Interesting Discovery Loading 44 WCF for my SAA

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

2 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

In my case the cylinder is SMALLER THAN SAAMI minimum chamber specifications. It is currently cut to match the SAAMI Cartridge specs and not the SAAMI Chamber specifications.

 

Yes, that is what I understood you to mean, and that was not what came through from your post. 

 

You still need to find a larger reamer that will cut a chamber larger than what your largest ammunition is.   Or find a different way to size your ammunition smaller.

 

And yes, I know it's a very disturbing situation to find yourself in when you obtain a revolver that won't chamber all ammunition, especially items you load yourself.

 

The 44-40 is FAMOUS for having wide specifications over many years, because when the SAAMI specs were set in 1930s (or even earlier), that cartridge had been manufactured for about 60 years already.  That applies especially to shoulder shape and position.   But as we are seeing here, even the tapered main body can cause problems making firearms and ammunition always, ALWAYS compatible.

 

good luck, GJ

[Frontier Lone Rider]

I only shoot GOEX fffg powder.  I load both lead and coated bullets.

 

I had ordered bullets with a .428 diameter, but after having high primers and other issues, I discovered that the bullets were actually .430.  I purchased a Manson Precision Cylinder Throat Reamers with 7 Pilots from Brownell's, but the smallest reamer is .4270.  That size was still too large for my cylinders.  When I contacted Ruger Customer Service they said these cylinders are no longer available for purchase and the original 44-40 were actually cut at .4250-.4260.  I had three cylinders reamed by a gun smith and sent six cylinders to Ruger to have these cylinder throats reamed to .4290.  Very few throats came back at .4290.  I have 16 Ruger Vaqueros in 44-40 and none that are stock have the same diameter cylinder throats.

 

It is rare to actually have stock cylinder throats that are all reamed at the same diameter on the same cylinder due to the manner that Ruger cuts the throats.  Even the ones that Ruger reamed for me this past Fall had three different diameters.  Out of the six that I had sent them, only one came back with all of the cylinder throats cut at the same diameter.  Of the sixteen 44-40s that I have, only two have all of the same diameter cylinder throats cut at the same diameter.

 

I loaded a bunch of .4270 diameter rounds and at our shooting distance they seem to work.  I am now loading .4280 to be closer to the majority of my cylinder throat diameters.  They all seem to shoot just fine in all four of my 44-40 rifles.

 

I am just happy when they all go off without any issues.  That includes actually hitting the target.

 

Frontier Lone Rider