.44-40 High Velocity w/ plain base bullets
Early .44-40 H.V. factory loads ran close to 1,600 f.p.s. with a 200 gr. metal patched (jacketed) bullet. Lately, I have been working to replicate that early loading in my recently acquired '94 Marlin Cowboy rifle. With a 200 gr. Remington jacketed bullet, 22/H4227 clocked a bit faster at over 1,700 f.p.s. with good accuracy.
I then decided to try that load with a 200 gr. cast bullet from my Magma mold. Alloy was air cooled w.w.+2% tin / bullet diameter .429".
For a gas check I used PSB (poly shot buffer). Using my Lee scoops I found that .7cc allowed for some compression over the filler to keep the filler tight against the powder charge. I had first tried 1cc and felt that was a bit too much.
Accuracy was good with a group at 50 yards running 1.06" for 4 shots with the .7cc volume of filler.
I did not get the chance to chronograph that recipe yet but plan to within the next few weeks. Based on the velocity with the 200 gr. jacketed, I would expect the cast bullet velocity to be a little higher.
NOTE: Do not use in '73 or '66 clones.
PSB is finely ground polyethylene plastic material. It's granulation is similar to table salt. It was originally designed to improve shotgun patterns by filling the space between the pellets, thus keeping them from being deformed.
In ammunition with plain based cast bullets, it acts as a gas check so no copper gas check is needed.
.426" is the original .44-40 bullet diameter and in barrels of that dimension, the .427" bullet is the right choice. But modern .44-40 barrels can run as big as .430". The barrel on my Marlin Cowboy measures .428", and I have found that .429" bullets work well in it.
Neat that you have a Remington 14 1/2 in .44-40! I would like to own one of those neat rifles. As you may know, at one time, Remington produced 140 and 160 gr. high velocity ammunition for that rifle. Both of the bullets were hollow pointed. Velocity with the 140's was over 2,000 f.p.s. and with the 160's, 1,960 f.p.s. Fortunately, I have an example of each of these cartridges in my .44-40 cartridge collection.
Update:
Further testing revealed that 21 grs./ H4227 + .7 CC's of shot buffer under a 200 gr. cast bullet (w.w.+2% tin) pretty much duplicated the original .44-40 H.V. loading with a 200 gr. jacketed bullet. Average velocity was 1,590 f.p.s. with good accuracy.
