The .44-100 was a long-range rifle cartridge family which came in several flavours: Ballard, Wesson and original Remington "Creedmoor" and possibly a few others not listed in COTW. It was a great, hulking brute, better than 4 inches long and it made Mighty Thunder when aroused from a snooze.
The 44/100 (pronounced "forty-four one hundredths") was the very earliest cartridge in the family which later developed into two separate lines, one for Colt, the other for Smith & Wesson, both of whom were impressed by the utility of the original round. It is quite rare today, but was used in experimental cartridge conversions of some US military arms immediately following the Civil War.
My Remington, being of 1863 manufacture, was one of the guns used in this experiment. In the case of my gun, the rear end of the cylinder was turned off and replaced with a bored plate which now served the dual function of turning the cylinder as well as lengthening it. This made a bored-through cylinder (violating the Rollin White patent) which also was 2 pieces and so not terribly solid. The cylinder had to be removed from the revolver for unloading; stuck cases could be punched out with the end of the original bullet rammer, which was left in its place.
Colt developed their own version of this cartridge in 1871 and used it in the 1872 Open Top model, Smith & Wesson having brought out their own version, which we call the .44 American, a year earlier. But both were developments of the experimental 44/100, the ORIGINAL round from which all the rest are descended and for which my gun is chambered.
As to the original military conversions, they were not awfully popular and quickly were sold off to the men carrying them. My gun has been in Canada since 1876, brought here by Sitting Bull's people after the fight at the Little Big Horn. It was sold to a good and decent RCMP Officer in the late 1950s who sold it to my father several years later. On my father's demise, it became my mother's property and came to me upon her death. I have the registration papers here for it for the last 50 years, all in our family name.
One of these days I will have to make a dozen shells for it, very light loads. One of my best friends (a great-grandson of High Eagle) would like to see it. Be a pity for that to happen and not have half a dozen squib loads available.... and a camera.
But first I want it established as a REAL Antique.
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