anybody else loading and shooting a 40-70 Ballard?

i have an original 40-70 ballard cartridge, that is so marked. it will not fit in the chamber of my 40-70 2/1/2" hepburn. right now it seems locating parent brass for forming is scarce. by the way, the 30-40 krag will fit my remington chamber-but is too short to fiddle with unless stretched.
best kw

The 40/70 Ballard, is the same as the 40/63 Ballard. The 40/70, is for grease groove bullets, while the 40/63 is for paper patched and has a smaller neck.

For brass, I have used 9.3x74R, 7x57R and 405 Win brass. 40/70SS is a different cartridge and uses 30/40 head size brass.

Frank

About ten years ago, I got a 40-63 J. M. Marlin Ballard.  (The original chamber offered was a 40-65 everlasting, but they likely went to the 40-63 everlasting which is also 40-70 thin wall cases, two birds with one stone.)  Annealed 7X57R cases, blew them out, and found a 40-70 Sharps PP tool, about 330 gr. without the bottom, fabricated that part, and loaded with 14 gr. 2400, card wad, kapok, another card wad and shot paper patched for fun.  As the rim is a little too small for 100% extraction, I need to drill a hole in a piece of steel insert a case, and tap around the rim with a small hammer, haven't done that yet.
Since, found a 40-330 grooved Winchester mold online.  I did the same fire form on 30-40 for a 40-70SS Sharps .  In both cases, they were a little short.  Extracted well.  Still had fun.
I tried a 40-65 mold from an old Ideal tool, too small diameter for either.  Used it to seat the balls, though.   My 40 330 grooved mold is more like .410.

James

I've heard nothing but great things about RMC brass, but the cost is a bit staggering compared to standard brass in most calibres.  I've likely fire-formed 300 or more rounds of this Norma 9.3x74R brass into "shooter" brass for my .40-90 Ballard for about what that 60 rounds of RMC brass will cost you.  My wife is Scotch / Metis and I guess that the "Scotch" part has sort of rubbed off onto me over the years!

I own two Ballard rifles chambered for the .40-63/.40-70 Ballard cartridge. I use .405 Hornady brass for both guns, but they can't be shared as bore diameters aren't the same.
The Rigby Ballard I shoot is very forgiving with a smaller groove diameter and it uses sized .405 cases with no issues for that smaller groove. But my #1 1/2 has a larger groove diameter and the larger grease groove bullets wont chamber as fixed ammo if I don't turn the necks thinner to allow it. Once turned they work great, so not a problem.
I shoot the same 330 gr. RCBS CSA bullets in both guns, but size them down slightly for the Rigby. They have slow twist rates, and these old Ballards seem to favor the lighter bullets for accuracy.

On one of my .40-70 Ballard rifles I have to thin necks to allow me to shoot grease groove bullets. But the Rigby has no problems at all. 
Since the start of this thread I picked up another Ballard #4 1/2 A-1 in this caliber, and it slugged the same as my Rigby. So I dropped a cartridge loaded for my Rigby into the chamber and it chambered just fine. Haven't shot it yet, but hopefully it likes the same charge and bullet too.

ww wrote on Sep 28^th, 2018 at 8:39am:


I fear it must be gone. I even went to Hornady's site and they no longer list it as an item they offer. I can't imagine it didn't sell well, and hope they reconsider and bring it back again. I have a good supply, but since I share it amongst 5 rifles it wont last me forever.