The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Apart from being an obsolete calibre does anyone know anything about the .45-75? I would assume Kranks would hold the brass and dies are still available.

Do we have any forum members shooting this cartridge?

45-75 Sharps or 45-75 Winchester?

http://www.chuckhawks.com/buffalo_cartridges.htm

http://www.jamisoninternational.com/pro ... 575wcf.htm

http://members.shaw.ca/cartridge-corner/idpics.htm (pic 14)

.45-70 Sharps is identical to .45-70 Govt and I don't think that is an obsolete caliber.

There is loads of data out there using powders from Alliant 2400, to Trailboss for light loads, to IMR4198 and a couple of Accurate rifle powders. New brass is available as are dies and there are even a couple of US custom ammo producers making factory ammo. And, brand new guns, particularly replicas of Wincher's 1876 are being chambered in it.

All of the above is thanks to the rise of CAS (Cowboy Action Shooting in the US, Canada and Australia) More and more old, long forgotten calibers are being given a new lease of life, unfortunately, I reckon the knock on in the UK will be the demise of "obsolete calibers" and the repeal of S58(2)........

I have even seen newly manufactured cases in the US that allow you to bring old rimfire calibers .32 and .38 back to life! The primer pocket is on the rim. Granted, the cartridges have to be "placed" correctly in chambers, but at least they can be shot again....

Apologies, I should have made it clearer. My above post is concerning .45-75 WCF.

The Sharps /Govt reference at the begining may have confused things. Identical cartridges were sometimes named differently by companies as a marketing exercise, but essentially were the same. 45-70 Government and .45-70 Sharps or .38-55 Winchester and .38-55 Marlin...... Hence that .45-70 Sharps may not be available and has not been for well over 100 years a rifle in that caliber would not be obsolete because .45-70 Government is widely available.

Confusing isn't it? A couple of friends of mine have been caught out importing "obsolete calibers" from the US due to obscure nomenclature....

Sim G wrote:Apologies, I should have made it clearer. My above post is concerning .45-75 WCF.

The Sharps /Govt reference at the begining may have confused things. Identical cartridges were sometimes named differently by companies as a marketing exercise, but essentially were the same. 45-70 Government and .45-70 Sharps or .38-55 Winchester and .38-55 Marlin...... Hence that .45-70 Sharps may not be available and has not been for well over 100 years a rifle in that caliber would not be obsolete because .45-70 Government is widely available.

Confusing isn't it? A couple of friends of mine have been caught out importing "obsolete calibers" from the US due to obscure nomenclature....

Yes it is confusing. Two of the links I posted are pictures of the brass. The winchester round is a bottleneck and the Sharps one is straight walled. According to Cartridges of the World both are loaded to 45-70 Govt levels. The Winchester round was designed for one of their lever guns. But essentially Sim is right regarding the Sharps and Govt being the same.

The one I saw advertised was a Winchester Model 1876 in .45-75.

Original or replica?

Original with 24" hex barrel

Firstly, that's got to be a pretty penny!!!!! Certainly not cheap are obsoltete calibered Winny's!

Anyway, if it was a planned purchase of mine, I'd go with IMR Trail Boss. It's a great powder for old cartridges. It was specifically designed to fill as much as possible cases which were originally designed for B/P. The grains are actually doughnut shaped!

14 to 16 grains of Trail Boss will give you around 1250 fps for a 350gn lead bullet. This load will have around a 70% case volume, There are some that have suggested, including "un-named" sources from IMR, that it was designed as a true black powder substitute without any of the cleaning as with the other substitutes, put gave dodgy pressures in some loadings, hence the advice now to treat it as a nitro powder in it's own right.

Aye, it is not a cheap thing and I certainly will not be buying but the principle is interesting, I do like the idea of an underlever and original is good as well, add obsolete and it ticks lots of boxes and also means that non FAC types can buy one and hang it on the wall so prices are sure to be high.

Sim, if I was to look for a period underlever what would be a good model/calibre to consider and at what sort of price?