The BACo mould I'm using is number JIM409400M4
Mike.

Yes it is a shortened .40-70 Straight Sharps.

I use .40-70 SSA dies when I fabricate my cases from .30-40 Krag cases to produce a case that is supposed to be 2.2 inches long.
I slowly pull out the case mouths with a .32, a .35, a 38 and 40 expander button and then size with the .40-70 SS FL die before fire forming.
Yes I anneal the cases first.
You can also use .303 British cases but they end up being about 2.1" long but these shorter cases work just as well.

I use 49.7 to 52.7 grains of Swiss FFFg and compress about .230" using a .060" vegetable wad - only front wiping band exposed.

Best to use the heavier powder load to go past 500 yards.

I use a 427 grain Paul Jones Creedmore bullet (1.372 inches long) with 1 MOA accuracy to 880 yards in my CPA rifle with a 1:16 twist Douglas barrel so if you use a slightly shorter bullet you should be able to get more powder into her, or else use a tapered bullet to seat it out further.

But, of course, you aren't really shooting a 40-60 Maynard here folks.  The 40-60 Maynard uses a .417 bullet and everyone is using a .408 bullet.  Fact is, what people call the 40-60 Maynard is really the long version of the 40-Krag that was developed in the 1960s or '70's, maybe earlier.  Dick Hoch built me a 40-Krag on a Ruger #3 in the late 1970's.  I was showing that rifle around one year at the Virginia City shoot in the 1980s.  Next thing I knew Steve Garbe was winning matches with the 40-Krag re-named as the vintage 40-60 Maynard.

Just a bit of trivia for whatever it might be worth.  It is an excellent cartridge and I wish I still had the Ruger!

George
Salmon, Idaho

Nope, not measured in a Maynard.  I got that number from Cartridges of the World.  Got to thinking;    Dick Hoch made my barrel but as a 30-40.  Then I had Dave Fansler (who took over from Hoch) bore it out to 40 caliber.  He called it the "40-Krag."  Apparently that is an old cartridge and there were two versions, one cut off at the shoulder, the other full length.   As I remember it, I used a .403 bullet in that rifle.  After I sold the rifle I had the mould opened up to .408 for use in a 40-70 BN.

Interestingly, I think Cartridges of the world says the 40-70 Sharps straight used a .403 bullet too.  I have an original Sharps and the groove diameter is .415.  I just ordered a grease groove mould for it.  Most of those bullets would drop through the barrel even with the paper patch and relied on the powder to bump them up.  Good way to handle the fouling.

It's all a word game -  - kind of like using a 550 grain bullet in the 45-90 which was the 45-2 4/10 Sharps.  The 45-90 was originally an "express" round shooting a light (300 grain +/-) bullet and having a 1:24 or 26 twist.  Oh well, does it really matter?

George

We've been out of town for the holidays, but now that I'm back home one of my New Years resolutions is to finally slug the barrels on all of my original Maynards (two of which are .40-60 Maynard thick rim 1873 models with another .40-70 thick rim on the horizon that I am hoping to buy).  It may well be that all of my current .40 calibre "greaser" moulds will be too small to shoot well in either of them if the bores really are as large as .417" to .424".  The plan is to get a proper paper patch bullet mould from Red River Rick out in Winnipeg and shoot those instead of "greasers".
Too many project guns and not enough time to play with them all!

I've got 2 40-60 Maynards , a CPA and a Browning BPCR and a saeco 740 that weighs 410 or a BACO395 grain creedmoor wil work fine and give good accuracy.

I just bought 200 rds of Captech 30-40 Krag brass and it looks like nice stuff but the rims measure about .060".  My reloading manual says it should be .064".  Does anybody have the new Hornady Krag brass that could measure a couple of rims for me.
Since this rifle hasn't been barreled yet, I could have the gunsmith set the rim for the Captech brass but was wondering if I should look for brass with a thicker rim.

When I used a reamer on my 40-60 Maynard (Krag) I set the rim thickness for the Winchester brass that I had. When I made some more brass up using Remington brass they wouldn't chamber and I had to thin the rims. I took the easy way out for me and thinned the rims from the face. Removing almost all the headstamp lettering did the trick. Lesson: rim thickness can vary from maker to maker no matter what the book says - you chamber the brass, not the book.