Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR The 40-65 spoke with authority.

Cast you some Lyman snover bullets from 20-1 seat those over a .030 fiber wad, and 60 gr. of Olde Eynsford 2f. Prime the cases with rp 9 1/2 primers.

Nice looking rifle, seems very practical. and the knife is????

I had the knife custom made about 10 years ago. A fellow by the name of Scott Black in Mississippi under the name Copperhead Forge.

So far I have everything but the molds and I am actively looking for those...

Yeah, always have liked the 1886's/M71's But nice ones have always been more than I wanted to spend. How hard to disassemble are the 1886 actions - as far as making sure they are free of BP residue?

Still no flies ...after all these years.

I had a model 1886 45-70 that had obviously been bored out from the original 40-82. In a fit of stupidity, not uncommon to me, I traded it off. Years later, I had a chance at it again, but some [bleep] had redone the stock and reblued it, etc. It didn't even need it. It was overpriced and I passed. It was a good shootin' gun.

Tex, I bought a 1892 year model '86 Winchester in 45-70, it has the blackpowder chamber, leade and twist, I couldn't detect any blackpowder residue in it's workings, never had cause or the talent to dissassemble the action.

That being said, 500 gr Jerry Dean flat nosed greasers at 1237 fps are loaded to such pressure that the brass is only a bit dirty at the case mouth, I have no reason to believe, or haven't even seen any appreciable amount of fouling in the chamber, much less blowing back and down into the action workings.

Yes, I'd take that tang sight off and get a Smith Enterprises barrel sight from Buffalo Arms, Lyman makes a mould for their 400/415 gr flat nosed grease groove gullet, sorry I don't know the mould number but it's the same bullet I killed the three deer with in my 40-65.

Some 40 cal fiber wads from BA and some Schutzen or Swiss blackpowder in 2 or 3 FG, also have a 40 cal powder compression die in your die box, I'll handily kill my next Bison with my 40.

htredneck--The bullet molds you are looking for are the Lyman 410655 and the Lyman 403169. The 410655 is a 415 grain flatnosed bullet and the 403169 weighs 248 grains and is also a flatnose. Your smokeless load is 29 grains of 3031 and your black powder load is 60 grains of either 2f or 3f with either bullet. The little bullet is a stone cold killer, going 1498 with 2f black, and will shoot completely through a 5 inch diameter sweet gum tree at 50 yards. Recoil with this bullet and black is about like a Benjamin pump, and a deer or hog won't hold the bullet inside of 200 yards.

Enjoy your rifle.

I didn't think about the Smith Sights...good call! I was going to replace the peep with an MVA mid-range but I might actually like that option better. Thanks!

I have the 410655 mold, and a Saeco 740 is on the way. Still have to find the 403169 and the Saeco 640. RCBS apaprently makes a pretty good one as well. Since dies are kind of like ice cream flavors at Baskin Robbins, I wanted to slug the bore to see what it actually measured so I tossed a handful of round balls in the furnance and cast a few pure lead bullets using the 655 mold. Every one dropped at a solid 412.7 or 412.8 grains.

Using one of those bullets, the bore slugs at .408, and OAL should be 2.85 with the rifling engaged. The barrel is an 18" twist so I shouldn't have any problems with any of those weights. Now if the components would just get here so I can find out!

Get the Smith sight. If you are going to hunt, you will be making a serious mistake if you overlook the 403169. Your 18 twist will really make it come alive. The Saeco 740 and the 640 both fall far short of either of the Lyman flatnosed bullets for hunting. I have and have shot each of these different bullets, and you will be TIME and money ahead to get the two Lyman molds and forget the rest if you plan to hunt.

I plan on getting the 403169, I am just waiting and hoping to find one used instead of buying a new one somewhere. There is a gunshow next weekend I am going to check first if I don't find one anywhere else. If those fail to pan out, I will part with the cash for a new one.

HTRN, as Sharpsguy says, the Smith sight is a wonder onto itself, I mounted one on my '86 Turnbull 50-110 WCF, it fires a 680 gr flat nosed greaser at, IIRC 1240 fps with blackpowder.

I brought the rifle to Sharpsguys place, he made me a copper penny front sight, then we headed to his range, I was busting steel animal silhouettes at 100, 150 and even a gong at 200 yards right off the bat, no way in hell I could shoot a lever action like that without a bit of guidance from Sharpsguy and the Smith sight.

My rifle has the crescent steel butt plate, 40-60 rounds from a bench ain't happening, but, for a hunting rifle, it's readily adjustable to shoot and kill out to 200 yards post haste.

Come D&E [dark and early] Sat morn the little 40 and me will be back over in Ar ready to fill my last buck tag, somethings gonna get hammered, I can feel it.

Hey Woody, my cell phones jacked worse than obongos foreign policy, got some kind of jumbled text from you.

Good luck!
I got my dies today finally so I can make some ammo and get mine making noise soon!

Good deal, you're gonna like that little boomer.

I'm starting to have a change in plans, fooled with my original '86 in 45-70 last night, it's probably gonna get the nod for this last hunt over in Arkansas.

I'm hunting a buck in extreme cover, shot will be very close if at all, so won't be needing the ranging capabilities of a Sharps, a 500 gr Jerry Dean flat nosed greaser at 1236 fps powered by 3F KIK black powder wont be recovered either.

My God Man! Thats exceeding the speed of sound!