Hello gents! Been a while since I've been here- life DOES get hectic sometimes! Now that things have settled down here, I'm back to shooting on a regular basis.
This break from shooting has given me the luxury of digging FAR to the back of the gunroom and brushing the dust off some long-forgotten pieces.

Like my Winchester 1886 in .40-82.

I haven't touched this old girl in probably 15 years! You should've seen the dust!

The problem with shooting some of these oldies is that you forget what you shot in 'em, and that's the boat I'm in. I can't find dies in my reloading room for this- maybe I just :eek: bought ammo?

I guess I have to get geared up for this.

Has anybody got any suggestions on some loads for me? It's an early production rifle, 1895, so I have to be cautious about smokeless loads. And I no longer shoot black in any of my guns so I'm not in a hurry to get geared up for that.

Thanks for all your help guys. This is almost like getting a new gun!

pawnbroker:

the "Handloader's Manual of Cartridge Conversions" by John J Donnelly, lists the 40-82 Winchester on page 506.

It shows this caliber with a bore size of .406 and gives a load as follows;
bullet wt - 260 gr lead 28.0 grains 4198 powder - 1428 fps velocity.
In appendix II of "Why Not Load you Own" by Col. Townsend Whelen, 1951, he shows the 40-82 Winchester 260 grain load as having a bore size of .408. However, no load data is given.

Both brass and bullets can be purchased from Buffalo Arms, www.buffaloarms.com (http://www.buffaloarms.com) .

This is a very valuable rifle. If it is an early model made before nickel steel barrels were introduced, you will accelerate barrel wear if you use jacketed bullets.