Been seeing a lot of conversations about bore diameters and boolit sizes for the old 44-40.
Been 30 years since I've owned a 44-40. It was a 92 with a bore diameter of .427, I used anything sized at .427-.428 and it was accurate with either.
Loading at first was a challenge due to the necked case and thin brass. Once I figured it out loading was easy.
So After seeing boolit diameters now from .429 to .431 for the 44-40, how in the world is everyone loading those boolits without loosing a lot of brass in the process? Real curious about that! Neck expanding? Would that overwork the neck area after several resizes? or just neck sizing?? Bigger neck expander? Bigger flair?
I understand the train of thought for the larger diameter, manufactures can use 44 mag barrels without major retooling, and a bigger selection of boolits with the 44 mag diameters.
But the brass is still thin in the neck? Unless something has changed in the past 30 years with the brass? I still have my dies and brass, 30+ years old winchester brass and lyman dies.
Will be looking at a marlin 1894 in 44-40 today and guessing since it's a newer one the bore is probably .429-.431?
School me!