Question on .45 Bell Basic Brass & a long chamber

[Ray Newman]

Question on .45 Bell Basic Brass & long chambers

Colleagues: I have a .45-2.4" that apparently has a long chamber. By my measurement, it is approx. 2.445" long. Am going to make another chamber cast so one or two others can measure it.

The .45-2.4" brass that I now have, BA stretched .45-2.1" , is 2.395" -  2.40" long. The rifle leads & for obvious reasons.

I have a cache of  .45 Bell Basic Brass -- 3.25" long & was thinking about have it cut down to as long as possible & still chamber in the rifle.

But my question is about wall thickness. If the brass is trimmed down, would I run the risk of running into a much thicker wall & possible inside turning? Trying to keep this as simple as possible.

I shot some Bell Basic trimmed to fit another .45-2.4" barrel about 20 years ago, but I can't recall just how thick the wall was.

Anyone have any insight, ideas, experience, etc.?

I would like to avoid the custom brass if I could.

[crow_feather]

I am not that experienced but I do not believe that the wall thickness of brass 45-70 cases changes much that close to the end of the case.  The logical answer is cut a case an measure the wall thickness.  I believe that BELL makes their cases knowing that some will be cut down to shorter sizes.

Best of luck

C F

[quickdtoo]

I just happened to section a Bell 45 basic case recently, it definitely thickens progressively towards the web. As near as I can measure with a digital caliper, it's .024" thick at 2.4", compared to .011" at the mouth.

Tim