Rye Miles #13621
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Rye:
hope you don't mind me pestering you and you don't have to respond if it's too big a pain but I know you are/were a long time 44-40 guy and I had some questions.
First I see you've gone 38/357 any particular reason or just cost and such.
I just picked up a pair of 44-40's and while I haven't shot them I think they balance better than any 45 or 38 for sure.
I also see i will HAVE to load for them.
Are 44-40's as big a pain to load for as I've been led to believe?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
regards
Dutch aka Nick
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Howdy Dutch, I shot .44-40 with nothing but black for 7-8years. 2 years ago I decided to go with smokeless because of the cost, cleaning and time spent loading BP. I experienced all kinds of problems with .44-40/smokeless. It is mainly the crimp. I would shoot rounds from my rifle no problem but then one of them the bullet would go back in the case!!! Why did all the rest work okay? I think it's the thin mouth on the .44-40 that doesn't always hold a crimp. I had many cracked cases also. I also had problems with rounds fitting in my Colts and Uberti revolvers. I had to resize many that didn't fit. Some did some didn't so I just resized all of them. What a pain in the neck!!! I went to .38's for cost, ease of loading and I aquired a really nice .357 Colt SAA so that got me off to the .38 world! I have a 73 Commanchero, a 66 Uberti, a couple Smoke Wagons, a Cattleman and the Colt all in .38 now. I can't believe how easy reloading is now! .38's are also really easy to shoot. My times are better. Good luck with your .44-40's, it's great round for black powder!!You just have to be very careful loading them.
Rye
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Some guys will say to use a profile crimp die with the .44-40, I used a Lee factory crimp die. When I shot black I never had a problem with the crimp since I filled the case with powder almost to the top. The problem I had was when I went to smokeless. For the most part everything was fine but just that occasional round would slip in and ruin the day!! Driftwood Johnson and Larsen Pettifogger are both really knowledgable about loading for this round.
Rye
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