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38-70 High Wall (Read 1032 times)

gunlaker Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 2729 Location: lower mainland, B.C. Joined: Dec 13^th, 2010	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #15 - Oct 11^th, 2026 at 9:14am	Print Post
	Is the m die any different than just using an rcbs expander die with custom mandrels or does it do something extra.


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bpjack Frequent Elocutionist Online Posts: 4105 Location: East Olympia, WA Joined: May 18^th, 2008	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #16 - Oct 11^th, 2026 at 11:31am	Print Post
	The nice aspect of the Lyman die are the custom expanders that Buffalo arms sells for them.

	People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 18358 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #17 - Oct 11^th, 2026 at 12:47pm	Print Post
	Lyman M die rods are threaded on the end so you can quickly change expander plugs. Unfortunately Lyman sells the expander rods with plugs as an assembly and not just the expander plugs. But they're pretty cheap, and I just set the rods aside and use only the plugs. I drilled a wood block with a bunch of holes and used a sharpie to write diameters by each expander. I buy the expanders direct from Lyman and since they don't sell custom sizes I just buy the next size larger and turn them down. Chuck the threaded shank in my drill press and use a file to work them down to the exact size I need for whatever I'm expanding. They have a large variety of sizes for sale, but occasionally they're a bit larger than I need. Last I bought were less than $4 each, so I bought extras in .45-70 and .38-55 to save on shipping.

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gunlaker Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 2729 Location: lower mainland, B.C. Joined: Dec 13^th, 2010	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #18 - Oct 11^th, 2026 at 1:00pm	Print Post
	This does sound the same as using an RCBS expander die and a set of custom mandrels then. I have piles of custom ones from Buffalo Arms that I can use to get whatever neck tension I want in each calibre. Chris.


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westerner Frequent Elocutionist Offline deleted posts and threads record holder. Posts: 12626 Location: Why, out West of course Joined: May 29^th, 2006	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #19 - Oct 11^th, 2026 at 5:41pm	Print Post
	Just checked and I do have one set of 45-90 Lyman dies. The expander die is stamped M-2. So it must be the M die. Lyman did good. Slick. I've always made my own when I needed them. That's why I told Jack to get on the lathe and make one. Cheaper thata way. As Johnny Cash would say...

	A blind squirrel runs into a tree every once in a while.
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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 18358 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #20 - Oct 12^th, 2026 at 9:15am	Print Post
	I often remove that ridge on my M die expanders so I can run it down deeper.

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Green_Frog Frequent Elocutionist Offline "It ain't easy being green" ASSRA Life #281 Posts: 4211 Location: Lynchburg, VA Joined: Apr 18^th, 2004	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #21 - Oct 13^th, 2026 at 10:14pm	Print Post
	I’ve always regarded the M die as one of the last great reloading tools the gnomes at Lyman got to make before the paper pushers stifled all development @ Lyman. Froggie


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Oakdale Full Member Online Posts: 134 Location: Maplewood, MN Joined: Jun 7^th, 2017	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #22 - Oct 14^th, 2026 at 2:09pm	Print Post
	I have used the famous M-die for quite a few years. Very helpful! But…I know nothing about the .38-70, .38-72, etc. as compared to the .38-55. Maybe the others are better long distance cartridges? Tom


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bpjack Frequent Elocutionist Online Posts: 4105 Location: East Olympia, WA Joined: May 18^th, 2008	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #23 - Oct 14^th, 2026 at 2:41pm	Print Post
	My 38-70 was chosen, not because I was looking for a longer range option, but simply because the barrel on eBay was a good price. I will be taking it to the rang tomorrow to see how it shoots with smokeless, fixed and breech seated. Jack

	People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
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oneatatime Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 4568 Location: Rocky Mountains Joined: Oct 30^th, 2011	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #24 - Oct 14^th, 2026 at 4:33pm	Print Post
	The Jeffery company wasn't founded until 1891 so those Winchesters were kicking around in England for several years before that. In their early years piecework was handed out to other companies.


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westerner Frequent Elocutionist Offline deleted posts and threads record holder. Posts: 12626 Location: Why, out West of course Joined: May 29^th, 2006	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #25 - Oct 14^th, 2026 at 5:22pm	Print Post
	bpjack wrote on Oct 14^th, 2026 at 2:41pm: My 38-70 was chosen, not because I was looking for a longer range option, but simply because the barrel on eBay was a good price. I will be taking it to the rang tomorrow to see how it shoots with smokeless, fixed and breech seated. Jack You can always rechamber the barrel to the venerable 38-55 in your South Bend lathe. At 34 inches of barrel length you got plenty of material. What ever happend to the shooters on here who claimed the 38-55 was a viable 1000 yard cartridge? Maybe they all rechambered to 38-70? 38-90? 38-72? You better enter some 1000 yard matches with the 38-70 before you rechamber to 38-55.

	A blind squirrel runs into a tree every once in a while.
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beltfed Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1858 Location: Central Wi Joined: Dec 20^th, 2007	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #26 - Oct 14^th, 2026 at 6:15pm	Print Post
	FWIW I had built a 38-72W /10 twist with the idea of 1K work. About the same case capacity of your 38-70. Early work was somewhat mixed. I left it behind/sold it. I think the case capacity on both of these big 38s is on the "too much of a good thing" More recently, I picked up a 10 twist 38-50 Rem Hep. The RH has been easy to achieve good results. I think the capaciy is idealfor 38 cal. Have had very good performance from it at midreange and it will also (safely) reach out to 1K with a 360 gr DDEPP bullet over 64-67 gr Swiss 1.5 clocking 1375fps. A couple years ago, I bought back the 38-70 and try some things with it that I have learned since my early work with it.


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bpjack Frequent Elocutionist Online Posts: 4105 Location: East Olympia, WA Joined: May 18^th, 2008	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #27 - Oct 14^th, 2026 at 6:29pm	Print Post
	These sort of projects keep me off the streets and up at night. What I need is a 1000 yd range with a house with 4 bedrooms, a large heated shop, a pool and sauna. My wife said fine as long as it has salt waterfront. Still looking and entering the lottery.

	People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
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bpjack Frequent Elocutionist Online Posts: 4105 Location: East Olympia, WA Joined: May 18^th, 2008	Re: 38-70 High Wall Reply #28 - yesterday at 6:05pm	Print Post
	I shot the 38-70 today in gloomy, windy conditions with iron sights. My main goal was to fire form the 24 cases I had. That load was thrown together using a mild load with old hard cast bullets of unknown alloy that are probably at least 20 years old. Those went into about a 3" group at 100 yds. I did try some breech seated bullets at 200 yds with a bit of success. I was using 300MP but with 3 bullets left, I switched to 4100 and put 3 shots into an inch an a half. The fired cases did not expand as much as my 38-55 cases do so my 303gr Saeco bullets that I use for 38-55 BP will not slip fit into the 38-70 fired cases. I tried expanding a case to fit the Saeco but it will not chamber. I think my Hoch tiered bullets will work however. Time to cast some more of those in both 20-1 and 30-1. Next outing will have a scope on it.

	People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
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