I am thinking about getting an Uberti 1866 Winchester clone....don't plan on doing any "cowboy action" shooting; just shooting paper and doing some deer hunting. Which cartrdge would be better suited for my purposes? Seems like the .45LC would get the edge, due to more bullet designs, etc., but I'd like to hear from folks that have used either/both for hunting.
Thanks.......
I owned a Uberti 1866 "Yellowboy" (all brass frame) in .44-40 back in the 70's. Killed several deer with it. I reloaded some .44-40 brass too hot, and I could tell after one shot, when I worked the lever to eject the case (which was split) that I had bent something. The bolt was steel, so I figured the brass was bent slightly, resulting in the lever being slightly more difficult to work. Got to keep those .44-40 cartridges loaded to pistol pressures.
Okie, It would seem since those brass receivers were never originally chambered for the 44-40 that they may or may not be weak. Seems in your case, there is certainly room for question!!!
16gauge, if you get a Yellowboy, keep those 44-40s down to 11,000psi! I would not run anything stronger than Buffalo Bore's 44-40 "Heavy" loads. They are at or below SAAMI MAP of 11,000psi/13,000cup. With BB "Heavy" I get 1,350fps out of my 24" Marlin 1894CB. BB uses the popular 200gr hard cast Magma bullet. The Magma 44-200 LRNFP BB "Cowboy" bullet mold is common in commercial manufactures.
Lyman's 49th handloading manual give great loads for the 44-40 but not with the Magma bullet. My testings show that the magma bullet creates less pressures than Lyman's listed 427098 bullet. Layman also has two Groups. Group I lists ten rifles that are weak actions like the Winchester 73', Lightning etc which would include replica Henry's and 66's. This Group I should be kept at 11,000psi.
Group II rifles like the Marlin 1888/94, Winchester's 92/94 and five other frames cane withstand pressures much higher. Lyman lists 21,000cup ( close to 19,000psi) loads for Group II strong action rifles.
My strain gauge testings have been very enlightening....
40gr by weight of Swiss FFg with a .19-.21" compression and a 427098 bullet inside original semi-balloonhead brass resulted in pressures up into the 14,000psi range @ 1,380fps. Goex FFFG in the same cases consistently gave me over 12,000psi @ over 1,300fps. The same loads in modern brass with a slightly greater compression resulted in pressures in the 10,000psi-11,000psi range and a velocity decrease down to 1,200fps.
44-40 Winchester Super-X Factory ammo gives me consistent 8,000psi range @ 1,050fps while Buffalo Bore is set to 11,300psi @ 1,350fps. Cowboy loads such as Magtech etc are weak at about 6,000psi @ 800fps.
I use Reloder 7 powder with velocities and pressures that replicate those original BP loads above. I also use 240gr bullets with similar results for 15%-25% more power at related pressures.
IMR-4227 and 2400 powders have similar burn rates as the 44-40 original powders, Dupont #2, Sharpshooters and SR80 powders. IMR-4227 and 2400 powders create slightly higher pressures than Reloder 7 with a lower powder charge. Both 4227 and 2400 are listed in Lyman's 49th as well as Unique. Dupont #2 was short lived due to the uncoated powder that had an extremely fast burn rate. These first smokeless powder loads were NOT TO BE USED IN REVOLVERS, refering to the black powder frame revolvers....but were specifically used in the 73'. Sharpshooter and SR80 were coated with a retardant that slowed the burn rate and were SPACIFICALLY USED IN BLACK POWDER FRAME weapons, including revolvers. Dupont #5 was specifically used in handloading revolver loads.
I am getting consistent 4" groups at 100 yards with several combinations of powder and bullets. Way too much to list here.
Most of my work along with two other well known shooters can be found over on the 44-40 website:
https://curtisshawk21.wixsite.com/44centerfireThe 44-40 is an extremely overlooked, underrated cartridge and can be loaded to just under 44 magnum loads with great accuracy in the stronger action rifles.
