44mag or 44-40 or 45 colt?

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Was thinking about a Winchester takedown lever gun. You can get them in alot of pistol type calibers. 16-20 inch barrels, its going to be a the registry is over gun.

Any thoughts on using any of the above for hunting? In Ontario, at the very most it would be black bear, but mostly small stuff up a deer maybe. Range would be short. Are these calibers ok are just to limited beyond 50 yards?

The takedown levers dont come in any big bore stuff right now.

Any ideas?

I wish there was a .454 Casull option, but there isnt.
 
In a strong levergun, I would go for the .45 Colt if you plan to reload. The 3 cals. could be loaded to the same pressure levels in the same rifle/action, if you are not planning to reload, the .44 mag. would be the best choice. My tests with a 340gr. WFN Gc hardcast bullet show some real knockdown on heavy steel targets. Without the use of similar heavy flatpoint bullets in the .45, I would opt for the .44 mag. with 300+grain bullets.
 
I lean towards the .45 colt. Because i reload for .45 acp as well. I have various .452 dia bullet molds and find the bullet to be commonly found. I can hot load a 45 colt to get closer to a .454 casull. I use trail boss, black powder in my .45 colt loads...i get real dirty when i shoot. If you have any pistols with the same calibre go that way, or get one. That's how i got on the .45 colt. I double duty the loads. Just watch that you dont use a fast powder like 231 and go over its limits.
I've never shot anything big out of 50 metres and the large pistol calibres are super accurate and fun to shoot. With calibres you mentioned the holes they puch are pretty much the same. The 44-40 can be hard to find sometimes.
..and you have to reload, Its about 25% of your variable. The other 75 is how you shoot. thats all im drunk now adios.
 
I believe myself many of the takedown Winchester leverguns in the pistol calibres are the Model 92. Now the 92 is a wonderful action, but IIRC there is an issue with O.A.L. of the cartridge if you want to handload long heavy cast in them at a decent speed and still function as a dependable repeating rifle. Now the older Model 94 Trapper does not compare to the smooth action of the 92,
(the newest ones look alot better as well) but I can load 310 cast very long in 44 Magnum that would not feed through the action of a Model 92. Unless something is drastically changed, I don't think you can utilize these heavy for calibre bullets in a Model 92, unless you could be happy single loading them, one at a time directly into the open chamber.
I hope I'm wrong, but I think I'm not.
But looking at these wonderful takedown leverguns online, action length be damned! They look great USP, very good choice indeed. Now 45 Colt or 44 Magnum........just flip a coin and live with it!
 
I would go with the 45 Colt.I have a Ruger Blackhawk in 45 with a short bbl. that is awsome to play with.With a stout load and heavy cast bullet in a strong action it is a hard hitter.
Reb
 
Guys thanks for the comments. Do you think its impossible or to much of a problem to convert a 45 Colt over to 454 Casull? Or do you think its not worth the headache and just get the factory offering?

I have a press, but am starting off with .270 so far and my experience is abit limited, although I have all the stuff.

For components are 44 mags easier to find for bullets than 45 colt? I have never sourced either. Any price premiums on either?

The other option was .357, but I discounted that as being to weak or just entry level compared to the bigger .40s.

I am impressed with how these Win lever guns look.
 
I wouldn't bother rechambering. The handloaded 45 COlt in a rifle is plenty potent. Not to mention you may have feeding from the magazine issues with the longer 454
 
Heavyweight bullets in .45 Colt's rifles would require WFN styles due to length concerns, the .357 is not in the same league when loaded with factory type bullets and weights. Heavy cast flat points can be loaded in the .357 and can show alot of thump on game with reduced recoil.
 
I use the 44-40, it suffers from a couple of things.
The brass is thin, and extra care must be taken when reloading it.
Obtaining brass, while not as easy as 44 mag is no big deal.
If you go 44-40, you will probably want to reload for power.
I've taken both deer and bear with it, but ranges should be short, as it doesn't have the trajectory for longer shots. 75 yards is what I try to limit it to, with heavier handloads.

45 colt I have no first hand experience with, but as I understand it it has similar issues to those described above, except that the basic factory offering has better killing ability than the 44-40. In it's black powder form, it was used to kill game that we wouldn't even consider trying to kill with it today. Same goes for the 44-40, it used to be considered a moose round.

44 Mag, is the only round of the above that has lots of power in factory form. Indeed the advantages or reloading at least from the standpoint of more power are next to nill. Killing power here is comparable to the 30-30. Trajectory is a tad higher, but at the effective range makes no real difference. That range is probably 150 yards, if the rifle and the shooter are capable.
It is a very effective killer on the game mentioned.

Reloading it will give you a variety of bullets, including lead, including some heavy offerings, in all three of the above.

44 mag has excellent brass, and good brass life for reloading.

*45 Colt, and 44-40 have thinner brass, and shorter brass life, unless you are very careful, and don't really max out your loads.

45 Colt, and 44-40 have an amazing ability when reloaded for a rifle, heavy loads can rival the 44mag in the 44-40, and exceed it's killing power in the 45 colt, if you are a careful reloader. Be advised however that some of these rifles may not shoot those high power loads accurately.

*Starline makes heavier brass, but loads should be adjusted to adjust for the reduced powder space.
 
I would go with 44 mag. Just a caution if you plan on useing a pistol as a companion piece never use a handload that is not safe for both
 
Can the 45 Colt be loaded more powerful than the 44 Rem Mag? I too have wondered which would be more powerful as a bear defence round out of a new Win 92 Takedown.
 
The old loading manuals have loads for the .44-40 that exceed 1800 fps with a 200-210 gr bullet (cast and jacketed). That's getting pretty close to .44 Magnum ballistics and the .44-40 is just a way cooler cartridge!
 
Lever Action Horrors!

Virtually everyone has a horror story about 1 or more firearms that they have owned. He's my lever horror story;

In '94 I was looking for a lever in .357 because I was doing alot of .357 shooting out of my M66 and wanted a cheap and easy round that I could reload in abundance. After looking around for about 6-8 months I couldn't find one, I even phoned Winchester! The nice lady said that they didn't have enough calls to start manufacturing them again. Remember this was before Cowboy Action got bigger.

I finally gave up on .357 and found a Winchester Wrangler in .44 Magnum. Shades of John Wayne that large loop lever was kewl! Little did I realize that with 2 years, I'd start shooting Cowboy Action. I did lots of testing and came up 7.2 grains of Unique pushing a 240 grain LSWC bullet as an accurate target load.

Within the first 20 rds down range, the pot metal feed ramp broke. Off for warranty work! Eight months later I get the rifle back. After every 50 rds the rear sight elevator would fall off. So we have to install a Williams rear sight! Shooting again after every 50 rds the screws in the receiver would work loose. Locktite!! After 1,500 rds the tubular magazine spring gave up the ghost! Wolfe Gunsprings to the rescue. After this the Lever Link broke, 3 months and 5 nasty letters later, Winchester told me they would sell me the part but without warranty! They wanted me to send the gun to the warranty centre again!

That was the last straw, I found a sucker to buy the Winchester and bought a Marlin M1894S, after 8,000 rds through it, it broke a firing pin. I love the quality Marlin builds in.

P.S. My Wrangler was one of 4 Wranglers in town with the same problems. Friends don't let friends buy a Winchester lever gun built after '64. Mind you my 1906 manufactured Winchester M92 in .44 magnum works flawlessly!
 
Lot's of handloaders prefer .45colt over .44mag, logic being you see slightly better performance.
Personally I'll take the .44mag, due to the simple fact that components are much cheaper used and more readily available. Don't believe me...check out the EE!
The negligible gain in performance doesn't attract me, if I was going .45 caliber in a lever action I would be buying another Guide gun.
 
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