44-40 conversion?

[JMtoolman]

I have been thinking about a project revolver. I am thinking I would like to convert a cylinder for a 44 Super Blackhawk into a 44-40. This is to match a 73 that I have just restored. If I could find a spare cylinder it seems reasonable to just run a 44-40reamer into the chambers and I would have a conversion pistol. Has any one else had the urge to do this? And anyone have a spare 44 Mag. cylinder laying around? Tell me your thoughts. It would only require about .010 material to be removed. The toolman.

[drhall762]

A long time ago, Skeeter did a project like this in Guns & Ammo IIRC. Not a big deal according to the article.

[Springfield]

You can do it but the chamber won't be correct. The neck diameter on the 44-40 is smaller than on the 44 sp/mag.

[shooter93]

And make sure your 44-40 molds casts bigger bullets. A lot of them were set up to cast for .427 bores.

[Piedmont]

And a lot of Superblackhawk .44 Mag throats are oversized for even that cartridge. Would your .44-40 dies allow loading a .432" bullet without modification?

Now if you found a .41 cylinder you could set it up for .430" bullets and if your rifle would handle them that big you would be golden. Might want to slug your barrel first, too. The larger it is the less desireable the conversion.

[gandydancer]

and remember ruger cylinders are super hard and very hard to recut. very easy to break any tooling belive me I know. GD

[sharpshooter79]

Howdy Sir:
I have a couple of Ruger Vaqueros in 44-40. Ruger supposedly used the 44 Mag barrels on these pistols although I haven't slugged my bores yet. I bought an extra 44 Mag cylinder off of E Bay so I could shoot 44 mags if the barrels slugged out properly. I put the cylinder in both pistols but the barrel to cylinder gap was too much. I haven't done anything else with it yet.