Question regarding 38/40

[eljefe]

Is it possible to form 44/40 brass into 38/40?

If so, would I just run the brass through a 38/40
sizing die?

I have a couple thousand 44/40 cases, and want
to load some 38/40 for a friend. If I don't need to,
I will forego purchase of 38/40 brass.

Any help is appreciated!

[DCP]

Yes to all your ?s
Then trim

Go to leverguns search for 38-40 you will find a post on how to and loads


Read this
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=21947.0;wap2


Good luck




Is it possible to form 44/40 brass into 38/40?

If so, would I just run the brass through a 38/40
sizing die?

I have a couple thousand 44/40 cases, and want
to load some 38/40 for a friend. If I don't need to,
I will forego purchase of 38/40 brass.

Any help is appreciated!

[missionary5155]

Good morning
The only hangup would be if you had a tight chamber and fat throat in your rifle. Worse case is you have to ream or turn case necks.
Resize one case and make a dummy round (no primer) with a throat sized boolit. See if it will chamber.

[Thin Man]

If a re-formed 44/40 case would load and chamber, this may prove better than an original 38/40 case by having a thicker case neck and mouth, less prone to bulging or collapsing (SP) when the boolit is seated/crimped. I have never tried this, never even thought about it until now. This sounds like a nice project, will have to give it a run sometime soon.

Thin Man

[eljefe]

Thanks to all who replied. I will give
it a try once my dies arrive.

[August]

I've done this enough to offer some opinion and advice.

First, if the 44/40 brass is not dead soft, then it will fold up rather than size about half the time. So, the first step in making 38-40 from 44-40 is to anneal the brass. Expect to lose half the brass if you don't do this.

Second, sizing the brass (after annealing) in 44-40 sizing die helps to get things started better before going to the 38-40 die. Leaving all the sizing of fired brass to the 38-40 die will cause you to lose about 1/4 of the cases. So, anneal first, then size to 44-40, then size to 38-40.

Third, after taking these steps, you will still fold 10-20% of the remaining cases. It doesn't seem like much of a transition, but the cases say otherwise. You may find you have to lower the deck on your shell holder, or otherwise take material off the bottom of the 38-40 die to get it to move the shoulder back enough to chamber in the gunz you want to use. I don't know anyone who hasn't had to alter their sizing die to get a usable result. (this is a very popular cartridge here, in Southern Arizona, and lots of my friends shoot it).

Corollary to #3 -- have the gun you want to shoot these rounds in handy while you're doing the cartridge preparation and die adjustment so you can check every step of the process in the actual gun.

Fourth, cases produced this way end up with variations in length, which makes consistent crimping (which is very important in this round) difficult. After spending a lot of time turning 44-40 brass into 38-40, I concluded it was definitely not worth the effort and bought a thousand cases from starline.

Fifth, it seems the actual chamber dimensions of gunz in this caliber vary over a wide range and one cannot count on dimensional data in handbooks or the shape of a given manufacturer's dies for guiding the process. Trial and error are your huckleberry.

Conclusion: you CAN make 38-40 brass from 44-40 brass, but you DON'T want to.

[9.3X62AL]

No experience with the 38-40 specifically, but there is a LOT of dimensional poetry in cases--chambers--and die sets in the 25-20, 32-20, and 44-40 in my experience. If at all possible, based on my experience with these three CHARACTERS, obtain factory-made 38-40 brass as-is. These calibers are *interesting* enough without adding case forming to the equation.

[eljefe]

I went ahead and got some 38-40 brass along with
my dies and bullets. I figured that the above seemed
like an awful lot of work.

I am looking forward to loading these. They will be
shot in an old Winchester rifle.

Thanks again for all the replies.

[Harry O]

Kind of late to this thread, but I have been shooting the 38-40 in CAS for several years now. Originally, it was in both handgun and rifle. Now it is rifle only. I had the handguns converted to 41 Long Colt. There are only a few other people who shoot 38-40 where I shoot and no one else shoots 41C.

I regularly lose a few 38-40 cases at every match. It is amazing how they can hide so well in short-cut grass. I often walk the area after that stage is done, looking for my missing cases, but have rarely found any more of them. Often, I have another case or two dumped into my "possibles bag" after shooting, probably from a previous shooter. I find them when I get home. If they are 44-40, I run them through the 38-40 sizing die as-is. I have not had any problems with sizing, loading, or shooting them without any extra care.

I just about as often, the extra case or two will be a 45 (Long) Colt case. Those cannot be run through the 38-40 die, as-is. I have converted them to 38-40 cases (I don't have gun in that caliber any more), but don't use them in competition. I have used them to shoot "experimental" loads that may end up with "throw away" cases for various reasons.

If anyone wants to know how to get from a 45LC to 38-40 case, let me know. It is more work than it is worth, but when you have the case for free, it only costs time.