Home Forums Lever Action Central Cowboy Levers Any .44-40 shooters here?

I have an Iron Frame Henry in .44-40 and having a devil of a time with a certain brand of brass with "CBC" stamped on the base. From now on, only Winchester brass for me!!! Winchester brass loads perfectly while this other brand (has a line stamped around the bottleneck) collapses every time I try to seat a bullet.

Winchester on the left, CBC on the right.

The rifle is a beaut and accurate as well.

Dan

CBC (Magtech) is from Brazil, where the .44WCF is still quite popular. Originally it was an operation of Remingtion. That line stamped around the case is a cannelure to keep the bullet from receeding back into the case under pressure from the magazine spring. That particular one is a good bit deeper than any I've seen, and apparently weakens the case. In the future, I think you will find the Starline and Top Brass brands to be of top quality and durability. You will also find a cannelure (less severe) on most .44-40 factory loads, as opposed to unprimed brass.

My factory cast lead are sized .427 in the .44-40, while my factory cast lead are sized .429 for my .44 Special and mag. I just slugged the bore of my Uberti Iron Henry and it slugs out to .428 at its largest.

As I don't load any jacketed bullets in either the .44 Mag/special or the Henry, can I get away with casting wheel weights and sizing them all .429, or should I buy a separate mold for the .44-40?

My loads are pretty close to original Henry loading as they generate about 1150fps for target work. I'm thinking .429 would suffice.

Advice?

You would be better to at least get a .427/.428 sizing die. Many chambers won't accept a round with a bullet over .428. You will also find that 200 to 220 grain bullets are proper rather than 240+. Since the .44WCF is technically a necked case, the heavier bullets protrude beyond the neck into the case allowing powder to cling and lube to seep into powder. This is also likely to be the reason for your problems with the case cannelure. With the proper weight bullets, your case cannelure should not be a problem. Heavier bullets also drive up pressures rather sharply for a round of this type with its limited pressure range.

Blackhawk. Appreciate the input. In this case, the bullets I'm using are in fact .427s and they are 200 grainers, cast specifically for the .44-40. I was asking about the feasibility of changing to another bullet with a larger diameter. But you're right. I'll probably just order a mold appropriate for the .44-40. The Henry is just too fun to shoot to ignore it.



Dan

Yes!

Cant help you with the cast bullet loads Dan, I have yet to start on that endeavour...

My father has a 24inch Oct barrelled with a tang sight in .44/40 which he reloads for, and I only just took possession only this morning of a Rossi 92 20inch carbine in the same caliber...I have yet to shoot it. Only just got the grease out of the barrel actually. If the weather is okay, I will be out tomorrow seeing how I go...

- no more cross bolt safety - no more safety on top of the bolt either. No more black gunk finish on the stock and no more front sight dovetailed into barrel band...

Just out of interest the old man loads Jacketed 200grain bullets with 24g of H4227 for 1650fps out of the 24inch barrel, which duplicates the 1920/'30's high velocity factory loading.
With luck in two weeks I can tell you what this load does to a red stag.
I have an old box of Kynoch smokeless here as well, made pre 1962 at least. The Kynoch ammo has the cannulure mark on the brass you describe. Unfortuantely its all berdan primed so I cant reload it.


Would love on to have one of the earlier model Uberti rifles in teh same caliber, they are pricey, - but handsome for it. I have never seen a uberti lever action over here that didnt have stunning wood on it.

CH

Neat about your Dad's rifle. I also have a Puma, but it's in .44 Mag.

My wood is lusterous, but the grain is fairly straight and lacks really nice figure. But, considering I'm a rifle user and my guns tend to get roughed up, that's probably a good thing.

The fastest I've pushed anything in the Henry is 1300fps and I backed off of that, even though extraction was easy and there were no signs of stress. It actually felt like a very light load. I know the Henry isn't a "strong" action, but mine is all steel and not brass in the receiver area.

Now, I'm satisfied with 1100fps which approximates the original Henry load.

Dan

yes i have a rossi in the 92 model nice rifle , just starting to load for it , got brass out of star line , thinking of useing 428 bullets for it ??? any thinkers on this load , i agree the wood is not that good looking but its ok wish they would put a steel butt plate on it ,i use 2400 as powder not sure what size bullet i may use,but a diff powder later, love that no side lock on it any clues on bullet sizes , i also load for the 44 mag marlin ,

Historicly the 44-40 had a 427 bore,(in the 1800's up to the mid 1900's the Uberti replicas have a standard bore diameter of .428 you will get better conformity useing a cast bullet sized to .429. I got tyhat info from Cimmaron Arms who markets a lot of Uberti replicas. Are you shooting smokless loads or BP? You can also up the velocity about 200 or 300 FPS. With some careful development of handloads. My biggest chore right now is finding a consistant Smokless load that shoots consistant in my 1873 And my SAA 7&1/2 " barrel. So far 38 grns fffg is the most consistant propellant I have found.

We have 2 x Rossi 92's, and I think the Brazilians use the same barrel as .44 mag on their .44/40's so .430 for them, one of them had its bore slugged and the other I shot some old Kynoch .44 ammo through them that would have been .427/428 and the rifle shot them all over the place at 50 metres. So if you have a Brazilian made rifle plan on it being .429/430
The Uberti rifles are obviously diffirent which is handy to know.