Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

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Stevie
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Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Stevie »

I bought a box of Winchester brand .44-40 cowboy ammo the other day just to plink with and refresh my reloading brass. That's really the first box of .44-40 ammo I've seen in a store! Pricy stuff at $42 a box..but then I think I had paid just under $40(per box) plus freight for a couple boxes of PCI .44-40 lead ammo(Star-Line brass).

The Winchester ammo is rather interesting...has the long bottleneck to the brass which the new PCI ammo lack and my loading dies don't produce. The new brass(I guess it's new brass?) also had quite a few dents and dings in the neck area which appeared to have been there when Winchester polished the brass. The box says it's 225gr bullets which I thought an odd weight for factory .44-40 bullets but maybe Winchester uses the same slugs in .44 Special/.44 Mag cowboy ammo. The box says it's low recoil ammo and the velocity printed on the box was pretty mild..like 700 something feet per second. I would guess that velocity is likely from a handgun length barrel.

So how is the Winchester .44-40 brass? I've been loading Remington and Star Line brass...The Remington brass being used and free..the Star Line once fired. Have lost a few Remingtons to neck splits...and ruined some Star Line cases trying to get a super-duper crimp on jacketed bullets. Don't think I have any Winchester .44-40 brass at all besides this new ammo.

What do you think about the dents and dings on the new Winchester ammunition? I don't think there are any that won't iron out when fired...however I'm used to new ammo looking like new ammo!

Thanx..Stevie
Pete44ru
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Pete44ru »

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IIRC, Winchester brass is notorious for it's thin .44-40 (and maybe .48-40) case mouths, often folded/destroyed during reloading if sufficient care is not taken.


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jnyork
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by jnyork »

I have been reloading Starline brass like forever, they keep going and going and going.....................
Tanqueray
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Tanqueray »

I've been using Winchester 200gr super-x ammo in my 44WCF, as I don't yet have a die set for it. I too noticed that some of the cases were dented from new, but they seemed to fire form themselves and blow the dents out after being shot.
If I remember reading correctly, starline has the thickest wall, and subsequently is the most forgiving when seating bullets. Winchester and RP cases have thinner walls, so take more care, but also have slightly more powder capacity. There's always a trade off...
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ollogger
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by ollogger »

I use rem. - win & starline brass, in a colt & a marlin 1894, prefer the win in the tight colt cylinder
I use a lee factory crimp die on my loads all with cast bullets or jacketed, as long as I bell the case enough I have no problems
some cases have up to 10 loads on them & all looks good



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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by M. M. Wright »

I like Starline, works in my Uberti 73s and my Colt SAAs. Winchester is thin enough to work in the Colts too but Remington isn't. But then I load .429 bullets. I use the expander plug from a set of 44 Mag dies and the Lee FCD. Actually most anything will chamber and fire in the Ubertis but the old Colts have very tight chambers and of course were meant for smaller bullets. I'm sure the Winchester brass will serve you well. Oh, I load on a Dillon 550 and though I go very slowly when loading ffg for myself, I speed way up loading for the wife since she uses smokeless. I seldom ruin a case, even when going full speed. Lose most of them from being stepped on at cowboy action matches.
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Stevie
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Stevie »

I don't own a .44-40 revolver...just Winchester type rifle and carbines. My old Winchester src is 'special' as it leads bad with any of several lead bullets I've tried. That carbine has a pretty tuff bore though. I've been loading 200gr jacketed bullets over Trail Boss and the carbine shoots pretty fair with that combination. Loading for the Winchester carbine is where I ruined a number of Star Line brass trying to get a tight enough crimp with my Lee dies. A Redding 'profile crimp die has more or less resolved that issue.

My other .44-40 long arms and an old Winchester M1892 sporting rifle and Rossi '92' carbine. Not much issue with these two guns and I shoot lead from these. It's strange that the Rossi carbine has a bore diameter of .427/.428" and the Winchester rifle is .430" yet both shoot the same lead bullet loads perfectly without any leading issues.

I checked out Winchester .44-40 online at Winchesters ammunition pages...they show 750fps out of a rather short vented test barrel(like 4"!)...They still list a 200gr jacketed Super-X load at rifle velocities. Have not seen these available anywhere in person or at my normal online ammo venders.

Hopefully the Winchester brass will be fine for me. I cannot fault it 'cause I have not shot the ammo yet to get the brass!
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Sixgun »

Shooting a couple of thousand rounds a year .....of the 44-40...and I used to shoot lots more........ there is little difference in any of the major brands...difference, yes......nothing to write home about. For over 40 years I have been totally happy with any of the major brands. Just shoot and enjoy.....don't think.---6
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Stevie
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Stevie »

I got my work done early yesterday so decided to shoot some .44-40 from my older Rossi carbine. I have a fair stockpile of reloaded ammo with Missouri Bullet Company 200gr lead over Trail Boss to shoot up. I 'cherry picked' ten of the worst dinged/dented Winchester cartridges to shoot as well.

Not much to say about any of it as far as function and accuracy with the Rossi M92. I own no chrono but the Winchester cowboy ammo seemed at least as warm as my 200gr lead/Trail Boss loads. I did think the Winchester 225gr shot just a bit higher and that the Winchester bullet was probably softer lead than Missouri Bullet Co's bullet. I recovered a couple of each bullet from the back stop(plus fragments of some slugs)...doesn't appear the Winchester bullets have any lube grooves...and that the Winchester bullet is capable of mushrooming beautifully...

As far as the Winchester dinged/dented/damaged factory brass...I only saw one of the ten rounds fired that had damage that might effect case life. That particular case had damage to the mouth area that looked to me like a loaded round was dropped hard on rough concrete..or a loaded round was stepped on on rough concrete....though the bullet itself didn't appear like that. Can't prove it...but I've about come to the conclusion the Winchester factory ammo is in recycled brass. Not sure how there would be so much dents/dings/damage to the brass otherwise???...Sort of weird...my .44-40 brass stash is clean and relatively damage free and I know its all been reloaded several times.
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by w30wcf »

Stevie,
The Winchester Cowboy lead bulleted ammunition clocked 991 f.p.s from my rifle's 24" barrel.
dissected cartridges contained an average of 4.8 gs of a small disc type powder.
The bullet hardness was 7 bhn.

The Winchester jacketed 44-40 ammo clocked 1,137 f.p.s.
I have found Winchester to work as well as Starline in my experience.

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GunnyMack
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by GunnyMack »

You should have taken some pictures, called Winchester customer support and alerted them about the damaged cases- the manufacturers don't like it when we are unhappy- I'd bet they would have replaced that box of ammo. Federal has sent me shotgun shells, split brass on new ammo, .22's that didn't go off.
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Stevie
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Stevie »

Oh..I don't usually find much to gripe about on new commercial ammunition. I just thought it odd Winchester would turn-out new ammo in doinked-up cases. I'm not going to gripe to Winchester about it...I'm going to shoot the stuff up and use the brass!
coyote nose
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by coyote nose »

I'm just grateful that 144 years after Winchester came out with that round they are still loading for it! Now if only a limited run of 44 Henry rimfire....... And if the boys at remington would do a run of my other favorite rimfire, 5mm!
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Stevie
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Re: Winchester .44-40 brass/ammo?

Post by Stevie »

Somebody made a run of 5mm Remington not too long ago. Probably Aguila..but may have been Remington or CBC?

I own a Winchester Model 1903 .22 auto rifle....22 Winchester Automatic is the chambering...and I have not had much issue finding and buying that stuff...Aguila makes it in brown boxes.. and I got a brick of it that Aguila made for 'Old Western Scrounger'...plus some that's just marked Aguila.

Might check with Old Western Scrounger about 5mm Rem ammo. It has been available in the not too distant past(like a couple years ago)
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