the bullet or load it fixed?  (Or try both?)

I'll slug the barrel and see what the groove size is and see if I can also use any of the .410" GG RCBS moulds I have already in 300, 350, and 400 grains.  Can't hurt to try some GG bullets as well if they look like they will fit OK.

What are your thoughts on using a very light (2 to 4 grains of SR4579) "kicker" charge under the main black powder charge in the 1873 Maynard action?  Not looking to improve performance, just trying to keep the brass and bore cleaner while shooting it.

Any sage advise that anyone is willing to offer would be much appreciated especially if it will save me some time and effort in testing.

Al

I know Deadeye Bly is out of town shooting at Raton this week.  I'm sure he will respond when he gets back.   
Bruce

Bnelson wrote on Aug 5^th, 2018 at 8:02pm:


I suspected that ... I'm sure that I'll hear from him when he gets back.  Of course I'm just like a kid at Christmas waiting to shoot both of these Maynards and I need to touch base with him about it.

Well, I did it again!  My 4th Maynard in 2 months.  I have another 1882 model in .22 heading my way.  Should see it within a week and I'll post some photos when I get it in hand ...

It's raining Maynards lately!