Has anyone tried to invigorate the 44-40 into a silhouette cartridge for the NRA Lever Action Rifle Silhouette course? Why couldn't the 44-40 in a Marlin 1894 drive a 250 to 265 grain boolit fast enough to be a capable silhouette rifle? I suppose a lot of you will suggest, why not just use a .44 Rem, but there's an added sense of nostalgia associated to the most popular rifle/carbine cartridge of the 1870s and 1880s. I've been thinking about picking up a Marlin 1894 in 44-40 the next time I do some traveling out west, (this fall) a SAECO 430 (their 265 grain PB) and a big box of Starline 44-40 brass. I'd also like to add a Lee 6-cavity 429-200-RF to my collection so I can make a bunch of plinking boolits for the lil' woman and get her more interested in shooting.
From a silhouette rifle standpoint, I think a 265 grain PB at 1500 fps ought to work well from the slow 38" twist of an 1894 in 44-40.
MJ