He was all thumbs.

       Joe

Joe, 2 7/8's that means he still has 7/8's of a thumb to play with and still have all 10 digits the rest of us have.  All kidding aside I always worry that the next owner might want to take my old rifle on an elephant hunt and load it up to the max with ball powder and jacketed bullets and where will that leave him after the dust settles?  This coming from a man who hunts with a rolling block in 250 Savage that I know could be easily overloaded.

Why would chambering a low wall in 40-65 be any different than chambering a low wall in 45-70? The back-thrust should be the same and the wall thickness, at the base, should be the same.

??

I've never seen a low wall in 45-70. Also, the modern metallurgy, etc., argument may be sound with the barrel, but the receiver is still soft steel case hardened, so no appreciable difference with the action (that is, modern vs. antique), yes?

I agree with the observation that most SS blowups are the barrel cracking in hoop stress and blowing out the barrel mounting section and more. I'm not as experienced as 90% of this board, but I don't recall a bolt blowup, just a barrel K-Boom.

Look you can chamber a low wall for anything you want just don't shoot it next to anyone else especially me. Your free to blow yourself up just try not to take innocent shooters with you in the blast.

40 Rod

While most people think it's dangerous to shoot a 40/65 in a LW, they think nothing of shooting the 38/40 or 44/40 in one and there is only .034 difference in case heads, between the two cartridges. Using modern steel barrels, the CASE HEAD is the limiting factor, it's what generates the thrust on the BB. You can double charge any case, no matter what pressure it's designed for and you can shoot low enough pressures on the even HV cartridges to be safe. Remember that the 44/40 had a HV loading and someone could use that load data.

My own personal thoughts on the LW is that I would limit it to the the 32/40 case head size and mark it for 32/40 or 38/55 BP only with a modern steel barrel and NOT one made of 12L14 or 1137-44. I personally saw one of those come apart with a double charge in a cast, 32/40 Ballard. 

I think that my application of up to 30k pressures on the 357 Mag/Max case is safe (Frank Dehaas thought 42K with the 357 Mag was safe) and mark it 38XL for future owners. The 25/20ss would be even safer and could be shot at any velocity that a 120 gr, PB bullet could be shot.

I would also, inspect the mortice and breech block, before re-barreling. Maybe even Magnaflux the action.

Frank

Thanks for the reply Frank.  Well, low-pressure load data it is for me and the 44-40 then.

If I want to sling pistol bullets downrange at relatively high speeds from a rifle, the Lyman 410459 Keith bullet over 10 grains of Unique is a fun load from my 40-65 C. Sharps High Wall.

I am cautious not to double charge cases.  I load in blocks and and after the block's cases are full, I use one of the little LED flashlights to look down into the case at an angle. By looking at an angle, I am not relying solely on depth perception to check the charge, but looking at where the top of the powder column intersects the case wall in a row of cases.

Every once in a while I intentionally throw a double charge in a case just to see what one looks like.

I'll feel OK running the 25-20 a little hotter, but well on the safe side.

Thanks again for the advice,

LTC B wrote on Dec 29^th, 2015 at 2:26pm:


I didn't see anyone flat out saying the .40-65 was safe either. There was mention of .40-65 BP loads, and being safe in a LW with certain restrictions.
In my opinion, if a particular action was chambered by the manufacturer, and survived over 100 years, then it's proven to be safe enough. If we start chambering them in different calibers, with caveats added to the cartridge/gun combination, then I question the chambering of the cartridge.
I suppose we could do a Ruger warning on the barrel, so any owner forever would have the limitations engraved there for his notification.