Originally Posted by comerade
I was surprised to see how much effort it took to break this bond with a
.277 caliber bullet
Next question- larger bullets have greater contact due to a larger surface are between bullet and cartridge case/neck. With a 45/70, has this bonding process ever caused failure with a firearm?
I am also a 45/70 user and ocassionally I here of rifle failures and it seems a mystery. Just wondering folks...Tony


I have never seen an issue in the 45-70. But I would point out that, while the surface area is somewhat greater, (depending on the bearing length of the bullet), it is actually less in the larger diameters relative to the surface area of the bullet's base so that plays into it I would imagine. I know that when interia-pulling bullets from loaded ammo, I'd much rather pound 300s out of 45-70 cases than 140s out of 6.5 Swede cases; the former being some of the easiest to pull, while the latter are some of the most difficult. (Of course, unlike with standard ignition bullet removal, interia pulling has nothing to do with bullet diameter.)

Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.