Glock Talk banner

Reloading The .44-40 Winchester?

760 views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  mogollon 
#1 ·
I'm an experienced reloader and I'm thinking of reloading the .44-40 Winchester, mostly out of curiosity and nostalgia. I love the old west single actions and have a couple of Colt SAA's, Ruger Blackhawks and Uberti Cattlemans in 45 Colt.

I'd like to get a Uberti Cattleman in .44-40 and load for it.

Does anyone here load the .44-40?

I know I have to use non carbide steel dies and be careful not to collapse the case seating the bullet. Anything else I need to know?
 
#2 ·
I have loaded the 44-40 for several years. My dies are Lee and I don't use lube and have not needed it. The slight shoulder is simply bumped back at the top, and because it's tapered, there isn't any appreciable sizing issues.

I have a Cattleman for handgun and two rifles. Brass lasts a long time - you'll love it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JBnTX
#3 ·
I shot a henry in 44-40 for several years when i was doing cas. Rcbs dies, 0.428" lead bullets. Use enough flare or risk crushing the case. I also didnt need case lube, but oneshot wont hurt. Be sure you use the right size expander, too large & not enough neck tension.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JBnTX and Uncle Don
#4 ·
I have always wanted the Henry 1860. Mine are 1866 and 1878. Both are nice, but there is a certain romance to not having a grip on the front. Never shot CAS and probably never will, but still like the levers now. I've morphed to them and have essentially given up target rifle.

The 44-40 Lee dies have a powder through expanding die. Since I charge and flare at the same time, I load them on the Turret press just like handgun.

To the OP - don't be afraid of this cartridge, it's fun, cheap and easy to load.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fredj338 and JBnTX
#5 ·
Bullet diameter varies quite a bit through the manufactures,Uberti the producer of the cattleman tends to run .427-.428 for ideal use.
In the distant past when Ruger chambered their Vaqueros with chamber throats at .426-.427 with barrels measuring at .429-.430. SJ 40
 
#7 ·
Lots of info out there for loading the 44-40.

The brass is a bit thin at the mouth. Be extra careful when seating the bullet.

Slug your barrel to get the right diameter of cast bullet.

I have a 44 Magnum lever rifle and use a practice load that duplicates the original 44-40 load. No recoil and is a lot of fun to shoot. With a 200 gr cast .433 bullet at 1300 fps I get 1 inch groups at 50 yards, with a scope.
 
#8 ·
In revolvers, the biggest issue is that modern brass is much thicker at the case mouth than the original cases were. I pulled down some 1890s era black powder ammo and measured it. The case necks were .0055"-.0065" thick, and bullets were .425-.426" in diameter. Current production brass has a neck thickness of .009-.011". On some foreign revolvers, and 1st generation Colt revolvers, the chambers won't accept modern brass with a bullet larger than .426" diameter. Most will accept a .428" diameter bullet, but not all. I measured about 30 different cylinders once upon a time to see what the tolerances were.
The 44-40 rifles I measured, both original Winchesters as well as several modern foreign reproductions, would all accept a .429" diameter bullet in modern brass. I couldn't pin gage the chambers on rifles, but apparently a different reamer is used.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top