Bets on accuracy, 44 russian in 44 mag lever

[mickbr]

As a side project was pondering the idea of installing one of the cowboy custom carriers in an 44 mag 1873 lever action which allows the shorter 44 russian to feed from the magazine. I know the 44 russian can be accurate in revolvers with the longer chamber, is it reasonable to expect the same can be attained from the lever actions chamber? Or am I missing something?

[smithnframe]

Give it a whirl!

[frkelly74]

The main joy of reloading, besides having ammo when everyone else is complaining about nonavailability, is you can taylor your loads to whatever power level you want in the proper brass. But I do understand that inquiring minds want to know.

[Outpost75]

Short cartridges like the .44 Russian and .44 Special when fired in the longer .44 Magnum chamber will give better accuracy if they are rethroated to a less abrupt forcing cone angle at the origin of rifling. A 3-degrees Basic (6 degrees, the total included angle) tapering directly from the .457 case mouth diameter, with no mouth shoulder or ball seat is best. John Taylor has the reamer.

[dverna]

How does the rifle shoot now? May not be worth the cost/effort to buy new brass, change the carrier and throat the chamber.

[mickbr]

Thanks fellas. The idea is not just to better accuracy but combine powder savings of the 44 russian case. Im not 100% on it yet, still actually waiting for the rifle to arrive.

[kenton]

Try doing some accuracy testing by single loading the 44 Russian rounds before you spend money to modify the rifle

[dverna]

Thanks fellas. The idea is not just to better accuracy but combine powder savings of the 44 russian case. Im not 100% on it yet, still actually waiting for the rifle to arrive.

It is easy to work out the savings in powder consumption. It is unlikely to be cost effective. If you save 1 gr per load, you will need to fire 7000 rounds to save $30.

[Gray Fox]

With the proper powder and charge it is no problem to duplicate the .44 Russian performance in .44 mag brass. Keep it simple and use what you have. What will you do when you can't find .44 Russian brass anywhere? GF

[mickbr]

With the proper powder and charge it is no problem to duplicate the .44 Russian performance in .44 mag brass. Keep it simple and use what you have. What will you do when you can't find .44 Russian brass anywhere? GF

Reproducing performance can be more than just velocities. Some of us like mapping different effects of load densities on accuracy etc. As to keeping things simple, I tried that 25 years ago, but I got bored and tired of carrying around a heavy wallet. 20 years of wildcatting and experimenting has cured both problems!

If I cant find 44 russian brass anywhere... well Id probably do the following. Work out how I wore out a low pressure cyclindrical case so quickly, send starline some hate mail, look at forming brass from other sources, get my friend Bruce Bertram of bertram bullets in Australia to do a custom run of brass, ask Dieter Hornerber in Germany to do the same. If that ran out before I died, Id convert the gun back to 44 mag.

[mickbr]

It is easy to work out the savings in powder consumption. It is unlikely to be cost effective. If you save 1 gr per load, you will need to fire 7000 rounds to save $30.

For sure, but I just like the idea of the savings for some projects, the same way people wildcat cases to squeeze extra fps out of them.

[ddixie884]

Cornering the market is a cool deal. Once upon a time I owned all the Star-Line .41spl brass in the world. The guys on this board helped me sell out, eventually. Then Star-line started producing it as a regular catalog item.

[smkummer]

It is easy to work out the savings in powder consumption. It is unlikely to be cost effective. If you save 1 gr per load, you will need to fire 7000 rounds to save $30.

Dverna a beat me to the punch. 700x and red dot work well reduced as they are bulky shotgun powders. So does trail boss but it costs more. Work with a 44 special case and see how short you can go with 180-200 grain bullets. I have seen some very light 44 cowboy loads.

[mickbr]

Dverna a beat me to the punch. 700x and red dot work well reduced as they are bulky shotgun powders. So does trail boss but it costs more. Work with a 44 special case and see how short you can go with 180-200 grain bullets. I have seen some very light 44 cowboy loads.

I'll probably give it a test with all the calibres possible.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
44 Russian Brass can be made from 44 Mag and 44 Special brass. That is what we did 30 years ago+ when we started firing our first S&W 44 Russian revolver.
Starline makes it as a regular in stock item and has for at least 5 years.
But I would also go the single load test them route before spending $$ on a project that may be doomed before starting.