.44-40 to .44Rem. mag??

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.45-90

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Hello All, I have been thinking about this for some time and now that i have some time i am going to do it. I have a Win. 92 .44-40 manf. 1918 with a great bore but it slugs out at .429 and is very acurate with .429-30 localy made .240 f.n. Hardcast projectiles. I know it is simple to run a .44 Mag. Reamer in the chamber, I would like to here from those that have been down this track as to what else needs to be done??. The collector value of this Rifle is nix as its had a very hard life but the action locks up good and tight. I have been loading to .44 Mag. recipe and getting very good acuracy but those piddling thin wall .44-40 (Starline) shells dont last more than two re-loads. T.I.A. For any answers.:) .45-90
 
Isn't the .44-40 basically a .45 Colt necked down to .427"? If so, the case head is bigger than the case head of a .44 mag. You could probably get better brass by necking down .45 Colt modern brass or surely .454 brass.
If the case head is bigger the reamer will not touch it. And it would not be advisable to put .44 mags in there with the case head not fully filling the chamber.
 
Casull said:
Isn't the .44-40 basically a .45 Colt necked down to .427"? If so, the case head is bigger than the case head of a .44 mag. You could probably get better brass by necking down .45 Colt modern brass or surely .454 brass.
If the case head is bigger the reamer will not touch it. And it would not be advisable to put .44 mags in there with the case head not fully filling the chamber.
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NOOOOO WAY JOSE, You may be thinking of the .38-40 and that is a .44-40 necked down. cheers .45-90:)
 
.45-90 said:
NOOOOO WAY JOSE, You may be thinking of the .38-40 and that is a .44-40 necked down. cheers .45-90:)
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Well Jose, the 44-40 has a larger case diameter than the 44 mag and it wouldn't be a good thing to fire 44 mags in a previous 44-40 chamber... if the case did not rupture it would be an ugly fireform and no good for reloading.

Compare the case dimensions in just about any loading manual...
 
guntech said:
Well Jose, the 44-40 has a larger case diameter than the 44 mag and it wouldn't be a good thing to fire 44 mags in a previous 44-40 chamber... if the case did not rupture it would be an ugly fireform and no good for reloading.

Compare the case dimensions in just about any loading manual...
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Hello guntech, After the .44 Mag. chamber reaming is done there is no problem or danger chambering a .44 Mag. round. Please read my question again. Anyhow all i want to know is if there are any other hickups, Feeding ect. This has been done before with good results but the Gunsmith that was doing them is long gone to his work bench in the sky. cheers .45-90
 
Dear 45-90,

You are right to ignore those who say that the larger chamber will be a problem. This will work just fine and there will be no problems whatsoever. So go ahead and spend the money to ream it out, and please report back how it all pans out.
 
why not just load the 44-40 hotter if thats what you want?
i have loaded 44-40 up to around 1900 fps with a 200 and the brass is fine for many many loads.
id never rechambre a 92 thats good allready. plus id get out my calipers, 44-40 is lots bigger on the back end than 44 mag, i personally dont think the reamer would "clean up" an original chambre without shortening up the bbl a bit.
i allso load 429 bullets in the 44-40 brass with no probs
 
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.45-90 said:
Hello guntech, After the .44 Mag. chamber reaming is done there is no problem or danger chambering a .44 Mag. round. Please read my question again. Anyhow all i want to know is if there are any other hickups, Feeding ect. This has been done before with good results but the Gunsmith that was doing them is long gone to his work bench in the sky. cheers .45-90
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A firedformed 44 mag will end up about 12 to 14 thou over size... it will be hard to size this case in a regular 44 mag die and it will size it down to 44 mag specs.. it should not take many reloads to have a case failure of some kind.

If you want to know if there will any feeding problems, try feeding some .44 mags through it now ...
 
The 44-40 - 44mag conversion WAS a popular conversion at one time, but - why? If the action is strong enough to manage 44 mag pressures, why not simply load +P 44-40 loads, and use 44 mag bullets?
 
prosper said:
The 44-40 - 44mag conversion WAS a popular conversion at one time, but - why? If the action is strong enough to manage 44 mag pressures, why not simply load +P 44-40 loads, and use 44 mag bullets?
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Hello prosper, I am down here in Australia and +p .44-40 ammo as far as i know never made it here and like i said the shells are to thin in the walls. Please ignore the chambering part folks as all i wish to know is if there are any problems with feeding ect. ect. and how to get around them. cheers .45-90:)
 
Manufactured? No, but you could load them. The cases ARE thin in the walls, but that's not important. Modern brass have thick case heads, where it matters.
 
To put some real numbers on things; the 44 mag has a base diameter of .457, the 44-40 is .471 and the 45 Colt is .480. Unless you choose to bush the chamber, as Dennis said, you are going to get too much swelling at the base. I also seem to recall reading somewhere where the 92 was not considered strong enough for a 44 mag.

cheers mooncoon
 
Thank you gents, I have the reamer on loan and should have mentioned that i intended setting the barrel back 1 turn to get rid of the sloppy fit at the ass-end of the chamber. The post 1900 Win. 92 action is plenty strong enough for sensible .44 Mag. loads. Thanks again and i will post results. cheers .45-90 Down under.
 
The old 44-40 barrel of the 1892 is a bit softer than more modern firearms chambered for 44 mag. Extensive use of jacketed bullets will wear the rifling a bit quicker. Otherwise, go for it! The larger chamber will be no problem.
 
.44-40 to .44 Rem. Mag.

Its done. Feeds and extracts .44 M. and .44Special as fast as you like. Now to take a drive to the range. OH! And i wont be putting jacketed thrue it, I am a Tight-Ass:D Cheers .45-90:)
 
As for old soft barrels, I had my Win. 1886 that was made in 1888 bored, rifled & chamberd from a F#&*ed .38-56w to .45-90 and those pre 1900 barrels are very soft. Cheers .45-90
 
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