I have an original Sharps 1874 rifle in 40-70 SS.  In "Cartridges of the World,"  Barnes says the bullet diameter is .403.  The rifle came with a bit of loading data saying the bullets were 0.415, so I slugged the bore.  Sure enough, I get 0.414.  The rifle does not appear to have been "freshed."    So, am I to believe that the .403 bullets  were paper patched and slid down the bore?  The grooves are about .003-.004" deep which would make the bore .406 to .408.

About the only mould I can find is a Saeco that casts 400 grain .414 diameter bullet for the 405 Winchester.  Given the twist of 1 in 20  I would expect a 330 to 350 grain bullet would be about right.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
George

I have a Sharps Borchardt Mid Range in 40-70 SS. I also have a quantity of Sharps manufactured Paper Patch Bullets. They measure
.403 over the patch. And they slide snugly into the bore at the muzzle. Not so tight to cause you to tear the paper but snug enough to have to be pushed down the bore to fall out at the chamber. I bought this Rifle in 1969 from an owner who had owned it since 1920, 49 years. He used various smokeless powders and decided that 15.5 grs of whatever would make it shoot super out to 200 yds. His last powder was 4759. He did however tip the Rifle vertical and slap it to settle the charge in
the case and bring it to shooting position carefully. He did at some point get Lyman to rework a Cherry for a 405 Winchester
Mold that cast a 285 Gr. bullet with the grease grove diameter
.403 with the dirt catcher band at the front .412 Diameter. You just decaped  and recapped and then throw the powder charge,
and then take the bullet and it slid easily into the fired case and fetched upon the dirt catcher diameter. This has become what we now call a "Stop Ring Bullet" He said that when he did that it took Lyman three tries to get it where he wanted it.
HTH Regards, FITZ. OLD TUCK

I have a Hepburn in .40-70SS and use .412" grease groove bullets in it. It shoots great with these bullets fixed. They area 330 gr. form an RCBS CSA mold.

The RCBS 300 CSA or the 350 CSA might be just the ticket for a greaser. Cast from 16-1 they'll probably come right at .412

I use the RCBS 300 CSA and the 350 both. And they both work extremely well in all of my .40 caliber single shots. I use them in .40-60M, .40-63 Ballard, .40-65 Win., .40-70SS, and .40-85 Ballard.

WOW.  Thanks for the tip on Accurate Moulds Ranch13.  Looks like that is the way to go as they have a design that is exactly what I want.  I might even have a block made with two different weight bullets.   

George

art_ruggiero wrote on Nov 5^th, 2018 at 1:18pm:


Usually don' fill the grease grooves with grease if you plan to paper patch them Art.