40-85

Ballards

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davelarue
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Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 4:11 pm
Location: Northern New Hampshire

40-85

Post by davelarue »

Does anyone shoot, or know somebody that shoots a 40-85, or 40-90 Ballard? My computer's barely limping along. I can't find anything except dies at Huntington's for $170. Cartridges of the World says it should be possible to make cases from .444. That seems awfully short.
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marlinman93
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Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: 40-85

Post by marlinman93 »

It's not a lot of help, but Buffalo Arms sells them for $164. Yes, you can make them from .444 cases, but they will also be very short, so I'm not sure how well they'd shoot, even with the bullet seated way out! Best source of great brass of correct length is Rocky Mountain Cartridge. Dave Casey can build them for less than what you will pay for Bertram in the .40-90 Sharps Straight, and they would need trimming down to work.
Marlin lever actions 1870's-WWI, Ballards, and single shot rifles!
Hunt4em
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Location: SW,Mo.

Re: 40-85

Post by Hunt4em »

The .444 case will also cause extraction problems as the rim is not the same diameter. I have a #5 that "IF" ever I get caught up on all my other prodjects, I hope to chamber to .40-85. Keep us posted!
John

P.S. Glad to see someone else has an interest in the .40-85 Ballard. Have you read the comments in Dutcher's book about the .40-85/.40-90? That's what stired my interest in this old cartridge.
rwnblack
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Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2010 9:11 pm

Re: 40-85

Post by rwnblack »

I purchased a Pacifiv in 40-85 and am having alot of fun shooting it. I use 9.3x74r cases with the neck expanded to fit the bullet. Fireformed with a full charge of black and a 400 gr bullet. The thing is deadly accurate with 66 gr of 1 1/2 swiss under a 400 gr lyman bullet sized to 0.409.
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marlinman93
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Re: 40-85

Post by marlinman93 »

rwnblack wrote:I purchased a Pacifiv in 40-85 and am having alot of fun shooting it. I use 9.3x74r cases with the neck expanded to fit the bullet. Fireformed with a full charge of black and a 400 gr bullet. The thing is deadly accurate with 66 gr of 1 1/2 swiss under a 400 gr lyman bullet sized to 0.409.
Glad this old post was revived, as since my previous post I also ended up with a gorgeous Pacific in .40-85 Everlasting. The bore is as minty as the exterior, and was an easy gun to get shooting well! I am using two different donor brass cases. The 9.3x74R is a very reasonably priced donor, and easy to expand to .40 and fire form. But rims are small, and I have to be careful chambering to make sure the rim doesn't slip past the extractor. But they fire and extract just fine!
The better case for me is the .45-90 Win. brass that is quite long, and needs to be annealed to size down, but not much fire forming needed, and chambering is a dream with a perfect rim size!

This is my Pacific when I bought it with a coating of old shellac all over the metal. Someone thought they'd protect it, and they certainly did!

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After 7 hours of cleaning!

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Marlin lever actions 1870's-WWI, Ballards, and single shot rifles!
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