Do I have to crimp at the cannileur?

[45seventy]

Hey guys! I'm new to reloading 45 70. In fact new to lever actions period. I horse traded a pistol for a henry h010 and love it. I have never reloaded a pistol or straight wall case. Flaring dies are new to me and so is crimping. I am loading 350 grain hornady interlock flat points on top of h4198 with starline brass and cci 200 lr primers. My charge is 55 grains, 1 grain under max. I seated the bullets originally to top of cannelure to be just above top of case mouth. Onc ed I finally got them seated and crimped the way I wanted. I ended up with c.o.a.l. of 2.555. Which is .010 over what hornady manual says. When I tried to chamber a round it wouldn't latch and there were rifling Mark's on the ogive. OBVIOUSLY! So I then continued to adjust seating depth until it chambered. I finally got the bullet to contact lands around 2.015. So I seated it at 2.005 to give .010 of clearance and it closes as smooth as a factory round. Now that yo uh know my whole story, my question is can I crimp past the cannelure on just a random spot on the jacket? Will this suffice? My calipers are only showing a -.001 difference at the crimp compared to the body of the case. Did I get sufficient crimping? Anh help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

[fortyshooter]

Well seating in the cannileur zone gives the case material a place to tuck in when you crimp.
Maybe you miss typed but I didn't follow the 2.015 number. You want a good crimp to help the powder burn fully and prevent bullet setback from recoil or thru the action of chambering.

Welcome to the Henry Forum from Va.! I load and shoot .45-70 also.

[BigAl52]

My first question would be what is the OAL of the case itself. Ive never had a OAL issue with that bullet if the case is the correct trimmed length.

[45seventy]

The oal is 2.005". I thought that was way too short. I trimmed brass right to what the manual says.

[fortyshooter]

The oal is 2.005". I thought that was way too short. I trimmed brass right to what the manual says.

Holy cow! I don't know how you ended up with a .45-70 round that is only 2 inches plus 5 thousandths of an inch long???
Most all 45-70 is going to be in the 2.500 ( 2 1/2) inch long and longer depending on bullet.

I would NOT shoot those short rounds until you go back over your loading info! Do you have a loading manual?

The .45-70 case is not perfectly straight wall...it has a slight taper from bottom to top.

Again for your safety don't shoot those rounds!

[fortyshooter]

I just checked that Hornady 350 gr. bullet load in my Lyman 49th and max load for Winchester and Marlin rifles is 41.5 gr. of 4198 powder at 2.550 COL.
AT 2.005 IN COL YOU NOW HAVE A SHOOTER AND RIFLE DESTROYING HAND GRENADE.... DO NOT SHOOT THOSE!!

Check your powder...there is IMR 4198 and an H 4895!!!

[bdbrown66]

OP, you have some serious issues with these loads. DO NOT shoot them!! Pull the bullets, and then get all your questions answered before you load the next batch.

[Cofisher]

Al asked for case length, not oal.

[JEBar]

Holy cow! I don't know how you ended up with a .45-70 round that is only 2 inches plus 5 thousandths of an inch long???

Could they be Hornady LeverRevolution cases

[BigAl52]

If you have those trimmed to 2.005 they are way to short. The correct trimmed length is 2.095 and 55 gr of IMR 4198 is 10 grains over max for that load. Like Forty and others have said if you shoot that load you will blow up the gun you say you love. DONT SHOOT THOSE LOADS

[BigAl52]

MAX LOAD IN HORNADY MANUAL IS 45.3 GRAINS OF IMR 4198

[fortyshooter]

OK... The way it was worded I thought he was meaning the OAL of the complete round. Hope it just the case length!
The Hornady Flex Tip cases are shorter at 2.030