September 27, 2014

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Black Powder Life.... 

  Most problems which modern shooters experience with the .44-40 are caused by the lingering effects of black powder-era design practices, dimensions and tolerances.  Lyman’s #42798 is a copy of typical traditional .44-40 lead bullets.  It has two ample lubricating grooves which hold a generous amount of lubricant, needed to keep black powder fouling soft. It weighs 217 grains if cast in pure lead or about 215 grains in 1:40 tin/lead, my choice today in casting bullets intended for black powder cartridges.  Cast bullets of the black powder era did not require a crimp groove, because a compressed case full of black powder prevented bullets from telescoping into the case under magazine spring compression. Crimping the case mouth over the ogive was sufficient to prevent inertial dislodgement in revolvers, because .44-40 loads have milder recoil than their modern, smokeless powder, magnum counterparts.

Black Powder 44-40, 300 meters (video)

  The .44 W.C.F. cartridge was loaded with a 200 gr bullet beginning in 1873.   UMC’s .44-40-217 appeared in the mid to late 1880’s. The 1909 Winchester catalog stated a velocity of  1,245 f.p.s.  measured at  50 ft. from the muzzle.  In 1910, the cataloged velocity was changed to read 1,301 f.p.s., this time being corrected to muzzle velocity to get that nice marketable, larger number, which is so damned important! 

  John Kort performed testing of original blackpowder .44 W.C.F. cartridges, reprimed with fresh Remington 1 ½ primers which chronographed  1,319 f.p.s. in a 24” barrel.  [Bryan Austin], aka Savvy Jack, fired clear gel penetration tests (YOUTUBE VIDEO) with modern blackpowder handloads, using bullets provided by Kort, which I found interesting.  (see photos at bottom of page) Lyman #42798 bullets cast of pure lead, and also with 75/1 lead/tin alloy were loaded in modern Remington cases with Remington 2-1/2 primers and 36 grains of Swiss 2Fg, compressed 1/8”.  These were fired in a 24” Marlin rifle  and 7-1/2” Uberti Buckhorn revolver.  Remaining velocity at 50 yards for the rifle loads averaged 1162 fps.  The 75/1 bullets penetrated 27” of clear gel and expanded to .528”.  The pure lead rounds fired from the rifle penetrated 23” and expanded to .603”.  The handgun loads gave velocities from 941-963 fps at 10 ft., perforated and exited the 32” gel block!  Hollow-point bullets, similarly loaded, cast of 50/1 lead/tin penetrated 14” from the rifle, expanding the base to .58 cal. and blowing the expanded nose portion off in fragments.  Revolver penetration was 17-1/2” with the expanded nose also shedding in large chunks, but without expanding the base.  These would be very effective hunting loads!

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Smokeless Powder Life.....​

  According to Hatcher (1935) the standard smokeless .44-40 load was 16.8 grains of Hercules Sharpshooter, a versatile powder which gave acceptable results in either rifles or handguns.  Advertised handgun velocity from a 7-1/2” solid test barrel was 935 fps at 15,000 cup, with 385 foot-pounds of energy, giving penetration of seven, 7/8” pine boards.  A 200-grain FMJ flat-nose loaded during WW2, used a charge of 7 grains of Bullseye, generating 920 fps, and penetrating eight 7/8” pine boards. 

  Sharpe (1937) said of the .44-40, “when properly loaded, has more knockdown than the .30-30, being excellent for game up to deer.” 

  Keith, in Sixguns (1955) favored the .44 Special, but still had much to say of the .44-40. “….a handy combination to have a rifle and a sixgun which could use the same ammunition… But…“a real stinker to reload with anything other than standard-length bullets…

Complicating matters, “Colt revolvers being chambered long in the body, leave only a fraction of the original neck, so that excessive case sizing results in short case life… The case body being as large in diameter as the .45 Colt, necessitates thin chamber walls, which limit safe pressure….With heavier bullets the base is below the neck, into the powder space, if cartridges are kept at a length to feed in magazine rifles… 

  “While very good when properly hand loaded, the .44 Special and .45 Colt are much better, in being able to handle heavier bullets…. While the short, stubby .44-40 bullets are very accurate and have light recoil, therefore being favored by exhibition shooters such as the great Ashley Haines, they don’t have the penetration needed for big game …. But when loaded with 215 grain bullets and 18.5 grains of #2400 at 1200 fps, Keith said, it is “more powerful than, and a better killer than the .357 Magnum.” 

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Chamber Problems....​

  My high school classmate Dave Bryant, now of Butte, Montana, has been a great fan of the .44-40, since boyhood. He says, “Every Colt I ever slugged had a .427” groove diameter, but they all shot well, whether with the .44-40 or .44 Special cylinder in place. The only cast bullet I ever used was the Ideal #42798 RFN, 200 grains, plain based, from wheel weights. For any game that needed more bullet weight, (hence greater bullet length) it was always easier just to use the .44 Special cylinder, which I also had.  The longer frame window of your Ruger allows greater flexibility in cartridge OAL (up to 1.70”) than the Colt Single-Action. The biggest problem I’ve experienced with .44-40s in general is that chambers in old guns were so oversize that new tapered Starline cases come out like odd, bottleneck cases. It sure would be nice if somebody cutting new cylinders would dimension chambers so as to not allow cases to expand much beyond the dimensions of unfired, loaded factory ammo.  Best is to have loading dies custom made to not resize to factory taper, but just reduce the neck diameter enough to obtain adequate bullet pull.” 

“All of my .44 special and .44-40 lead bullets are sized either .429” or .430.”  Out of my best Colt (a 7 1/2" New Frontier w/ .427 groove diameter) all my loads were exceedingly accurate and worked great on Blacktail deer, porcupines, opossums, spruce grouse, coyotes, and jack rabbits. Increasing neck expansion for .429 jacketed bullets is OK, but in production I wouldn't advise anything bigger than necessary for safe clearance for projectile release.  S&W on the Model 29-5 (.44 Magnum) they put in very tight throats, designed  for jacketed bullets, which were very accurate, and didn't have any pressure problems. Mine is in 5" length. When living in Alaska, my bear load was a 320 gr LBT GC LFN and 22.0 grs of 296 sized .430. No problems with this load in the S&W .44 Magnum. 

“A concern with new production cylinders is that most new users will probably shoot .44-40 factory ammo. Severely undersized  factory .425-.427” bullets being shot in throats and chambers cut for .430 or larger .44 Magnum projectiles, is a recipe for poor accuracy.  Pre-WW2 revolvers having groove diameters of .424-.427” require chambers cut to Min. SAAMI dimensions for use with .427-.428" bullets, with cylinder throats not exceeding .428”.  Modern guns, such as Rugers, usually have barrels of .44 Magnum dimensions, with groove diameters of .429-.430”  need therefore chambers cut +0.002” over Min. SAAMI dimensions to provide safe release clearance for .430-.431” bullets, with .430” cylinder throats. Starline .44-40 brass has  0.007” mouth wall thickness, will accept .429” bullets in a Min. SAAMI chamber, and holds up very well to repeated reloading with ‘92 Winchester style .44-40 +P loads.“

An effective expedient, recommended by Kort, and with which I agree, is to grind about .10" off the base of the sizing die, to allow the case neck to be set back up to .40," to allow use of heavier bullets for hunting purposes, ensuring adequate base support. Sizing can then be adjusted as required for the particular bullet. Having this capability is also necessary when loading .44 Speer shot capsules in .44-40 cases, because the base plug-obturator, requires internal support from the case wall to prevent its being dislodged, to prevent spilling shot into the powder space. 

  The Lee Factory Crimp collet die is recommended to provide a suitably strong crimp, especially for lever-action rifles. The Lee FCD sizes the cartridge neck to 0.001-0.002” less than SAAMI Max. cartridge dimensions, which will size bullets over .429” by compression inside the case when loaded in Starline brass. The Factory Crimp Die will cold-form a crimp groove onto bullet to hold them in place when the chosen bullet has none. When a traditional blackpowder design, heeled, stop-ring bullet, such as Accurate’s 43-200Q http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-200Q-D.pngis used, the stop ring flange cold-forms to the die interior, producing a narrow band which seals the throat.  This works best with soft alloys.  When using wheelweights or harder, more consistent seating depth is obtained by sizing the 200Q nose to throat diameter, leaving the shank untouched, and seating in the conventional manner. 

  Current bullet designs favored by Cowboy Action Shooters are variants of the traditional Ideal #42798 or as it is called now by Lyman 427098. Accurate’s 43-220C is 427098 with a crimp groove added: http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-220C-D.png  Accurate’s 43-215C resembles 427098 with additional lube capacity for use with GOEX and other “more fouling black powders” – plus a crimp groove: http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-215C-D.png  Most commercial .44-40 Cowboy loads assembled using cast bullets the Magma Engineering bullet which has a crimp groove. Desperado bullets offers this bullet in a soft alloy with flat base, which SASS shooters feel is superior: http://www.cowboybullets.com/44-cal-200-grain_p_21.html  

  Fast powders help to upset undersized bullets. Trail Boss appears to have a quicker pressure rise, (according to a chart made by someone testing it in a .45-70) than even black powder. Kort found when testing different brands of Cowboy ammunition, that Hornady Cowboy ammo assembled a swaged 200 gr RNFP bullet produced throat leading in his Marlin ’94 Cowboy rifle. Pulled bullets measured .424” on the body and as small as .421” at the base, apparently being reduced from their original .427” diameter during the loading process. No wonder they leaded in his .4285” groove!  Kort reloaded the Hornady bullets over 6.5/Trail Boss, and got no more throat leading, with much better groups. Lesson learned.  

  I am a sucker for Ruger convertible single-actions. My favorite is a 4-5/8” in .45 Colt/.45 ACP. When I found a used .357/9mm in a local gunshop, I felt that a sturdy .38/.357 field gun, able to exploit windfall 9mm, was OK, because I had nothing in that caliber, but wanted “something.” I am not an autoloader guy. My hunting handgun is a 5-1/2” .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk with steel XR3 grip frame. Its only “fault,” if you wanted to point out one, is that it has only “one” cylinder. No big deal, because the .44 Magnum is ubitquitious. It handles .44 Specials well, though grouping with Magnums is better. Typical of the breed, its barrel is .429” groove diameter with cylinder throats .432”. It shoots splendidly with as-cast, wheelweight, unsized Saeco #430 and #441s. A .44-40 cylinder, strictly as experimental nostalgia would “round out” the revolver nicely. I sometimes find range pickup brass, and don’t want it to go to waste. Not for steady use, but tinkering and flexibility, same logic as for my 9mm Blackhawk cylinder. 

  Ruger Vaquero .44-40 cylinders often had too-tight cylinder throats, smaller than barrel groove diameter, coupled with tight-necked chambers, which precluded using bullets larger than about .428”, so they didn’t perform well. I determined the only way I could be assured of a correctly-dimensioned , .44-40 cylinder for my Ruger, was to have a reamer ground to my specs, buy a Hamilton Bowen cylinder blank, and have it fitted and line-bored to fit my Ruger Super Blackhawk. Not being satisfied with the answers I got from several other gunsmiths queried, I went to John Taylor in Puyallup, WA. John has done numerous other jobs for me, has done Rugers and said and he would do it when my turn comes. Delayed gratification… So, when I finally do get it, you will get a range report in a later issue!