Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns H&R .44 cal. single shot questions

I found a nice one locally I may buy. I bought it's brother, a Bay state in .410.

I inherited an H&R that is stamped 410-.44cal. on the barrel. But this one only says .44cal.

I looked it up in Barnes' book, and it's obsolete and shorter than a .410.

I guess you'd have to custom handload your own for this one.

Any info will be appreciated. This is a rare find in great condition

Where did all the gun experts go??

I have an H&R myself, it is a not too interesting footnote in firearms history for the most part. Not much is written of them as they were made to be a cheap means of ridding the garden of pests-hence the knickname of "garden gun". Garden guns have been more popular in Europe where the rimfire 9mm smoothbore is still in common enough use one can get ammo. Usually.

What little I recall of the history of the 44 smoothbore is mostly the cartridge rather than any guns.The 44 shotshell started out as a 44 WCF (44/40). "Common wisdom" has it that the 44 shotshell was developed for the traveling carnivals where shooting demonstrations were common and popular acts. The shot charges did two things - made hitting moving targets easier and, probably most important, did not make holes in the tents which would require repair. Where the bullet landed did not seem to be high on the concern, at least I haven't seen or heard mention of it in the little I have pursued in this arena.

Later, the 44 shotshell was elongated to become the 44 XL. This latter cartridge is claimed to be the father of the 410 shotshell but that is disputed as it seems the 410 had its start in Europe around the same time as the 44XL showed up in America. The European 410 was less than 2.5" as I recall and carried a 1/4 or 3/8 oz charge. My H&R is marked 44 XL but I have not seen any info regarding when various markings were used. As mentioned above, little interest has been paid to these guns gleaning most information from side notes and often conjecture.

As an addition, your H&R is likely a much better quality gun than the Bay State. Bay State was one of the many "utilitarian" gun makers of the era who put out guns to meet the price points of various sellers. They were in competition with Cresent, Folsum, and numerous other makers of the era. These companies were numerous up to WWI where they began to go broke and the names were bought up by more successful companies.

The lower quality of the guns speak more to their rarity than sales numbers as they quickly broke and spare parts were virtually non-existent for many reasons. Their low cost often meant the guns received minimal care as they were often left in a place of easy access which may not equal careful storage.

They are interesting conversation pieces but there isn't much collector value in them at this point. Even for the H&R which still has some name recognition and a very minor collector following.

I've got an Iver Johnson Champion in 44 XL.

I'm pretty sure most of these 44 smoothbore designations are of the same chamber.......... 44 XL, 44 Shot, 44 Cal. I load on Starline .44-40 brass and use a Speer 44 shot capsule full of 7 1/2, 8 or 9 lead shot. Usually load it over a pinch of something fast burning like Red Dot or AA2 or AA5. You almost can't overload it due to the amount of space needed to seat the Speer capsule. I've yet to load any......but you can also go with a .43 cal roundball instead of the fine shot/capsule.

The gun is hell on snakes and soup cans to 10 yards or so,

Thanks for all the info. The .44 XL is in Frank Barnes book, but the description is short and not much help.

The one I inherited was great grandads. Passed around between his 9 boys i guess. The bore is cratered bad from blackpowder and no care.

I scrubbed it good and had a gunsmith tighten it up a little. I killed a few rabbits with it over the past 30 years. Its semi retired now and still shoots fine.

I tried using 44-40 brass years ago in an old I/J single shot .410, about 1/3 the time the extractor slipped over the rim of the cartridge. I have an Brazilian Boito Single I inherited, might have to see if I can find the brass, It might have been sold or traded off.

Yeah. The .44-40 brass would be a last ditch substitution in a .410 I'd think. Works slicker than snot in the .44 XL, though.

My step father had one that I used some as a kid . Marked only .44 but I always used the short .410 shells in it .

This is the info we need. If short .410 shells work, then those chambers are probably cut longer than we think.