38-40 (38 WCF) shotshells for 1873.

[Jamez]

First up, I know the 1873 isn't a pistol. But there are, were, is pistols chambered in 38-40 (I'm pretty sure anyway). My issue is the length needs to be right for the 1873 action to cycle the rounds. I formed some experimental cases from .303 brass which worked/chambered fine at correct length for a projectile, but i couldn't get a full brass full length case by just fireforming. Will sizeing the brass down first help, or is the shape of the chamber less than ideal for this project. Im new to this game and I live in Australia, so getting custom cases from the states is so difficult and expensive so as to be damn near impossible.

[Mk42gunner]

Jamez,

Welcome aboard.

A .38WCF is on my list of calibers I would like to try out, but I don't think it would work very well with shot loads due to the bottlenecked case. It might work if you could come up with some sort of shot capsule, but I doubt it.

Robert

[Jamez]

Thanks Mk42gunner. The shot capsule was one of the things on my list to try (actually the only thing at this point) but being .401 bullet diameter i had my doubts about availability. I'd rather not start making custom capsules, at least not until the barrel is beyond accurate projectile use. I'll leave the shotshells on the backburner for the time being. Might make a decent project one day, but not today.

[Outpost75]

I make shotshells for my revolvers and rifles from Starline 5 in 1 blank cases. These work in .38-40, .44-40, .45 Colt, .44 Magnum, etc.

211414

.44/.45 Long Shot, Starline 5 in 1 Blank case, 1/3 oz. #8, .410 shotcup, 5 grs. Bullseye

Initial Trials 25 FEET on D-1C repair Center 10x10"

______________________Total Hits__%___4"Inner__8"Outer___REMARKS

S&W 5-1/2" S&W "Sewer Pipe"__103__75___2_______37_______"Doughnut"

Ruger 4-5/8" .45 Blackhawk____ 46___34___3_______16_______Ineffective

H&R 20" .45 RIFLE____________19___13___1_______6________Ineffe ctive

H&R 26" Cylinder bore .410_____133__98___39______80_______Excellent

Marlin 1894S .44-40 (36" twist)__80___59___13______35_______Good

Repeat Trials Re-Firing at 15 FEET

Ruger 4-5/8" Blackhawk_______133___97___33______35_______Excell ent

H&R 20" .45 RIFLE____________97____71___22______43_______Good

178945178946

Starline “5-in-1 Blank” cases fit in anything from a .38-40 or .45Colt to my .45 ACP Blackhawk!


Light loads are necessary in these blank cases because they have an 1/8” flash hole, which prevents them from backing out, freezing cylinder rotation against the recoil shield of revolvers when firing blanks. While using large flash-hole cases in full charge loads, exceeding black powder pressure is hazardous, they work fine in mild Cowboy charges when the shot payload is lighter than a standard bullet for the caliber. The .44 Game Getter shot held 1/3 oz. of shot, about 150 grains, vs. a200-grain bullet in the .44-40. I load up to 6 grains of Bullseye, Red Dot or similar powders, but no more. Insert a Federal .410 plastic shot cup over the powder, then cut the wad fingers flush to the case mouth, pour in No.8 or smaller shot and either glue a Walters .36 card wad over the shot or crimp a piece of 000 buckshot into the end of the shell. Roll crimping is recommended for revolvers, but unnecessary for break-open guns. Speer .44 shot capsules also work and hold the same 1/3 oz. payload as the old .44 shot cartridges.

In a smoothbore shotgun barrel,the effective range of .44 shot loads is no more than 20 yards at best. Firing in a rifled barrel further disperses shot patterns, reducing small game range by half or more. Loading shot larger than No. 8 reduces pellet count so much as to defeat the small game purpose. I chose No. 8, typically 410 pellets to the ounce, so1/3 ounce contains about 136 pellets. No. 7-1/2s would be only 116 pellets in a 1/3 oz. payload. Short 5-10 yard “fence line range” patterns are suitable for rabbits or birds.


I use Federal .410 shot cups to contain the shot in Starline 5 in 1 cases, their being smaller than bore diameter of the .45 barrel, produces more even patterns because the shot is affected less by the rifling. Realistic rabbits or quail range is only 15-20 feet from a rifled barrel. Speer .44 shot caps gave similar results. But the 5 in 1 shot loads pattern splendidly in the cylinder bore .410.90+% at 25 feet striking on a 10”x10” repair center!

John Taylor used a .38-40 reamer to rough the chamber of my backpacker gun, to cut a rim seat to accept 5 in 1’s. The shoulder of the .38-40 reamer produces a.455” ball seat with 4 degree forcing cone, while the .38-40 neck is smaller in diameter than the .45 barrel’s bore diameter, so it does not to cut. A .45 ACP finish reamer cut the mouth shoulder to headspace .45 ACPs. John designed a clever rimless extractor which retracts to clear the case body of rimless rounds when the action is opened for loading. It also cams firmly into the extraction groove as the action is closed, providing positive ejection of.45 ACP rounds and 5 in 1 blank cases fired in shot loads, and rimmed, short revolver rounds, such as .45 Cowboy and .455 Webley. The rim seat is not deep enough for the action to close on .45 Auto Rim cases,because excess headspace would cause misfires with normal rims.

Initial pattern tests were fired at 25 feet. The shot loads were effective from smoothbore barrels at this distance, but not from rifledones. The NRA D1-C repair center I used for patterning is 10 inches square, 100 square inches. The 4-inch inner circle aiming point is 12-1/2 square inches, approximating the body area of a small game bird such as a quail or woodcock. The 8-inch outer ring is 50 square inches and fairly represents the body area of a duck, pheasant or rabbit. To evaluate the effectiveness of patterns,I reasoned that the number of pellets striking the 4-inch inner circle aiming point, should equal the shot size, i.e.eight hits with No.8 shot, or better.The outer ring should contain four times as many hits in proportion to its larger area, or 32 hits of No.8 shot, totaling 40 pellet hits within the combined 8 inch circle and 4 inch inner ring. If patterns are uniformly distributed, a total of 64 hits or more of No.8 shot, would be expected on the entire 100 square-inch target paper, not quite 50 percent of the entire 1/3 oz. payload of about 136 No.8 shot.

Good results at 25 feet were obtained with a cylinder bore .410, and in a slow-twist, 1 in 36” Marlin .44-40 rifle. Faster 1 in 16” twist .45 rifled barrels did not cut the mustard, so patterns were repeated again, at a closer distance of 15 feet. In addition to testing 5 in 1 shot loads in the cylinder bore H&R .410 and .45 rifle, I used my Ruger 4-5/8” Blackhawk revolver and an S&W M1917 .45 with washed out barrel to see if its “sewer pipe” (which keyholed bullets) had potential with shot to become my “ultimate snake gun.” In the 1917 the center of patterns did not coincide with point of aim, firing “doughnut” patterns. Ruger patterns were even.

I shot lead-bullet 200-grain.44-40 cowboy loads in the .410 to see if results agreed with memory, they did. At 25 feet they would hold the black of a timed and rapid-fire target, but at 25 yards, they spread all over the paper,giving the same results as Ball ammo fired from my “sewer pipe” S&W 1917 with shot out barrel, and .44-40 Cowboy loads fired in the .45 ACP Blackhawk. So much for the bullet upset theory. Maybe OK from across the bar room floor.

Pattern results are summarized in the accompanying table. Typical patterns are shown in the photos.