A 45 Colt can't beat a 44-40....

[hightime]

I don;t realy know, but I've been told that a 45 c won't seal the chamber as well as the 44-40. Is this true? I know that my 44-40 does shoot well, the gun in my avitar. I have struggled to get the 45 Colt up to standards.
I have also heard that 44-40's hard a bit hard to reload. Thin walled. Is that true? I have not tried to reload the 44-40, but I'd like to. Or should I just forget it? Anyone reload 44-40 here? How's it going?

Owen

[2ndovc]

.44WCF is just like the .38WCF, 32WCF and the .25WCF. Patience and attention to detail.
Brass is delicate but,
Take it slow, put a good bell on the case mouth and carefully seat the bullet.
Starline brass is a little thicker and easier to work with.

The .32-20 is what got me interested in reloading. Too expensive to buy factory.

That and the .44 are two of my favorites.

jb

Almost forgot... The .45 colt can be loaded Way hotter than the .44WCF.

[J Miller]

I don;t realy know, but I've been told that a 45 c won't seal the chamber as well as the 44-40. Is this true? I know that my 44-40 does shoot well, the gun in my avitar. I have struggled to get the 45 Colt up to standards.
I have also heard that 44-40's hard a bit hard to reload. Thin walled. Is that true? I have not tried to reload the 44-40, but I'd like to. Or should I just forget it? Anyone reload 44-40 here? How's it going?

Owen

If you use standard pressures in normal .45 Colt brass it will seal the chambers. It is not the same shape as a 44-40 so it does need to keep the pressure at least up around 14,000 PSI. Light loads such as cowboy loads will pepper you and the innards of the rifle with unburned powder and blow by badly.

I have 44-40 dies. I've loaded only a few. Never found those I loaded any more difficult than straight walled cases.

I have two .45 Colt rifles. I've had a total of 5. Of those 5 three were junk from the start. Each for different reasons. Only one was junk due to being inaccurate. I didn't keep it long enough to diagnose it's problems.

My suggestion to you about your .45 Rifle is to send it back and ask for a replacement. Start with a new slate and go from there.

Although the .45 Colt started out in life as a black powder revolver cartridge, it has evolved far past that in the last 114 years.

Joe

[tman]

Back in the 1900's the 44-40 was factory loaded to 2000fps. These were rifle ballistics and discontinued after shooters were loading these rounds in 1873 colt single actions

[Buck Elliott]

When the old .45 Colt "grew up" it was called the .454 Casull... No problem sealing chambers there...

At "normal" pressures, the .44 WCF has a slight, but meaningless advantage, because of physics and geometry. A bottle-necked cartridge, pushing against a "shoulder" in the chamber, creates a better seal than a straight-walled case in a straight chamber... Millionz of shooters blaze away with .45 Colts, .44 or .357 magnums, without complaint or difficulty..

Most brands of .25-20, .32-20, .38-40 and .44-40 brass tend to be thinner and weaker at the case mouth than the straight-walled cases of the .45 Colt, .357, .44 mag, etc..

Take a little extra care loading the bottle-necked numbers, and all will be well... Get careless, and you'll have crumpled necks and collapsed shoulders -- not a pleasant circumstance..

[hfcable]

if you want to load a lot of 44/40, and you dont have a bigger fancier progressive,try something like the Dillon square deal B
once i set mine up i found it a load easier to load 44/40 than with my other gear, and could go faster and still only lose an occasional case [ from not paying attention ]

[gundownunder]

I don't reload a 45 but I do reload a 32-20 and 357 and I understand the 44-40 is easier than the 32-20. As has been said, care and attention to detail is required so you don't dent and crush cases.

In modern rifles designed to contain the pressures (not the 73), the 45 can be pushed to surpass the 44 magnum and I've read reports that say the 44-40 can come pretty close to it, although brass life would suffer in both, because the 45 commonly has oversize chambers to allow easy chambering and the 44-40 has that slight bottle neck and thin brass.

If you are getting blow by you are not getting enough pressure. If you have an oversize chamber your case may need to expand up to 10 thou or more to cause a seal if you start with SAMMI spec brass.
There are three ways to fix it,
1, use more powder
2, change to a powder that generates more pressure.
3, If you keep your rifle brass separate from revolver brass you would do well to only neck size it so that the body of the brass only needs to expand a couple thou in future.

If you haven't already read them, here are a couple of articles that make for good reading
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/4440.htm
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/ ... vergun.htm

[Griff]

I don;t realy know, but I've been told that a 45 c won't seal the chamber as well as the 44-40. Is this true? I know that my 44-40 does shoot well, the gun in my avitar. I have struggled to get the 45 Colt up to standards.
I have also heard that 44-40's hard a bit hard to reload. Thin walled. Is that true? I have not tried to reload the 44-40, but I'd like to. Or should I just forget it? Anyone reload 44-40 here? How's it going?
Owen

In rifles chambered for the .45Colt that's marginally true. Due in no small part to the fact that manufacturers use max or near max chamber dimensions to aid feeding in repeaters in this cartridge. Do they need to? Probably not, but... it might reduce bullet selection somewhat. For a reloader, that ain't a problem, but for then what onnly buy ammo... maybeso.

In BP, use 3F, 225-250gr bullets, make a nice crimp in the groove, anneal about the top 1/3 of the case (mouth), use a good BP lube and you should be able to put the lie to those rumors. Now, thasaid; I have 2 Uberti toggle-links in 1873 rifle and a Henry. The 1873 will go 100-120 rounds before the lifter starts guys P fouling). The Henry will bind inside 40 rounds. Why? 1) The 1873 has a much looser lifter. 2) The 1873's mortise is more polished. And I haven't polished the mortise or relieved the lifter on the Henry... YET!

Many of the rumors about reloading the .44WCF are based in truth. But, knowing enough guys that reload it with no more trouble than my .45s, those withe "issues", it's their own doing. Good equipment, in good repair, properly adjusted, good technique, quality components and a modicum of care will yield good quality ammo... regardless of cartridge design. Methinks those "truths" are not so much the cartridge's fault... but those that "think" they know how to reload and don't really take the care they should. But, HEY! That's just MY opinion!

[hightime]

All good to know. For right now, I think I'll leave the 44- 40 alone. Most of you say there's no big problems in reloading it, but I don't see a big need to take on another challenge either.

Thanks for the reading Bob.

Owen

[Richardx]

I load various .45 colt loads for CAS and hunting and have used it in various '73s and '92s and I keep waitng for all this blow back.
Does it come after 20 years or when?

[hfcable]

I load various .45 colt loads for CAS and hunting and have used it in various '73s and '92s and I keep waitng for all this blow back.
Does it come after 20 years or when?

oh, nooo!!! it is accumlating !!!! one day you may have catastrophic blowblack! like those old oil wells......could even take out this board.....[shudder]

[3leggedturtle]

I load various .45 colt loads for CAS and hunting and have used it in various '73s and '92s and I keep waitng for all this blow back.
Does it come after 20 years or when?

6 posts and you already have the sarcasm down Welcome aboard . Personally I think 32/40 cant beat a 32WS. But cant imagine owning either one. Rather have a 38/40. I have noticed with Starline Brass and less than medium loadsit takes 2-3 firings b4 the spitting stops. I only size the first 3/8th's inch of the case. Cuz my Puma has the bulge at the base.

[hightime]

I've adopted the half sizing thing myself for the 45 C. For half sizing In don't need to lube the cases either. Just the thin walled ones R & P. Any less than half sizing and the bullets could push into the brass in a tube mag. At least that's what I have found.

Owen

[Batman1939]

Take a little extra care loading the bottle-necked numbers, and all will be well... Get careless, and you'll have crumpled necks and collapsed shoulders -- not a pleasant circumstance..

Kinda sounds like I've felt when stepping off a curb unexpectedly Buck

[gundownunder]

I think Hightime just supplied the missing part of the equation.

Any less than half sizing and the bullets could push into the brass in a tube mag.

Where is the crimp that would prevent the bullet pushing back into the brass and would also increase pressures enough to seal the case into the chamber and prevent all that blowback?

[hightime]

Yeah, I didn't think that one through. A few days ago when thumbing in a bullet , it slid in too far. Come to think of it, I'll bet that was a Rem/Peters brass and they are thinner walled.

Owen

[Leverdude]

44/40 poses no trouble to reload for me. I was ready for nightmares but they never materialized.

[blackhawk44]

The only problem I have loading .44 WCFs is the noise... as they rattle out of my Dillon 550.

[M. M. Wright]

Yeah blackhawk44, me too. And I'm using ffg in that Dillon powder measure.