Where on earth do I find some .35 Winchester brass?! Can it be made from any other brass? I thought .405 Winchester brass would work, but the rim thickness on a 405 is alot thicker than a .35, enough to perhaps make it unuseable. Any ideas? Thanks!

Old friend, retired gunsmith, gave me a Lyman/Ideal manual from the 1950s many years ago. I noted that the .405 is on the rim of the .30/40 Krag and the .303 British. A bit longer. As I recall the .35 Winchester was listed but I did not study it. It was my understanding that it was the .405 necked down in the beginning anyway. And that the rim would be the same for all of these. So it is my guess that you could make "short" cases blowing out .303's. I thought necking down the .405 would work, but not first time I may have been wrong. Huntingtons.com, the RCBS custom shop, should know and be able to furnish the form dies. Ch4d.com too. Luck.

The "cheat" here is to look at the shell holder. If it is listed for both .405 and .35WCF then necking down .405 should work. If not, look at other cases listed. I think the .30/30 case, ancient case, was in .35 briefly... maybe not made public. You might be looking for something else. .33 WCF was on .45/70 as I recall and .348 is on the .50/70 rim. .40/65 on .45/70. etc.

Good idea on that "cheat" for the shellholders...I'll look into that! Thank you!

try buffalo arms, ten x ammo. quality cartridges, midway. both cases and loded ammo

Thank you nwtradegun, I checked all those places and they have what I'm looking for.

According to " The handloader's manual to cartridge conversions " . Make from 45-70 Gov't . You need a form die or an intermediate die such as the 40-65 Win . Anneal the case . Run into either the form die or 40-65 F/L size in 33 WCF die. Trim to length and chamfer.

I'd throw that book in the trash BenT, the .35 Winchester cannot be made from 45/70 brass, not even close.

Here is what I am trying to "feed", a 1905 vintage 1895 Winchester (.35 WCF):

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k204/desertoakie/189535wcf0.jpg

Looks like 30/40 Krag would be your best bet. It is .101" too short but the .35 Winchester has such a long neck I doubt that 1/10 inch would pose any problem.
"Buffalo Arms Company" lists .35 Winchester loaded ammo at $65.00 per box of 20 and .35 Winchester empty brass "reformed from more readily available cases" at $25 per box of 20. I would bet those are also reformed from 30/40 Krag but by the time you figure the cost of obtaining 30/40 brass and the bother of reforming it I think I'd rather buy it from Buffalo Arms. http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/4,176.html

now thats one fine lookin 1895

Here's a box of original .35 Winchester Ammunition at auction.
Not much time left......
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=137431801
http://pics.gunbroker.com/GB/137431000/137431801/pix339536265.jpg
http://pics.gunbroker.com/GB/137431000/137431801/pix339535937.jpg

John

you could also try these guys:

http://www.aco4u.com/ammo/