I first began my.44-40 black powder journey back in 1999. Just prior to that, I had obtained some early .44-40 black powder factory W.R.A. CO. head stamped cartridges for study. Dissecting them, I found that they contained a pure lead 200 gr. bullet with two shallow grease grooves. The 40gr. FFG charge was compressed an average of about .20”.
In 1875, to give its readers some idea of what their .44 W.C.F. (44-40) black powder factory ammunition was capable of in their then new 1873 rifle, Winchester featured a letter they received from a E.H. Pardee, M.D. of San Francisco, CA
“It affords memuch pleasure to communicate to you the result of 30 consecutive shots at adistance of 110 yards with one of the improved Winchester rifles (1873). The firing was done without wiping, whichproves the Winchester to be steady in her performance…..”
Illustrated was atarget containing 30 shots, all inside of a 4” circle, and all fired with no cleaning between rounds. Pretty impressive, even now..
Today, Lyman’s 427098 mold is a close replication of the original bullet and bullets from ittypically measure around .427” - .428” diameter depending on the alloy. Most .44-40 rifles made currently usually have a groove diameter of .429” with some barrels as large as .432”. I did find that if undersized bullets are soft enough (no harder than 50/1) they will bump up and give accurate shooting.
However, it is better to have a bullet that is at least .001” over groove diameter if possible.. That is what a good friend of mine who goes by the handle “Fairshake” did several years ago when he contacted Accurate Molds to have them produce a 427098 clone mold, which, could be purchased to produce bullets in a specific diameter to fit an individual rifle’s specifications. In addition, the lube grooves would be square bottomed like the original factory bullets but with a bit more lube capacity.
I began my journey with the Lyman mold. Bullets were lubed with SPG and loaded over Goex FFG powder sparked by CCI 300 primers in R-P cases. All was well for about 10 rounds” or so in the 24” barrel but accuracybegan to degrade rapidly shortly thereafter as a hard ring of fouling started to build from the muzzle back into the barrel.
I then tried magnum large pistol primers, but still the hard ring of fouling made its appearance. I came to the conclusion that, based on Doc Pardee’s excellentresults, the early b.p.’s were of better quality than the Goex powder I wasusing.
SWISS B.P.
I had read about Swiss b.p. made in Switzerland that was said to have similar characteristics to the early b.p.’s so I ordered some. What a difference! Now I was able to shoot 50+rounds with no hard ring of fouling and accuracy being maintained throughout. I found that with bullets from the Accurate 427098 clone (43-210B) pioneered by “Fairshake” over SwissFFG powder, the accuracy and performance of the original factory b.p. cartridges could be replicated.
GOEX B.P. – BulletDevelopment for use with -
But what about those who wanted to use a b.p. made in the U.S.? Back in 2002, a fellow with the handle PRS(Pigeon Roost Slim) had been working with the .45 Colt to develop a bullet that would carry enough lube to keep the more fouling Goex powder from fouling out in repeated shots. Lee made the mold to his specifications and it has worked very well.
Following that, a fellow with the handle “Mav Dutchman” had Lee make a similar mold for the.44-40.
Thankfully, a fellow by the name of DD (Dick Dastardly) made it possible to procure thosemolds today at www.biglube.com.
“MAV D” (Big Lube)- I purchased some of the “Mav D” bullets from the supplier listed below and,sure enough, loaded over Goex powder, Icould fire many shots in a row with accuracy being maintained throughout.
Accurate 43-215C - Being a traditionalist, I decided that I wanted a bullet that would exactly match the original .44-40 bullet nose profile and would carry enough lube for the 24” trip many times accurately using standard Goex black powder. In addition, I had found that the original nose profile is best for down range accuracy (100+ yards) which is one of the things I like to do.
To start with, I used the 427098 and machined away the middle driving band a bit at a time, thus adding a bit more lube capacity until testing indicated that I had reached the IDEAL lube capacity for the task at hand.. It is now the 43-215C made by Accurate Molds. Thankfully, it runs very well with Goex and continues to produce very good down range accuracy (100+ yards) for many rounds with no foul out.
BULLET SUPPLIERS
1.) “Mav D” (BigLube)
2.) 43-210B(427098 clone) Not shown on Mark's website but he offers it. Contact forinformation
www.whyteleatherworks.com
427098 - http://www.buffaloarms.com/Hand_Cast_Bullets_it-157239.aspx?CAT=4135-
Black Dawge - http://www.midwayusa.com/product/137773/goex-black-dawge-bullets-44-caliber-430-diameter-205-grain-lead-flat-nose-box-of-100?cm_vc=ProductFinding
Accurate 43-215F –no commercial supplier presently
BULLET MOLDS
www.biglube.com
www.accuratemolds.com
http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/bullet-casting/index-pistols.php
BLACK POWDERS > GROUP A -
Goex / Schuetzen / Diamondback
Works best with the Mav D (Big Lube) or the 43-215C bullets
BLACK POWDER > GROUP B
KIK – with the 427098 /43-210B, accuracy was maintained for about 2X longer than Goex or about 20 rounds after which accuracy deteriorated as the black ring of fouling wasbuilding in the 24” barrel at the muzzle inward. .
BLACK POWDERS > GROUP C
Swiss / Olde Enysford
Works very well with the original 2 lube grooved bullet … 427098 / 43-210B
(Testing the newer introducedOlde Enysford powder last year, I found that it worked as well as Swissproducing very good continuous accuracy for many shots.)
BLACK POWDER SUPPLIERS (will ship as little as 5#)
http://blackpowderva.com/
http://www.powderinc.com/
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/3501
LOADING .44-40BLACK POWER CARTRIDGES
I typically use a Lyman 55 powder measure which has markings for b.p. and mostly Ioad with themeasure set at the “40” setting. Because the densities of different black powders vary, the actual weight varies as this pic indicates.
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I dump the powdercharge slowly into the case with the pan held 4-5” above the powder funnel tosettle it. Some folks use a drop tubebut I find that I get pretty much the same result in the .44-40 case) Another method that I have recently adopted isto drop the charges in a block of 50 cases, then put another block on top and lightly rapidly tap the cartridge block which also settles the powder.
A hand held body massagevibrator will likely work as well…..
Lesser powder charges can certainly be used as long as the powder is compressed. Some folks use the Lee 2.2CC scoop for their .44-40 b.p. loads. It holds 32.5 grs. by weight of Goex FFG.Compression is about .10” on a settled charge (Winchester or Starline cases) at a seating depth of .36”.
To determine theamount of power compression a particular load requires, I use a fired casewhere the bullet is a slip fit in the case neck. First determine the o.a.l. ofyour loaded cartridge. Then after placing the powder charge into the fired case(pouring it in slowly to settle it) place the bullet into the case neck, pu**** down on the powder and measure the o.a.l. The compression is the difference between that length and the finalloaded cartridge length..
In the loadingprocess, if your bullet is at least 10-12 BHN hardness, it can be used to compress the powder charge when seated. If less than 10 BHN, it would be betterto pre compress the powder before seating the bullet……depending on the amountof compression and the actual hardness of the bullet. Pre compressing the powder can be done withthe neck expander, a compression die, or a slightly smaller caliber jacketedbullet like a 10MM.
Velocities recorded with different black powdersloaded at the “40” setting – Lyman 55 measure. Because of the differentdensities, the actual weights of the various powders do vary, but by using thevolume measure, the compression is the same for all..
Case– R-P .44-40 / Primer – CCI 300
Bullet– 210 gr. 427098 / 43-210B
With Swiss FFG and Olde Enysford, I found that the “36” setting produced velocities comparable with theoriginal 44-40 b.p. cartridge.
continued next post
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Chill Wills
