Black powder .44 WCF (.44-40)
- Thread starter Loyer
- Start date
- Location
- St. Paul AB
Do you happen to have dies to handload the .44-40? Unless you have someone nearby to load rounds for you, Ten-X in the U.S.A. is about the only game in town. Currently, they are $47 per box of 50, and whatever shipping and hoops to get it here.
My .44-40 black powder loads are the Lyman 427666 lubed with SPG. 33 grains of Goex FFg trickled using a drop tube into a Winchester case with a 0.030" thick vegtable fibre gasket wad over the primer, then a Winchester Large Pistol primer. I use this in all of my original .44-40's and it seems to work well. Cleanup consists of flushing the bore with hot soapy water delivered via a "bore bong". Take a spare case, drill it out to accept a length of hose, then fit a funnel on. Cuts down cleaning patch usage by half. Then turn rifle upside down and clean from the muzzle using Windex with Vinegar (not Ammonia). Then drypatch and give a coat of your favourite rust preventitive. Cases are de-primed, soaked in hot soapy water, then tumbled in a ceramic media tumbler. Corn cob works, but it does dirty the media something fierce. It's just as much fun as it is work.
I would love to help you out, but I'm not interested in loading ammo for others due to liabity issues.
My .44-40 black powder loads are the Lyman 427666 lubed with SPG. 33 grains of Goex FFg trickled using a drop tube into a Winchester case with a 0.030" thick vegtable fibre gasket wad over the primer, then a Winchester Large Pistol primer. I use this in all of my original .44-40's and it seems to work well. Cleanup consists of flushing the bore with hot soapy water delivered via a "bore bong". Take a spare case, drill it out to accept a length of hose, then fit a funnel on. Cuts down cleaning patch usage by half. Then turn rifle upside down and clean from the muzzle using Windex with Vinegar (not Ammonia). Then drypatch and give a coat of your favourite rust preventitive. Cases are de-primed, soaked in hot soapy water, then tumbled in a ceramic media tumbler. Corn cob works, but it does dirty the media something fierce. It's just as much fun as it is work.
I would love to help you out, but I'm not interested in loading ammo for others due to liabity issues.
- Location
- St. Paul AB
Makes more of a "whomp" than a pop or bang. I also like the smoke rings that form. Against what most everyone else might say, I would recommend against shooting smokeless in antiques. I have done it in the past, but the thought of reducing one of these beauties to twisted scrap/parts gun/missing body parts made me reconsider.
- Location
- St. Paul AB
Sorry to resurrect the thread, but any advice on that "fragile" neck of the .44-40 (.44 WCF) ?....
Yes. Go slow when running cases into the die and don't be stingy about neck expanding. Not to give them a nasty flare, but enough that you can stick about 1/8" of the bullet into the case.
Sorry to resurrect the thread
Bullet seating, and crimping, should be done in two separate operations.
