Thread: 44-40 Reloading/Shooting

Originally Posted by Jhon

For case crimp?

You can crimp the case at base of bullet or half way up bullet.Early british case crimped body of case not at neck.
Early snider rounds had 3 crimps in case half way up bullet.Kynoch rounds for lever actions had crimp in case at base of bullet.

Originally Posted by Arthur McBride

Magnificent. I imagined a devise like that, made from a pipe cutter, but never got around to it.

Can you post a picture of a cartridge with a crimp from your device under the bullet?

Pipe cutter cutter needs teeth or some means to turn cases but is also used to put crimping groove in bullets.

Originally Posted by Arthur McBride

Winchester factory smokeless also had crimps at the base of the bullet. I used to have a box of Kynoch ammo like that, I used to wonder how old it was, I am pretty sure Kynoch originally went out of business in the late sixties.

Ted did you make that crimping roller device yourself?
I might have another try with the old pipe cutter idea...

Ha, please make 2 lol

Originally Posted by Arthur McBride

Winchester factory smokeless also had crimps at the base of the bullet. I used to have a box of Kynoch ammo like that, I used to wonder how old it was, I am pretty sure Kynoch originally went out of business in the late sixties.

Ted did you make that crimping roller device yourself?
I might have another try with the old pipe cutter idea...

Arthur. I had that picture stored away as I built similar units to Knurl bullets to hold paper patches and to provide for lube on smooth Prichard style bullets.These bullets [pictured] were cast at 300 grains and fired in a 44 mag using Lee Lube. I hope to adapt it or remake one to put grease grooves on these bullets to carry more lube.

Came across this excellent site dedicated to 44-40. Lots of info. Check out the Shooting Times Heavy Loads article - 44-40 matching/outperforming 44 Mag - at your own risk I have to say...

https://sites.google.com/view/44winchester/introduction

Interesting calibre, I take it my lyman Mold 429-244 would would make suitable bullets?

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

Interesting calibre, I take it my lyman Mold 429-244 would would make suitable bullets?

Possibly. I have some 240g .429 Hawke Targets loaded up ready to try but can't go anywhere to shoot them at the mo. Flick me a few of yours and I'll report back

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

Interesting calibre, I take it my lyman Mold 429-244 would would make suitable bullets?

You would need to be careful with that bullet in the 44/40 Lyman moulds with 429 000 are designed for the .44 Special and .44 Magnum
44/40 moulds are 427 000,
The 429 244 is a 255 grain bullet the heavy 44/40 bullets are 230 grains the length of the nose is the important part too long and it won't
feed or chamber, I have a mould designed for 44/40 pistol use it won't chamber in a rifle the front driving band is too long.

Originally Posted by Jhon

Possibly. I have some 240g .429 Hawke Targets loaded up ready to try but can't go anywhere to shoot them at the mo. Flick me a few of yours and I'll report back

Got any pictures of those bullets be interested to see what they look like.

Originally Posted by shooternz

Got any pictures of those bullets be interested to see what they look like.

Small pic top of this page
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/categ.../lyman-429-244

Originally Posted by Jhon

Came across this excellent site dedicated to 44-40. Lots of info. Check out the Shooting Times Heavy Loads article - 44-40 matching/outperforming 44 Mag - at your own risk I have to say...

https://sites.google.com/view/44winchester/introduction

Have any of you taken a look at this article "Heavy Loads" ? The repo quality is poor so I painstakingly recreated the load data presented in a Word.docx table. If you would like it PM me with your email.
If I read the article correctly it is basically saying any 44 Magnum Load is a candidate for the 44-40, bearing in mind the caveats around rifles - strong action M92 only - and bullets, that are suitable. I need to study it some more. At this point I'm not so sure I need to be chasing 2500 fps ( 160gn HP/33gns 2400). 1400fps is likely to kill anything I want at the ranges I will be shooting. Nevertheless, an interesting premise. Interested in your thoughts...

the 44magnum is one round that is ALWAYS being hotted up....often more than needed,its good as it is,why bother pushing it to edge and making stuff wear out faster,cant see pushing 44/40 being any different.

Apparently reloaders in the 20's and 30's often hotted the hell out of them which is not clever with a '92 action and plain insane with a '73. I seem to recall reading vels up to 1800fps with 200s but that was ages ago. My orig '92 just gets fed a mild load of 11.5grs of 540 which only gives about 1150fps with bulk 200gr jacketed projs. Those cases are totally unforgiving compared to about anything else.

Originally Posted by 6x47

Apparently reloaders in the 20's and 30's often hotted the hell out of them which is not clever with a '92 action and plain insane with a '73. I seem to recall reading vels up to 1800fps with 200s but that was ages ago. My orig '92 just gets fed a mild load of 11.5grs of 540 which only gives about 1150fps with bulk 200gr jacketed projs. Those cases are totally unforgiving compared to about anything else.

Did you read the article?

had quick search...it appears there are now newer stronger NON balloon head cases available so you could quite possibly beef up loads CAREFULLY.