Pietta 1873 44-40 Eh!

[Driller640]

I bought a Pietta 1873 44-40, nickle plated with 7.5 ' barrel, eh. My first sixgun:-D Does anyone have such a beast? WHAT IS A GOOD LOAD FOR FUN? What is the life expectancy if I stick to fun loads. Have never loaded for 44-40 before any tips? I think I will have a blast with tis cowboy gun eh:Fire:

[GrizzLeeBear]

Don't have a 44-40, but of course a REAL FUN load would be to fill it up with black powder and put a cast boolit on it, just like it was designed for. Just make sure there is no air space between the bottom of the bullet and the powder. Lots of BOOM and smoke!
From what I have read, you will lose more cases during the reloading process because of the thin necks than wearing them out shooting.
I'm sure others that have them will chim in.

[Bob in Revelstoke]

I have a Pietta the same as you only in blue. I find it fun to shoot but reloading is something I have found to be very exacting. I had a .429 bullet mould in 240 grain and found the loaded cartridge wouldn't chamber. So obtained a 200 gr. mould and by very careful adjusting of the bullet depth and the crimping groove got bullets that were satisfactory. When adjusting for crimp, be very careful as the brass is very thin and if too heavy a crimp is used it will crush before you even feel it. I also found that the bulk brass I got, Remington, measures 1.295 to 1.30 inches. This is fine for my Winchester 1892 black powder rifle but according to my Lyman book, revolver cartridges should be 1.240 max. Those few hundreds of an inch make a difference in the chamber of a Pietta.

I also have a Pietta in .45 LC it is not fussy at all. Shoot everything from 200 gr SWC to 250 gr.

Have fun.

[Mohillbilly]

I recon check the cylinder mouths,slug the barrel,as the thing should shoot 427 slugs,yes the brass is thin and easy to crush.buy a reloders book or buy factory loads, win still makes them $$or look for cowboy loads....I got a Ruger .44 mag/44-40 but it has its own problems with a .429 barrel and or 427 chambers on the 44-40.I shoot the 44-40 with 8 gr unique but thats my gun, and way under what it will handle in 44 mag.

[Bent Ramrod]

Driller,

Welcome to the clan of the .44-40! Yes to all the indicators above that it is a tricky cartridge to reload. It's easy to crumple cases in the expanding die and the case life is shorter than stouter cases like the .44 Spl. You will probably lose a case or two, on average, everytime you cycle a box through the loading drill.

Sometimes the "classic" boolits for the cartridge tend to creep forward out of the cases under recoil, tying up the cylinder. I've gone a long way toward fixing this problem by polishing or turning the expander plug down just a little, so the case grips the boolit better, and by adding a Lee Factory Crimp die to the loading process. (The extra crimp aggravates the tendency to neck splits, but it's necessary anyway.) Another way to keep this forward creep from happening is to get an RCBS .44-40 mould, which, unlike the Lyman/Ideal or Winchester designs, actually has a crimping groove in it instead of forcing you to crimp over the base of the ogive.

The only other thing is to watch the case length, and check your die settings frequently. I can load .429" boolits in both my Ubertis, but a little too much Lee Factory Crimping can raise a slight ring just below the crimp that keeps the round from chambering easily. If I'm stuck at the range because I haven't checked a few of them in the cylinder while reloading them, I can iron out the ring by rolling the neck of the round on the bench top, but it is annoying. The crimping shoulder in the seating die will generate this ring with even greater frequency and severity, so I use that die only for seating. A little Lee Factory Crimping goes a long way; once you develop the "touch," the problems begin to diminish. You may get to the point where the reloads are no more trouble than any other cartridge, but I must confess I'm not at this level of expertise yet.

That said, despite the extra work, the .44-40 is one of my favorite cartridges. It can be very accurate. can handle black powder as well as smokeless, and is a genuine part of history. Please let us know how yours shoots.

[oksmle]

Driller .... The following loads use either the Lyman #427098 or #427666. Both weigh about 205 grains in WW. My favorite is the #427666. Both work well with BP. All loads use Remington large pistol primers & Remington brass trimmed to same length. Make sure the crimp is uniform.

5.0 grs Bullseye - 750 fps
6.0 grs Unique - 750 fps
7.0 grs Unique - 825 fps
8.0 grs Unique - 950 fps: Close to the original BP loading of 975 fps.

oksmle

[Driller640]

Well guys, shot Pietta 44-40 with 777 FFFg, eh. Can't get BP so had to use pretend BP. WOW this thing really packs a wop, eh! What I did was fill the case to where the bullet stops when seated. This turned out to be about 28g /vol or 21g/weight with pure lead LEE 210g .433 sized to .427. They say not to compress 777 so this why I did what I did. Shot it tonight at a old fridge in the back 40 eh. At 20 yards all six shots went into one hole(big one) and through both sides of the fridge, lots of smoke eh! Fun fun fun . Would not of wanted to be on the open end of that barrel. Also tried 6.3g of trail boss behind Lee 210g 44 cal. Nice load eh, could shoot this one all day if I had the brass. Have not tried the unique load as of yet, but it is on the to do list eh. Thats all for now eh, thanks a lot guys!

[GrizzLeeBear]

WOW this thing really packs a wop, eh! ..... Would not of wanted to be on the open end of that barrel.

On a tombsone in Arizona

Here lies the body of Lester Moore;
Took two slugs from a .44;
No less, no more.

They weren't talkin' about a 44 maggie! :Fire:....:(