Reloading For Uberti 1866 Yellowboy In 44-40

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My next rifle will be a Uberti 1866 Rifle with the 24.25" barrel to go with my Uberti 1873 rifle and Armi San Paolo 1873 carbine, both in .44-40.
 
According to the Cimarron sight Uberti specs their barrels at 429. Winchester Cowboy ammo has worked for me. I had an older '92, a Rossi and a Commemorative. I used 429 in all. Rossi and the Commemorative had a bit faster twist and better rifling than my old '92, and they shot better.

I used a Lee 200 flat RN bullet cast with COWW plus a bit of lino. Red Dot for powder.

Nitro.
 
mbogo3 said:
Most companies use their .44 mag barrels for the 44-40 to cut costs.
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It does seem that some companies use the same barrels for 44 Mag and for 44-40. IOW they build a barrel to a specification and use it for both chamberings. The real fly in the ointment is the spec that they make their barrels.

This affects both the 44 Mag and the 44-40 firearms they produce. The 44-40 was and still is a rifle cartridge that was also chambered in pistols. There are standards for 44-40 rifles, The SAAMI bore/groove/twist is .4225/.4285/36.

When the 44 Mag was introduced, it was a pistol cartridge, and the bore/groove/twist is .417/.429/20. Those specs are the same as 44 Special specs. In comparison the 44 Spl/Mag have the same .429 vs .4285 groove diameter, but the bore on the 44 Mag/Spl is much smaller, .417 vs .4225. IOW the lands on a 44 Mag/Spl are 0.006" high and the lands on a 44-40 are 0.003" high. The twist on a 44 Mag/Spl is also faster 1:20 inches vs a 1:36" twist rate for the 44-40.

When Marlin introduced their 1894 in 44 Magnum, they did not use 44 Mag/Spl pistol bore/groove/twist specs. Marlin created a SAAMI spec for their new rifle. The 44 Mag Rifle spec is .424/.431/38 (bore/groove/twist). They also used 12 grooves, microgroove in Marlin speak. Marlin later reduced the number of grooves to 6 to resemble Ballard style rifling. They still maintained the same bore/groove/twist specifications. Remember, this is a SAAMI spec, North American firearm manufacturers are obligated to follow those specifications. If you have ever tried to load cast lead ammunition for a 44 Mag rifle and handgun, these differences lead to some interesting results. In the end, almost impossible to get satisfactory results.

Meanwhile in Europe, the CIP bore/groove/twist for 44 Mag Carbine (rifle) is identical to the 44 Mag handgun. They did not adopt the silly Marlin numbers. For 44-40 Rifle CIP followed the same spec as the SAAMI 44-40 rifle. However as there is no SAAMI or CIP spec for a 44-40 pistol, the Colt SAA clone manufactures copied the .427 groove diameter that Colt used. Remember that the SAA predated SAAMI, and Colt did not use Winchester specs as a rule.

Which means, if you buy a newly manufactured 44-40, you should slug the barrel to determine the bore/groove and determine the twist. If you shoot cast, and size to groove or slightly larger, in all likelihood you may have to work on the chamber so that your ammunition will fit. The 44-40 chamber dimensions were fairly close to ammunition dimensions, to provide a tight seal, to help keep the black powder crud out of the action, the brass is thin for the same reason.

My Rossi '92 Rifle in 44-40 had a barrel very close to SAAMI pistol specs, and IIRC the Commemorative Winchester 1894 I had in 44-40 also had deep grooves and a faster than 1:36 twist.

IMNSHO: A 44-40 rifle with a bore/groove/twist of .417/.429/20 would be my first choice. I know that my Marlin 1894 in 44 mag with its .424/.431/38 was not a hit with me, and I sold it after a year of frustration. Remember those are minimum specs, my rifle was not minimum, the grooves were 432!

Uberti makes rifles for Cimarron and the 44-40 rifle and handgun spec is .4215/.429/20, and those should be fairly easy to work with. BTW, their 44 Mag specs are not the same, Uberti does use different barrels.

I checked the new Winchester products, they also use different barrels for current production.

Rossi doesn't appear to make their 92 in 44 mag or 44-40 anymore????? Rossi quality control is not good.

Marlin does not make a 44-40 rifle. If I bought another Marlin 1894, it would be in 38/357, I'm done with their 44's.
 
I went with a 1-28 twist on my Win 92 44-40 as heavier bullets won't make the 1.6" OAL for proper feeding ,but a 220gr GC works fine. Groove .4285 so I/m running .430"s. Gold Dots work too.
 
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