[shjoe]

can 45 long colt sizing die be used to neck size only martini henry cases? thanks.

 

[acmech]

You'd be sizing the neck down a lot with a 45lc die, It'd probably be just as bad or worse for the cases. As you know, a 45lc bullet is .452 and the Martini is .468 to .470.

 

[David Kaiser]

To neck size only, use a .480 Ruger sizing die without the expander. Since the chamber drawings show a taper from .506" to .504" at the case mouth, this die should work on most 577-450 fired case necks.

David

 

[richardwv]

To add to the above, it depends what rifle you are sizing for. Nepal's Gahendra with its tight bore uses smaller bullets and the .45 would work. Keep in mind that neck sizing only works if you only are sizing for one rifle. Particularly with the official variations in the MH chambers over their production life, interchangability btwn rifles using neck sized cases is highly problematic.

 

[shjoe]

i fire formed a couple of CBC cases using 75grs FG, tissue paper, COW and a greased veggy wad. inside neck diameter of fired cases measured .480. i have .468 paper patched 500gr cast bullets which i think, should fit well after neck sizing only with a 480 ruger die. i will try to duplicate the original loading with a slightly compressed 85gr charge.

 

[X-Ring Services]

I use a .480 Ruger FLS die to neck size my .577/.450 (Magtech) cases, & find they grip a .468" diameter bullet nicely afterwards. I bought the sizer body only (no internals or lock ring) from Lee Factory Sales.
You won't be able to compress an 85gn powder charge in the .577/.450 case. Your best bet is to use a fiber filler like dacron. I use 3.3gns over 85gns of Kik 1.5Fg, & it comes to about half way up the case neck.

 

[shjoe]

my CBC cases resized close to 468 using the 480 ruger sizer, but i had to paper patch my .468 bullets to make it a snugg fit. havent tried dacron filler yet. mine have COW and tissue paper to take up some space. i will have to give a range report when i am done testing. thanks!

 

[Odessa Straight]

I use a .45 Colt die to neck size for my Martini. of course, it's in W.R. Carbine #1 and uses .458 bullets. I do have a 3 die set in .45-75 WCF (which works great for the W.R.) and use the expander die from it.
I did learn to use a bushing placed over the case for consistent neck sizing depth. I cut and tried a short length of discarded garden hose until I came upon the perfect length to size the neck down to the shoulder. The top of the die contacts the garden hose bushing which acts as a stop to prevent the shoulder from being pushed back.