any difference between 45-90 winchester bell and 45-90?

[1stregtengr]

Reloaders,
Lining up things for the arrival of my 45-90, Buffalo arms has a listing for 45-90 Winchester Bell as well as 45-90 winchester, is there any difference with the two cases? ALSO what is the preferred case Win, Starline or other? Which has the better consistancy? Also any suppliers that market Cases, dies etc other than the standard Midway etc would be welcome. Not new to shooting, just to the 45-90.
I have tons of experience with 45-70, Zip on 45-90, but love to shoot long range and decided to do the 45-90. looking forward to developing a load for my 30" heavy barreled #1 sporter.

Thanks again for all the advice..

tony

[Jubilado]

Here is my experience, FWIW. I have used two types of .45-90 (.45-2.4) brass from Buffalo Arms, the Remington stretched from .45-70 brass, and the Starline. Both are very good, but different. I believe that the brass they advertise as .45-90 Winchester is the stretched Remington, but check with BA. The designation can be confusing. The Remington brass has somewhat greater powder capacity than the Starline. It is perhaps a bit more user friendly as it is ready to load as you get it, meaning it needs no annealing. Starline brass is excellent, very uniform, but fairly hard as it comes to you. As you probably know, hard brass is a mixed blessing. It can be tricky to get the correct neck tension that you want. Some people anneal the necks of the Starline, either right away or down the road as it gets even more work hardened. I just fired off a lot of 100 of the Starline, and found that I couldn't finger seat a bullet in a fired unsized case, and even my .458 expander plug with a .461 bell section couldn't open the fired case enough to slip fit a bullet. So just this morning I went ahead and annealed a few rounds, ran them over the aforementioned expander plug (couldn't even feel it), and then a bullet finger seated quite easily. Obviously the annealing killed the spring-back in the neck area just enough. My chamber must be pretty tight, since the fired cases wouldn't accept a bullet without annealing and expanding. So your mileage may vary, depending the dimensions of your chamber and dies. It's been my experience that the Starline brass is a bit more of a hassle, but it may be worth it. Of course it is a bit more expensive than the stretched Remington, but not excessively so, IMO. Good luck! I really like my .45-90. It is a very versatile round.

Paul

[Jim Watson]

.45-90 Winchester Bell means .45-90 Winchester (.45x2 4/10 if you have a Sharps) cases made by Brass Extrusion Laboratories Limited.
Bell, a brand name. I don't know how they compare with Starline or the BA reformed .45-70 but it is another choice.

[shooter37]

OK... FWIW (again)
Bell no longer produces brass, anything you buy now sre "orphans" and likely you won't get many more.
Starline brass is "OK" but it is heavy and hard... need annealing up front.The Buff Arms stretched 45/70 cases (RP) work well. They are lighter (186 gr. vs 226 gr for Bells) and therefore will hold more powder.
They are also cheaper and AVAILABLE.
This works for both my Shiloh and my Hiwall.
Good Luck
Al.

[wardwarf]

i use the BA stretched and have had no problems (i'm not an experienced loader, nor do i load for match grade accuracy), but i have some bell brass from some preloads i got and the capicity difference is pretty significant....to have the same seating depth (and basically the same compression) as my stretched brass i need to reduce the charge by about 5 gr...

the bell is head stamped 45-90 though where the BA is stamped 45-70 if that matters to you....i only have a 45-90 so no chance for any confusion for me....

[HangfireME]

I'm in the same boat - getting stuff together in anticipation of my new .45-90. FWIW - I went with the stretched .45-70 and just marked the case heads with a colored marker to avoid confusion. At the time I ordered it, I wasn't feeling much like learning another new skill. Might be different now.