August 1, 2014

That's what U.M.C. (Union Metallic Cartridge Company) did in the early 1900's.

The  .44 Henry Flat rimfire was factory loaded with 28 grs. of b.p. under a 200 gr. bullet.

Note the 44-40 28 gr. load in addition to the standard 40 gr. cartridge in this 1910 UMC catalog cut.... 

Why U.M.C. decided to offer a 28gr. .44-40 cartridge is anybody's guess, but the 28 gr. charge weight would indicate that they wanted to offer a .44-40 cartridge that replicated the performance of the .44 Henry Rimfire.   

Since I am a cartridge nut of sorts, I wanted to step back in time and replicate this cartridge just to see how it would perform.  U.M.C.  likely used a wad between the powder and the base of the bullet but I used PSB (Poly Shot Buffer).  Velocity was very similar the the Henry 1,125 f.p.s. and the accuracy was pretty much the same as the standard 40 gr. charge in my rifle.

Cartridge history is interesting.....

w44wcf     

Replicating 44 Henry ballistics in the 44-40 cartridge

I removed the powder from an original 200 gr Henry Flat cartridge which weighed 28 grs and was FFFG granulation.  I placed the charge in a .44-40 case and compressed it the same amount of compression used in the .44 Henry case. 

I used a 155 Federal Magnum pistol primer to ignite the powder which pushed the 200 gr cast bullet to a 1,133 f.p.s. Chrony reading. 

The Winchester 1875 Catalog indicated a velocity of the .44 Henry to be 1,125 f.p.s. so 1,133 f.p.s. is pretty darn close.  

I decided to use the slightly hotter primer since there was a greater amount of  priming compound in thr Henry .44 RF ctg.

Furthert testing of 28 grs by weight of Goex and Kik FFFG powders gave velocities in the same range.  I tried both the Fed 155 magnum and CCI 300 std pistol primer and the velocity difference was very small...less than 20 f.p.s.

Additional information reported from Prairie Dawg, SASS #50329,

Date not mentioned, probably pre-2014,

I [John Kort] was looking though the old ammunition catalogs that are illustrated on the International Ammunition Association's website and discovered that between 1906-1910  in addition to the standard 40 gr cartridge,  U.M.C. (Union Metallic Cartridge Co)  offered a reduced 28 gr. black powder factory 44-40 cartridge.  Then from 1911- to about 1920,  REM-UMC continued to offer the same cartridge variation.

http://www.cartridgecollectors.org/ammunition-catalogs

U.M.C. also offered 28 gr. cartridge variations for the 38-40 & 45 Colt as well.

Being a history student of the 44-40, I found that to be particularly interesting since the .44 Henry cartridge that preceeded the 44-40, was also loaded with 28 grs. of b.p.  It seems that it is very likely, that there were requests from 44-40 users that a cartridge that replicated the earlier .44 Henry ballistics.

So......I decided to replicate that historic cartridge for testing. U.M.C. would have used a wad between the powder charge and the base of the bullet.

I used 28 grs of KIK FFFG ignited by a CCI 300 primer and 2 different bullets 1.) 200 gr. Mav Dutchman  2.) 43-215C

I settled the charge by dumping it slowly thorugh the funnel holding the pan about 5" above it. I then added, on top of the powder, .7cc PSB (Poly Shot Buffer) for the 200 gr bullet and .5cc (Lee scoops) for the 215 gr. bullet ( the 43-215C seats deeper). When the bullets were seated they  which compressed the filler and powder charge. 

It was a beautiful crisp day yesterday. The temperature reached about 40F with little wind and plenty of sunshine. I took the opportunity of the nice (for this time of year) day to head to the range to try the 28 gr 44-40 cartridges.

I set up the chronograph and sent 5 rounds of each recipe over it - average velocities were - 

200 gr. - 1,128 f.p.s.  (almost "spot on" the original 1,125 f.p.s. of the Henry 200 gr ctg which was loaded with 28 grs. of b.p.)

215 gr. - 1,107 f.p.s.

Accuracy at 100 yards was pretty good (2 1/2" with 3 in 1" / 43-215C ).  

It was pretty neat....stepping back in time......

w44wcf [John Kort]