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Joined: Aug 2003
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Does anyone have a recipe for this load? Have an old single shot H&R garden gun in 44-40.

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Bunnyrunner,
You may find that cut-down .303 British or .30-40 Krag cases allow a lomger case for better wadding and more shot.
The custom of using very small #12 shot never helped me much, and I usually used #7� or #6 with Bullseye in my S&W revolver.
In those days no shot capsules were available.
Good luck with your project.
Ross

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try 8 gr unique or universal clays 44 cal gascheck then fill the space with shot and top with another gascheck

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I have an Iver Johnson Champion chambered in .44XL. It's basically exams thing. I use Starline .44/40 brass and .429 Speer shot capsules loaded with #7 1/2 or #9 shot. Powder charge is just a mild dose of Red Dot or AA-5744. Never tried to chrono anything. But try to guesstimate into the 800-1000 fps.range. Scientific, I ain't,.when it comes to these shot loads. I just err WAY to the side of mildness.


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Originally Posted by Bunnyrunner
Does anyone have a recipe for this load? Have an old single shot H&R garden gun in 44-40.
Bunnyrunner-

Marshall williams published a couple of articles that were very helpful when I was trying to produce loads for an old 44 H&R. Here are links to the web pages:



My loads based on his ideas worked well. Good luck.
--Bob

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I have my grand father's Belgian Peiper hammer combination gun which has a .44-40 rifled barrel on one side and a .44XL barrel on the other.

He got it in Panama City before WWI and called it his "Vampire Bat gun." I've made .44XLs from .44-40 cases loaded with a paper shot capsule (paper towel covered with library paste formed in a .44 Special case) and a light charge of Trail Boss with #9s. It will also take a case made from a .444 Marlin cut down to 2" long and loaded like a .410.

I used to have a pic of my grandad (whom I never knew) holding this little gun and a 5' "garganta amarilla" (what we call a fer de lance or lancehead viper, some people in Central America call it "vibora de terciopelo"). Damned nasty whatever you call it. It's missing most of its head, which shows you what your little .44 shotguns are for (they kill bunnies and fool hens too).

Many thanks for the Williams articles!

Mike Armstrong aka Mesa


Was Mike Armstrong. Got logged off; couldn't log back on. RE-registered my old call sign, Mesa.
FNG. Again.
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That would be fun loaded with #12's

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An old thread, but the concept is still viable.

I started making .44 shotshells about 40 years ago when I got my first Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum. I even bought a RCBS .44 Shotshell size and de-prime die to reload them.

Like Ross posted, I make my cases from .303 British or .30-40 Krag cases that I cut to just under the length of the cylinder.

The diameter and thickness of the rim of the rifle cases must be filed down to the dimensions of the .44 pistol cases.

Instead of gas checks, I use .410 shotshell wads that I cut about 1/4" shorter. This reduces the shot load but it keeps the shot from touching the rifling.

I used to make top wads from thick paper using a .45 acp case with a sharpened mouth, but I recently found that the large holes punched out of paper for a 3 ring binder work well. After loading the shot, I press a punched out paper hole that just fits in the case mouth and I seal it with a drop of white glue.

I use #8 shot over 6 to 7.5 grains of Unique or Clays Universal powder.

Before firing, the cases made from rifle brass have tapered straight sides, then after firing they have straight sides and are bottleneck with a slight shoulder. A case fired in a S&W cylinder will have the shoulder further ahead than the shoulder from a Ruger cylinder. The RCBS .44 Shotshell die re-sizes the cases so they will easily fit in either cylinder (I have both S&W and Ruger SBH pistols).

Because of the rifling in the barrel, the shot comes out spinning instead of coming out straight as it would from a smooth barrel. This quickly spreads out the shot pattern. I get about a 20" shot pattern at 10 yards with plenty of space between the shot holes, but at snake distances or a 5 yard shot on a rabbit or grouse, it would be lethal. It is also fun to break station 8 Skeet targets with them.


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