44-40 vs 44 spcl in a Colt SAA

CMichaud

CMichaud

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Hey guys, just curious as to the following:

if I swap the cylinder out on my 44 spcl SAA and put in a 44-40 cylinder, would I need to change the barrel as well?

Wiki tells me 44 special bullet is .432 and 44-40 bullet is .427

Thanks
 
Depends upon what will chamber in the new cylinder. I've loaded up to .431" diameter bullets in 44-40, but that was for an original Winchester 1873. Whether such a cartridge will chamber in your cylinder I do not know.
 
A .44 special (and .44mag/.44russian) bore should be .429", and cast bullets are usually no more than .001" larger than bore size. A .44-40 bore is .427".

If you want to shoot .44-40 bullets out of a .44 spl barrel there should be no problem at all, but the bullets will be a couple thou undersize.

I went the other way - I shoot a SAA that was originally .44-40, now converted to .44 spl by switching cylinders and still using the original .427" barrel. I only load soft cast bullets sized to .429", and i don't go for max loads.
 
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You can size the bullet to fit the bore/chambers either way, although alot of .44 bullets don't drop any bigger then .430".
 
"...44spl =antique 44-40= restricted..." It's the .44-40 that is defined as ok for an antique. The .44-40 predates the Special. However, it's not just the cartridge that has to be declared as such. The revolver has to pre-date 1898 too. So your SAA has to be an antique. Most of those are worth far too much money to be mucking around with though.
"...Wiki tells me..." Wrong again. It uses a .427" bullet. A cast .429" bullet will do.
.44-40 ammo isn't terribly hard to get, but it ain't cheap. Bullet Barn, in Garden Bay, B.C. wants $32 per 100. Their's is a bit thicker. Add the W's. .thebulletbarn.com/default.html
Lever Arms wants $499 per 500 for Remington ammo. Yep. A buck a shot.
Rumoured to be a somewhat difficult cartridge to reload as well. Factory cases are thin and apparently tend to crush easily. Bullet Barn's brass helps fix that.
 
#1bcshooter said:
Why would you go from 44 spl to 44-40 ?
Click to expand...

I don't know the reason the OP is interested in switching to a 44-40, but if you want to shoot BP it will be better.

Most of the 44-40 firearms that I have messed with were larger than the supposed .427" groove dia. So if you have the new cylinder made appropriately (to match the barrel) and hand load (which is not hard but is slower than with 44 spec) you should be fine.
 
It's not free advice but the June 2011 issue of Handloader has an article called ' Colt's Big 3 ' that delves into this different bore sizes of Colt SSA calibers, especially 44's
It went into the topic pretty deeply... I'd think it would be able to answer this very question posed above.
 
Not saying I was going to do it but was curious as the interchangability of the 44 spcl vs 44-40. If I was to change only the cylinder out I was wondering whether the 44-40 bullets would shoot ok in a 44 spcl barrel. My cast 44 special bullets throw at .430.

My SAA is antique so would reckon swapping cylinders would put it as restricted right quick even though it still has the antique frame and 44 special barrel.

For post 1898 SAA's, the 44-40 may be a better option for CAS (more historically accurate/pre-1900 cartridge etc) and interoperability with a an older 44-40 rifle.
 
CMichaud said:
For post 1898 SAA's, the 44-40 may be a better option for CAS (more historically accurate/pre-1900 cartridge etc) and interoperability with a an older 44-40 rifle.
Click to expand...

You just clicked into the key thing here when it comes to CAS...one caliber, one load...three guns (two revolvers, one rifle).

In black powder cartridge shooting I tried both rounds in revolver and rifle.
Had the best success with the 44 Spl. in a Colt SAA...the 44.40 just did not perform teh same. In rifles the 44-40 BP loads were acceptable...the BP 44 SPL. in a 44 Mag rifle just did not work out well.

There definitely is interchangibilty issues between the 44 Spl. and 44-40 fue to bullet size. Bore size is important but also cylinder cahmber mouth size factors in. If you have a .428 bore and are running .429 bullets all is fine, unless your cylinder chamber mouth is .427. We ran into this on a 38-40 Colt SAA.
Cheers
 
CMichaud said:
Not saying I was going to do it but was curious as the interchangability of the 44 spcl vs 44-40. If I was to change only the cylinder out I was wondering whether the 44-40 bullets would shoot ok in a 44 spcl barrel. My cast 44 special bullets throw at .430.

My SAA is antique so would reckon swapping cylinders would put it as restricted right quick even though it still has the antique frame and 44 special barrel.

For post 1898 SAA's, the 44-40 may be a better option for CAS (more historically accurate/pre-1900 cartridge etc) and interoperability with a an older 44-40 rifle.
Click to expand...

Sure you can almost all the 44 Special SAA Colts you see on CGN for sale were 44 40 to start with just cylinder swap most of the time.
Some have new barrels as well.
I have a very nice SAA colt that was 44 40 i shoot .430 lead bullets outa a 44 Sp cylinder and she shoots 2 inch or less groups at 25 yds right on the bullseye :)
As long as your useing lead bullets i dont see any problems.
I can put a 44 40 cylinder back in my gun but then id have to register it.
44 Sp is a much better cartridge when reloaded than the 44 40 in my opion and others like Elmer keith ect.

You can always shoot 44 Russian loaded to 800 Fps with .430 bullets then the CAS couldnt say ####! its a pre 1898 cartridge.
If you gota use BP you can as well.
This way you have a CAS gun that dont need to be registered.
44 Russian and 44 Sp will shoot outa the 44 Sp cylinder as the cases are the same dia and bullets are the same as well.
 
Cool Dingus. Hadn't thought about 44 Russian but does solve the pre-98 ammo issue and remains unregistered. The only problem is that the Russian wasn't used in (m)any rifles as far as I know so wouldn't be able to do the one ammo two guns thing.
 
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