I have done a lot with the .44-40 in three Rossi 92's and also a Uberti '73. I corresponded with John Kort a lot over the .44-40 loads.
As you have written above, a full case of RL7 (25 or 26 grains) is what he was using for a bulk smokeless load that mimics the pressures of the first smokeless Dupont .44-40 load, (which was safe also in the '73 rifles.) and got a velocity of near 1400fps.
I achieved the same result with a full case of H4198 (26 grains with my bullet) and giving me slightly over 1300 fps in a 20 inch barrel. This is an excellent smokeless load, as is the RL7 version. Both are safe in '73 rifles too.
The 8 grain Unique load you mention above, I have tried and I get excellent accuracy - but I use a .430 bullet. The Rossi's are all .430 bores in my experience. I could put ten rounds into an inch and a half at 100 yards with the factory open sights. This load is subsonic though, about 1100 fps.
A significant point may be the alloy my bullets are made from - they were all pure lead with either 1% tin or 2% tin. These bullets are soft enough to bump up with blackpowder even if they were undersized. (This is what Winchester used for the factory lead bullet loads.) I continue to use this alloy with these smokeless RL7 or H4198 loads because that what Winchester used also.
Together with the soft bullet and thin brass of the .44-40, the crimp often becomes a problem with the .44-40 cartridges in a lever action especially when you are hunting, when you may jack the same rounds in and out of the rifle over a few days, risking telescoping the bullets when the crimp fails. These smokeless bulk loads that fill the case hold the bullet in place same as the blackpowder and original smokeless load did, so it solves this issue.
The lube I use is around 3 parts tallow/fat and 1 part beeswax. For these smokeless load I don't believe the lube is too critical (unlike black powder) but softer is better.
I was using the bullet that John Kort helped design for the .44-40 (from Accurate Molds which from memory was called 215C) This has the same nose profile as the original .44 WCF bullet from the 19Century but a larger lube groove.
If one does not cast one's own bullets, then substituting a 200g Hornady XTP will give excellent accuracy.
For those that are interested, I have tried black powder with honestly not as much success accuracy-wise, which me and John found is due to modern black powders being much inferior to 19th century black powder - too dry and too much fouling. Except for Swiss, which is much superior to others and comparable in quality.
But the most accurate black powder load in both '92's and '73 was a target shooters black powder load with a small smokeless priming. 6 grains of H4227 and then a main charge of 32 grains of 3F (compressed about .2 of an inch) would give superlative accuracy in all rifles. The '73 rifle would put five of these rounds into an inch. (This was all with open sights at 100 yards.)
No other combination of smokeless powder (or different amounts of 4227 ) came close. Velocity was not much faster than the full black powder load ( I used 38 grains 3F) and was 1200 fps.
Duplex loads like this were common with target shooters in the first part of the 20th century when smokeless came out. Townsend Whelen loaded his 45-72 with a smokeless priming in his account of travelling through the wilderness in "Red Letter Days in British Columbia", which is what gave me the idea to explore it. John Kort mentioned it to me also when I wrote to him about having only indifferent success with full black powder loads and that I thought the lube was not able to handle the fouling of the locally made powder I had been using.
I think the .44-40 is my favourite cartridge. I have shot several red deer with the .44-40 with these smokeless and black powder loads. As an aside, none of them lived any longer than if I had shot them with a .308.
Last edited by CarlsenHighway; 02/24/19.
