44-40 hunting loads

[BBOB662]

Anyone do much hunting with a 44WCF? I'd like to hear of some good smokeless loads for deer hunting, not the lower powered Cowboy Action data.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I do not use my1873 44 WCF's for deer hunting.
In the 1892's found a 220 grainers far better for penetration. This is a Saco 443 with a nice flat nose. Using range scrap/ww bulet drops at 223-225 grains depending on the range scrap.
Powder... 8-9 grains of Unique in the original 92's I hunt river bottoms and woods so never have fired at a corn cruncher past 32 yards. With this load I am aiming for the lungs/heart to get complete penetration.
A case load of 3F will give the same performance and supports the bullet well so there is no issue with bullets getting "pushed" deeper into the case.
Generally only am loading 2 in the tube. Then one straight into the chamber. Have yet to need a 2nd shot the shots are generally under 20 yards.
Mike in Peru

[Texas by God]

I used the Lee TL240swc over 7 grs of Unique for turkey hunting for a season. This odd combo fed perfectly through the Rossi 92 copy I had. I would use it on very close range deer with confidence. The old Lyman manual has some scary loads in it for the 44-40- like a 200 jacketed near 2000 fps. Heck no. Best, Thomas.

[georgerkahn]

I have a brass frame Uberti 1866 Sporting Rifle in 44-40. 9.0 grains of Unique, and, 9.5 grs. of Herco are my favorite smokeless loads each yielding right at 1300 fps with a 220 gr. RNFP cast from an NOE 44-200 mould. I have some of same boolit loaded with 6.5 grains of Unique, but cannot attest -- while great at target -- to their deer harvesting potential.
Great caliber, imho!
BEST!
geo

[Outpost75]

Accurate 43-230G cast 1:30 tin/lead, 24.5 grs. Alliant RL7. Also good with 200-grain FN cast soft.

Attachment 187621Attachment 187622Attachment 187623

[runfiverun]

I use the magma engineering 200gr rnfp cast from ww's and soft lead.
I bump the 44-40 mold to 430 in a swage die for my model 92.
the smaller 428 size I was using I could get to work by using 15grs of 2400.
I don't know the speed of the 15 gr load but it had some pop on the back end too.
I also use the 429667 at 430 which is 240grs and my rifle will stabilize it on top of 8.5grs of unique.
[this is the same load I use in my 44 mag for lighter work]

[veeman]

Never actually hunted with 44-40, here in illinois is shotgun muzzleloader handgun only. But, 6.5 grains of green dot or tite group in my Rossi 92 or Uberti 66 packs a heck of a pounding on steel targets at our cowboy matches, so much so that I was asked to tone it down some, make the targets last longer. I reckon it'll do on deer just fine.

[HABCAN]

I cannot attest to its performance on game, BUT.............the LEE 430-310 FP on 17.0 grs. IMR4227 has plenty of snap in our Piettas and should be adequate within 100 yds IF you can hit where you need to. It would be a sure killer on deer in a rifle, again at common-sense distances.