Can anyone tell me about Winchester Super X cowboy loads? I picked up a few boxes for my 44-40 as they were the cheapest I could find (mid $30 range for 50 rds vs. $50 for 20 rds of jacketed ammo). Would these be suitable for hunting small coastal deer under 100 yrds?
Cowboy loads for hunting?
- Thread starter Jager
- Start date
Doubtful; cowboy loads are made as light as possible, because all they have to do is ring some steel, pop some balloons, etc. For the amount you'll use on hunting, buy a box of JSPs, use 1/3 of the box to make sure it's sighted in, then you'll have at least enough left for two hunting seasons.
Cowboy loads are target loads, like SDC says. The Winchester .44-40 Cowboy load is for handguns. It only has 261 ft-lbs of energy at 50 yards, 242 ft-lbs at 100 and runs 2" high at 50 yards, 8.3" at 100. Too light for hunting.
The Winchester .44-40 rifle load is marginal for deer too. It's only got 449 ft-lbs at 100. It might be ok for small deer, up close, with a well placed shot. It drops 6.5" at 100 too.
The Winchester .44-40 rifle load is marginal for deer too. It's only got 449 ft-lbs at 100. It might be ok for small deer, up close, with a well placed shot. It drops 6.5" at 100 too.
Big JD-From the hills
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan.
At 449 flb's with a solid cast lead bullet(I don't recomend round nose, swc or flat point, bigger the better) it would travel the length of the deer. Brodside would be no problem(penatration wise). I shot a few deer under the cronic wasting tag with my .45lc 94 with similarly loaded handloads. On brodside shots it exited every time, even when smashing sholders. If you/they shoot accurately at 100yards I don't see a problem, its not like your going after 350lb mule's, wich would be no problem penatration wise. Be prepaired to track them though with double lung hits, it cuts a clean hole through, with no shredding like a jacked softpoint out of a rifle cartrige. Best is heart/sholders.
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yeah, I doubt the 44/40 has dropped much game in its short lifetime....it was probably never used in any sticky situations, todays deer are diff. than in the old days. Today a deer is much tougher and would shake off hits from a 44/40, they really need a wssm using bonded TRX partitions with ballistic tip.
Big JD-From the hills
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan.
Well sending 100 rounds of ammo down range for practice and zero and accuracy verification vs 10 shots of jacketed bullets that most likely will not expand anyway is better in my eyes.
Thanks for the info guys. I just resurrected an old Winchester 1892 that has been sitting in my dads vault with a broken firing pin for over 25 years. I have never shot this rifle and know very little about the 44-40 cartridge. I just got the most inexpensive ammo I could find to see how it shoots before attempting anything more than punching holes in paper. There seems to be a number of people that are getting into cast bullets and I thought that the cowboy loads would be similar.
