As you all well know I seem to have become the local Merwin collecter. (it seems only the second in Canada)
The large framed Merwin Hulbert revolvers were chambered in 3 calibers. Early in their production MH produced most of their revolvers in a caliber that they created on their own, the 44 Merwin Hulbert. Soon, the company realized that limited availability of the cartridges would make for low sales so added the 44 russian chambering to the line (trying to apeal to the western S&W crowd). Finally, due to the wide availability and use of the cartridge they chambered most of their third and fourth model revolvers in 44-40 (calibre winchester 1873)
So, the 44-40 is straight foreward and the 44 russian is easy enough to reload but what about the 44MH? No one has used it in over 100 years.
"Okay, I got the info published by Venturino. He used .41 Magnum cases shortened to .91 inches. For the bullet, he used RCBS .44 Amer./209 grains of 1/20 alloy dip-lubed in SPG lube. 21 grains of FFFg gave 760 fps plus or minus 57 fps. Pyrodex P, 16 grains, gave 811 fps." Thanks win 38-55 for this bit of info.
Ive spoken with a few other merwin shooters who also use the 41 mag case...it chambers nicely, shoots well but the rim is too small to be grabbed by the ejector ring. Ive had both 44 russian merwins and 44MH guns and the russians eject perfectly. The 44MH guns on the other hand sometimes dont grab all of the 41 mag cases. So what does one do to get a case that more closely matches the specs of the original case?
...I got into my cartridge tables and started looking at the specs...nothing in the pistol cartridges will work...but, in the rifle cases I found that the 303 savage has the same base dia and a larger rim, closer to the 44 russian dia. This might be the case for the 44M. The case does taper a bit but if cut down and fireformed it might just be the perfect replacement.
Now ive got to track down a couple of cases to try out...anybody got a case or two they can let go?
The large framed Merwin Hulbert revolvers were chambered in 3 calibers. Early in their production MH produced most of their revolvers in a caliber that they created on their own, the 44 Merwin Hulbert. Soon, the company realized that limited availability of the cartridges would make for low sales so added the 44 russian chambering to the line (trying to apeal to the western S&W crowd). Finally, due to the wide availability and use of the cartridge they chambered most of their third and fourth model revolvers in 44-40 (calibre winchester 1873)
So, the 44-40 is straight foreward and the 44 russian is easy enough to reload but what about the 44MH? No one has used it in over 100 years.
"Okay, I got the info published by Venturino. He used .41 Magnum cases shortened to .91 inches. For the bullet, he used RCBS .44 Amer./209 grains of 1/20 alloy dip-lubed in SPG lube. 21 grains of FFFg gave 760 fps plus or minus 57 fps. Pyrodex P, 16 grains, gave 811 fps." Thanks win 38-55 for this bit of info.
Ive spoken with a few other merwin shooters who also use the 41 mag case...it chambers nicely, shoots well but the rim is too small to be grabbed by the ejector ring. Ive had both 44 russian merwins and 44MH guns and the russians eject perfectly. The 44MH guns on the other hand sometimes dont grab all of the 41 mag cases. So what does one do to get a case that more closely matches the specs of the original case?
...I got into my cartridge tables and started looking at the specs...nothing in the pistol cartridges will work...but, in the rifle cases I found that the 303 savage has the same base dia and a larger rim, closer to the 44 russian dia. This might be the case for the 44M. The case does taper a bit but if cut down and fireformed it might just be the perfect replacement.
Now ive got to track down a couple of cases to try out...anybody got a case or two they can let go?
