Good afternoon. Working on one of Mr. Storie’s ‘78 Borchardt casting sets and planning to chamber in subject caliber. Just got word from Elk Ridge (reamerrentals.com) that their reamer is damaged and will be “several weeks” before it will be repaired/available. I checked with 4D and White Rock and none have that tool. Looking for suggestions for another rental source I may have overlooked or didn’t know about. A 40-50BN reamer may be available but I already have the 40-50 & 70 Straight reloading dies and a box full of 30-40 Krag brass… any suggestions would be appreciated.
v/r,
Joe B

You can use a 40/70 Sharps Straight reamer,  short chamber it, then cut the rim c'bore on the lathe.

Deadeye Bly wrote on May 10^th, 2025 at 8:15am:


Mr. Deadeye,
Both rental offerings are for the "Shiloh" 2.5 40-70 SS.  I have seen the chatter on the Shiloh forum regarding the various 40-70 SS chamber dimensions, so curious it you are referring to using the Shiloh reamer design to short chamber?  I think a lot of the chatter has to do with what brass will be used in the rifle... I plan to use 30-40 Krag to form the 40-60 Maynard.  the SPG Lube BP Cartridge Reloading Primer says you can use either -50 or -70 SS dies to reload the Maynard and I have a set of both from CH4D tooling.
Comparing the 40-60 Maynard print from the Elk Ridge website to the dimensioned photo of the 40-70 SS Shiloh 2.5 on the 4D Reamer website seems to me the diameter at the case mouth would be a little undersized?  What's your process?
Joe B

My reamer is a Pacific Tool reamer to use the 405 brass and the neck is slightly larger than a Shiloh chamber, .435" diameter I think. I have a Shiloh in 40/50 SS with a factory chamber and Krag brass works well in it. I also have a Shiloh in 40/70 SS that the stretched Krag brass from BACO works well but 405 brass needs to be turned to fit the chamber. My 40/60 Maynard was chambered with my 40/70 reamer and Krag brass fits OK and shortened 405 brass fits but is a tighter fit that I can't load any oversize bullet.

Thread went AWOL

My 40-60 is on a Whitney Phoenix and the barrel on it has a 1 in 18 twist. My 40-65 bullets weren't working out to my satisfaction so Dan Theodore told me the max I should use was the Saeco 370 grain mould. That made a world of difference and my first BPCR match with it a I shot a 30. I use 30-40 Krag brass fire formed and after that just neck sized in a 40-65 die. Because of a tight chamber I discovered that Remington brass had a slightly thicker rim than Winchester brass and I had to do a slight face off on the Remington brass I had. I might add that just fire forming 30-40 brass using a little pistol powder and a filler of COW (Cream of Wheat - corn filler stinks, is dirty and a terrible waste of grits) with a dab of bullet lube at the neck made much more regular brass than attempting to use expanders, not to mention being a heck of a lot easier.