Who reloads .431" lead bullets in 44-40 ?

[Lefty Dude]

After many years of reloading for this caliber/cartridge I finally worked out the details with my 44-40 dies and have a successful loading for the .431" lead Laser-cast 240 gr. SWC that will chamber in my 92 Rifle & Revolvers.
Even my tight chambered 3 gen. Colt cylinder chambers & throats.

If you reload for the 44-40 you know this is not an easy task.

[jnyork]

My 1873 Uberti rifle will only use that bullet and no others, 10 grains of Blue Dot being a very accurate load.

[Borregos]

I use .431" sized 205gr bullets in my old Marlin 1889 in 44-40, with 5.5gr of Trail boss it is a deadly accurate load and creeps out at around 850fps

[Sixgun]

Mt original 1892 (made in '97) will only accept a .430 bullet. Despite of what many have read about early 44-40's having .425-.427 groove diameters, it sure is not the case with mine. (.429.5) yea, i know I could shave down the brass but the 44-40 cartridge is no target gun.
It still shoots great out to 200 and beyond

My old 1873 likes the same .430 bullet with the same load----8 gr. of Unique-in fact, the same load goes in a few third gen Colts in that caliber. The only gun in 44-40 that demands .427 bullets is a 1930 produced Colt New Service------------Sixgun

[marlinman93]

hmmm?? None of my early Marlin 1889's and 1894's have bores large enough to need a .431" bullet.

[TX Gun Runner]

My 4 Vaquero and Rossi 92 .430 will fit , but a fired case .429 slide in neck easy allowing for expansion and release bullet better .

[Harry O]

I use 0.431" bullets for both my Marlin 94 and Rossi 92 rifles in 44-40. The chamber and the barrel of both of them are sized for that. Both are accurate with that load.

However, my Ruger Vaqueros in 44-40 will not take anything larger than 0.428", even though the barrel is sized 0.430". Accuracy is fairly poor with them. Before anyone says "send it back to Ruger", I did that twice when they were new. The second time Ruger sent it back saying that it fully met their production tolerances so don't bother them again.

[Lefty Dude]

I use 0.431" bullets for both my Marlin 94 and Rossi 92 rifles in 44-40. The chamber and the barrel of both of them are sized for that. Both are accurate with that load.

However, my Ruger Vaqueros in 44-40 will not take anything larger than 0.428", even though the barrel is sized 0.430". Accuracy is fairly poor with them. Before anyone says "send it back to Ruger", I did that twice when they were new. The second time Ruger sent it back saying that it fully met their production tolerances so don't bother them again.

Buy a 44 caliber throating reamer and you will be able to chamber the larger bullets. I have a pair of Uberti Bisleys that had tight throats. They are both enlargered and now shoot much better.

[Yance]

Buy a 44 caliber throating reamer and you will be able to chamber the larger bullets. I have a pair of Uberti Bisleys that had tight throats. They are both enlarged and now shoot much better.

My shootin' pardner has a Cimarron Uberti Model P that won't chamber anything loaded with even a .430 bullet. Problem in in the neck area as well as the throats. .429 groove barrel, .427 or smaller throats. Accuracy is nonexistent.

Need to find someone to rechamber the neck AND throat areas. I think Cas only does throats.

[Lefty Dude]

The reloading dies you use has an effect on the cartridge to chamber fit in revolvers.
A friend & shooting pardner was over last evening. He just bought a pre-owned Colt 7 1/2" " Frontier Six Shooter" 44-40 nickled plated, made in the 1980's. He has always had trouble with cartridges not fitting his Colt 44-40 revolvers. I have worked out most of the difficulties with my 44-40 revolvers cartridge disparities.
He also brought along his Lee Dies.

The first thing we did was slug the bore & cylinder chambers. I used a soft cast .431" bullet for the slug. The barrel groove diameter is .4265". The cylinder chambers are .4275"- .428. With the dimensions we determined that a .428" sized bullet would be proper. However his other 44-40's shoot well with .429" and his 92 Rossi 44-40. Our question was, will .429" chamber in this new Colt ?

I reload and shoot .429's" in my Uberti 73 Carbine 44-40. And I use a Dillon SDB for the reloading task. For single stage I use a Rockchucker and RCBS "Cowboy 44-40 Dies". The Cowboy dies are made so larger lead bullets than .428" can be loaded properly. The Cowboy die sets the shoulder back approx. .100" more than a standard 44-40 die. The Dillon SDB die is also set back. The Lee Die does a short shoulder, as many other dies.

My 44-40 .429" 200 gr. rounds fit in his Colt cylinder. We did a test load with the Lee dies. The test round sized with the Lee die would not chamber. He has always had trouble with the Lee dies, even with .427" lead bullets.
He ordered a set of RCBS Cowboy dies today.

The sizing die is very important for the cartridge/chamber fit in the Winchester dash cartridge's.(32-20, 38-40, & 44-40).

[Harry O]

[quote="Lefty Dude]
Buy a 44 caliber throating reamer and you will be able to chamber the larger bullets. I have a pair of Uberti Bisleys that had tight throats. They are both enlargered and now shoot much better.[/quote]

Actually, I have had the throats reamed out. The chamber neck is the problem now. The original Rugers had 0.430" barrels. The throats of the cylinder were between 0.424" and 0.425". So the 0.427" bullet was supposed to squeeze down 0.003" and then expand 0.006" within one bullet length. How that could meet anyones tolerances (let along Rugers), I don't know.

I had a gunsmith run a throating reamer through it. I suggested 0.427", but he said to go the same as the barrel, 0.430". I went with his suggestion. The problem with the neck of the chamber was a different problem from the throat. They were tight even with factory loads, let alone my handloads. Since the gunsmith did not have a custom reamer that matched the 44-40 in the rear and matched the .44 Special/Magnum at the front, the cost to correct that was more than I wanted to pay.

So I load dead soft 0.428" bullets in it and depend on them to slug up in the barrel. It works, after a fashion. The group sizes have gone down from about 6" at 15 yards to about 2" (from a sandbag rest). Not target accuracy, but OK.

[Lefty Dude]

I am glad I ordered Colts from the custom shop. My Colts shoot almost one hole groups at 15 yds.
Mine also have a 44 special, second cylinder. Ordering the dual cylinder's Colt supplies a .429" barrel groove.

You are not the only Ruger 44-40 shooter that is not satisfied with the product. Sorry.

The only Ruger's I own are a .357 three screw BH, and a RSS 22/22mag three screw.(both are stock and un-modified) They do not make them like they did in the 1960's.