First things first as I won't get the gun until later this afternoon so can't shoot it and I need another pic place as photobucket has greedily blocked 3rd party posting.The barrel,slow rust blued + installation is more like $700 as I already had a tired 1892 laying around.I know I could have bought a replica or a oversized barrel Marlin but it still wouldn't be a Win 92.Hopefully the button rifled barrel will shoot cast or I may have to use jacketed.The grooves measured .428.6" so .430 cast or .429 jacketed should work. I have some .429 200hr HP Gold Dots but no .430 cast just a handful of .429's .Have lots of time to develop a load for spring bear perhaps or welcoming the gophers when they come out.Will wait on buying a mold until I see if cast is an option accuracy wise.Unique and IMR 4227 have worked well in the 44-40 commemorative 94 I once had so. Problem with most .429-.430 jacketed is the cannalure is in the wrong place to keep the OAL under 1.6" as they were made for .44mag,.44 Special and .444 Marlins.Sights moved over as well .
No expert but I have fooled with the 44-40 in new rifles. First, 428.6 is pretty tight, tighter than any of mine. I've found that rifles are not as particular on bullet size as handguns. 427 or 428 cast or swagged bullets will be OK, and a slightly larger one will probably work. 429 should be perfect.
The 200 gr Gold cup is a pretty accurate bullet in the 44-40, I used 2400 powder.
You will find that most jacketed bullets for the 44 Mag will work nicely. The max OAL for the 44 Mag and 44-40 are very close. SAAMI lists the Max case/Max OAL for the 44-40 @ 1.305"/1.592" and for the 44 mag those are 1.285"/1.610". I briefly owned an original '92 Win and it fed ammo at a bit over max perfectly fine.
The real problem is with cast. Most cast bullets were were designed for the 44 Spl. and when loaded in the 44 Mag the OAL is nearer 1.700". In a revolver, OAL is limited only by the cylinder length, you cannot have the bullet sticking out of the end of the cylinder, seems to hinder rotation a bit.
I use my 44-40's for CAS, so I shoot cast. Coincidentally that is where the 44-40 shines. My best loads to date are with the LEE 429-200-RF loaded over Unique for a 1300 fps load, or Red Dot for a slower load (to make it easier on the steel targets). IMO this bullet is perfect for the 44-40.
Winchester makes real nice ammunition as well, a 225 gr soft lead that shoots good, even in the Win I had, it was lacking some rifling at the muzzle. The 44-40 was not blessed with a lot of rifling to begin with, .4225/.4285", so as you stated, did not tolerate abuse very well. The 44 Mag has a bit more rifling, .417"/.429", and I've found that modern versions of the '92/'94 in 44-40 are using specs closer to 44 Mag for their barrels.
For an original spec barrel, I've found that cast bullets work better if they have a long bearing surface, and they don't need to be hard. I'm a bit perplexed as to the why of this, but the fact is that the soft Winchester bullet works so well seems to support that. I do cast my LEE 429-200-RF at about a BHN of 15, and size @ .430" for my 431 grooves. I also have a Lyman 427666 and it hasn't worked out for me, it does not work as well as the LEE, even though it casts large (429>430).
I'm positive that the 44-40 would also shoot a gas checked bullet well, but CAS rules don't allow it so I have not tried them.
Just curious, but were you required to get a permit to import the barrel?
